Washington — At a ceremonial swearing-in Thursday for the new chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Todd Jones, Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration will use its authority to implement two new gun control measures.
One new policy would end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the United States to other countries, to be reimported to the United States, where some may end up unregistered and on the streets.
A second proposal would end the registering of machine guns and short-barreled shotguns to corporations or trusts to avoid mandatory fingerprinting. The new regulation would require all associated with those corporations or trusts to undergo the same fingerprinting process as individuals who own those types of guns.
Biden said that last year there were 39,000 requests for transfers of these restricted firearms to trusts or corporations.
“It’s a very artful dodge,” he said.
As for the gun control proposals the White House announced earlier this year in response to the shooting deaths in Newtown, Biden said, “The president and I remain committed to getting these things done.”
“If Congress doesn’t act, we’ll fight for a new Congress. It’s that simple. But we’re going to get this done. We’re going to get this done,” the vice president said.