-Today we're taking steps to confront
not just the gun crisis
but what is actually a public health crisis.
Nothing -- Nothing I'm about to recommend
in any way impinges on the Second Amendment.
They're phony arguments.
I asked the Attorney General and his team
to identify for me immediate,
concrete actions I could take now,
without having to go through the Congress.
And today I'm announcing several initial steps my administration
is taking to curb this epidemic of gun violence.
Much more need to be done, but the first, I want to rein
in the proliferation of so-called "ghost guns."
They have no serial numbers,
so when they show up at a crime scene,
they can't be traced.
And the buyers aren't required to pass a background check
to buy the kit.
With online sales and ghost guns,
times and trafficking methods have changed,
and we have to adjust.
We also have to ask the Justice Department
to release a new annual report.
This report will better help policymakers
address firearms trafficking as it is today.
We want to treat pistols modified with stabilizing
braces with the seriousness they deserve.
A stabilizing brace hooked on a pistol
essentially makes that pistol a hell of a lot more accurate
and a mini-rifle.
As a result, it's more lethal,
effectively turning it into a short-barreled rifle.
Fourthly, during my campaign for president,
I wanted to make it easier for states to adopt extreme
risk protection order laws.
They're also called "red flag" laws.
These laws allow a police or family member
to petition a court in their jurisdiction and say,
"I want you to temporarily remove
from the following people any firearm they may possess
because they're a danger in a crisis.
They're presenting a danger to themselves and to others."
And the court makes a ruling.
I asked the Justice Department to publish
a model red-flag legislation
so states can start crafting their own laws right now.
They've offered plenty of thoughts and prayers,
members of Congress,
but they've passed not a single new federal law
to reduce gun violence.
Enough prayers.
Time for some action.
I believe the Senate should immediately pass
three House-passed bills to close loopholes
that allow gun purchases, purchasers,
to bypass the background checks.
The only industry in America,
a billion-dollar industry, that can't be sued,
has exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers.
This is the only outfit that is exempt from being sued.
If I get one thing on my list-- the Lord came down and said,
"Joe, you get one of these" -- give me that one.
We should also ban assault weapons
and high-capacity magazines in this country.
[applause]
There's no reason someone needs a weapon of war with 100 rounds.
100 bullets that can be fired.
And, three, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act,
which would so-called close the boyfriend
and stalking loopholes to keep guns
out of the hands of people found by a court
to be an abuser and continuing threat.
We have so many people dying every single day
from gun violence in America.
It's a blemish on our character as a nation.
Let me say to all of you, God bless you,
but most importantly, the memory of all many of you have lost
to this senseless gun violence.