ICYMI: Vice President Harris Announces New Administration Action to Expand Background Checks, Close Deadly Loopholes, and Reduce Gun Violence

Final rule implements the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act's expansion of background checks, the largest expansion of background checks in more than three decades

WASHINGTON – Today, Vice President Kamala Harris announced new administration action to expand background checks, close deadly loopholes, and reduce gun violence in communities across the nation. This final Department of Justice rule expands background check requirements to tens of thousands of gun sales – including those conducted at gun shows and online – by making clear when a person needs to become a licensed dealer and run background checks. This rule implements the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the largest expansion of background checks since the Brady Bill became law more than 30 years ago.

"Every year, thousands of unlicensed gun dealers sell tens of thousands of guns without a background check, including to buyers who would have failed one – domestic abusers, violent felons, and even children. This single gap in our federal background check system has caused unimaginable pain and suffering," said Vice President Harris. "Today, as the head of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, I am proud to announce that all gun dealers must conduct background checks no matter where or how they sell."

The Department of Justice estimates that there are over 20,000 unlicensed sellers who are selling firearms through online advertisements, gun shows, and other means. Unlicensed dealers who do not conduct background checks are the largest source of firearms that are illegally trafficked into communities. From 2017 to 2021, ATF identified that unlicensed dealers were the source of more than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms, over half of trafficked firearms.

As President Biden emphasized during his State of the Union address, Vice President Harris continues to lead the Administration's work to address the epidemic of gun violence and keep communities safe while overseeing the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Since taking office, she has had more than 60 gun safety engagements. Last month, she traveled to Parkland, FL where she met with families, launched the first-ever National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, and made an official call to action for states across the nation to pass red flag laws. In January, she convened a roundtable discussion in Charlotte, NC where she announced an additional $285 million in funding to help schools hire and train mental health counselors. In December, she also brought together nearly 100 state legislators from 39 states to launch the Biden-Harris Administration's Safer States Initiative.

Watch the Vice President's video message here and read more about today's announcement below:

Washington Post: Justice Dept. finalizes rules to close 'gun show loophole'
In a move that officials touted as the most significant increase in American gun regulation in decades, the Justice Department has finalized rules to close a loophole that allowed people to sell firearms online, at gun shows and at other informal venues without conducting background checks on those who purchase them.

Vice President Harris and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the rules and said they would keep firearms out of the hands of potentially violent people who are not legally allowed to own guns.

The rules — which are expected to take effect in 30 days — codify changes outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in June 2022 and expanded which gun sellers were legally required to conduct background checks on buyers.

"Every person in our nation has a right to live free from the horror of gun violence. I do believe that," Harris said on a call with reporters. "We know how to prevent these tragedies, and it is a false choice to say you are either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone's guns away."

New York Times: Biden Administration Approves Expansion of Background Checks on Gun Sales
Vice President Kamala Harris, tapped to lead White House efforts on a gamut of politically charged election-year issues, including gun policy, told reporters in a call on Wednesday that the new regulation addresses "one of the biggest gaps" in the federal background check system.

"This single gap in our federal background check system has caused unimaginable pain and suffering," Ms. Harris said, who also noted that gun violence was now the leading cause of death among children.

"In the years to come, I do believe countless families and communities will be spared the horror and heartbreak of gun violence by this new rule," she said.

Politico: Biden to close 'gun-show loophole' and expand background checks for firearms
"This single gap in our federal background check system has caused unimaginable pain and suffering," Vice President Kamala Harris said on the call.

The vice president noted the 25th anniversary next week of the mass shooting at Columbine High School, which was carried out with weapons purchased through the gun-show loophole. She also pointed to the 2019 shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas, where a man killed seven people and wounded dozens of others. A background check stopped the shooter from purchasing a gun at a sporting goods store in 2014, but he later purchased an AR-15 from an unlicensed seller he met online. […]

"So in the memory of all those we have lost today, as the head of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, I am proud to announce that all gun dealers now must conduct background checks no matter where or how they sell their merchandise."

NPR: Here's the new plan to boost background checks for guns bought at shows or online
Vice President Harris, who leads the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, said the change could prevent more gun sales to people who are domestic abusers, people convicted with violent felonies and children.

She cited the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, which was carried out in part through weapons bought at gun shows without checks.

Guardian: US will require background checks for gun shows and online firearm sales
Last month, Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, visited Parkland, Florida, the site of a 2018 high school shooting that claimed 17 lives, to announce the setting up of a national resource center to assist states in implementing red flag laws.

In September, Biden tapped Harris to lead the first federal gun violence prevention office, and the pair have repeatedly urged Congress to pass tougher regulations, including a ban on private ownership of assault weapons.

"For decades, many dealers who sell weapons someplace other than the traditional gun store, say a gun show or flea market, or through social media, have gotten away without conducting background checks," she told reporters on the call.

"Every year, thousands of unlicensed dealers sell tens of thousands of guns without a single background check to buyers who, if they had been required to pass a background check, would have failed, for example, domestic abusers, violent felons and even children.

USA Today: Taking on black-market guns, Biden administration issues new rules on unlicensed dealers
"Every person in our nation has a right to a life free from the horror of gun violence," Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters Wednesday. "It's a false choice that you have to be in favor of the Second Amendment or in favor of taking your guns away."

The new rules come just before the 25th anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Colorado on April 20. In that case, the two shooters purchased firearms from private individuals without a background check. Several of the firearms were sold by an unlicensed seller at a gun show five months before the massacre.

CNN: Biden administration finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole' in effort to combat gun violence
Vice President Kamala Harris noted to reporters that the new rule was being finalized days before the 25-year anniversary of the deadly Columbine High School shooting, which she described as "a horrific act of violence that was carried out in part with guns purchased through the gun show loophole."

"Since then, from New Paris, Ohio, to Chicago, Illinois, to Midland-Odessa, Texas, so many communities have been torn apart to violence committed with weapons bought without background checks," Harris said. "I do believe countless families and communities will be spared the horror and the heartbreak of gun violence by this new rule."

Spectrum: Biden administration to close 'gun show loophole,' require more dealers to conduct background checks
"Today, gun violence is the leading cause of death for the children of America -- not car accidents, not some form of cancer. Gun violence," Vice President Kamala Harris said on a press call Wednesday.

"Every year, thousands of unlicensed gun dealers sell tens of thousands of guns without a single background check, including to buyers [who], if they had been required to pass a background check, would have failed. For example, domestic abusers, violent felons and even children. "In the years to come, I do believe countless families and communities will be spared the horror and the heartbreak of gun violence by this new rule," she added.

Harris, who has taken the lead as the public face of some of the Biden administration's gun violence initiatives, noted it has been 25 years since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. The shooters in that deadly massacre acquired guns by having a friend buy them from an unlicensed dealer who did not conduct a background check. She called on Congress to do what some lawmakers have repeatedly tried and failed to do since Columbine: pass universal background checks, red flag laws and a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

CBS News: Biden administration announces plans to expand background checks to close "gun show loophole"
In making the announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris noted next week is the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, and the weapons in that massacre were acquired through the gun-show loophole.

Anticipating political pushback, the vice president defended the move. "We know how to prevent these tragedies and it's a false choice to suggest you are either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone's guns away," Harris said. "I'm in favor of the Second Amendment and I am in favor of reasonable gun safety laws."