Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) tore into President Donald Trump's decision to dismantle the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention in his first week.
"It took one day for Donald Trump to disband the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention," wrote Goldman, a former federal prosecutor. "Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children, but Trump and the GOP would rather cozy up to the gun lobby than protect our kids. We deserve better than this."
Very swiftly after Trump disbanded the office, news broke of a school shooting in Antioch, Tennessee, in which a 17-year-old boy killed a female classmate and wounded two others before turning the gun on himself.
Goldman's home state of New York has often been a battleground for gun policy, with its permitting system being at the heart of a 2022 Supreme Court decision that required states to be more permissive in how permits are issued.
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At the federal level, Congress has been at a stalemate for decades on major gun safety regulation policies, including expanding background checks and banning military-style semiautomatic rifles commonly known as "assault weapons." However, the Biden administration, working with Congress, managed to pass the first notable bipartisan gun control bill in 30 years, which among other things implemented updates to the background check system and put in place new incentives for states to adopt "red flag" laws.
Biden also enacted a number of regulations restricting pistol braces, cracking down on "ghost guns," and broadening who must obtain a federal license to sell guns, many of which are or have been challenged in court.
So far, Trump has not moved to rescind these orders. However, to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, he has reportedly considered tapping Blake Masters, a failed Arizona GOP Senate and congressional candidate who shot an ad of himself playing with a suppressed handgun and has said "Black people" are the root of gun violence.
