According to Fox News
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced “zero tolerance” for gun dealers who willfully violate the law, as part of the administration’s strategy to combat what the Department of Justice calls a “staggering” surge in violent crime.
The rollout will be highlighted by closely watched remarks by Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland Wednesday afternoon.
The “zero tolerance” policy targets federally licensed firearms dealers who “willfully” transfer a weapon to someone prohibited from owning one or ignore a tracing request from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF would seek to revoke the dealer’s license after the first offense, a senior White House official said.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it is launching “strike forces” to target gun traffickers and to provide more transparency around the enforcement of federally licensed firearms dealer policies.
Biden also plans to discuss how $350 billion of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package can be used by cities to hire law enforcement officers, pay overtime, prosecute gun traffickers and invest in technology to make law enforcement more efficient. The officials said the Biden administration hoped cities would choose to use the money for alternatives to policing, too, and to invest in community policing models.
The administration has also taken aim at “ghost guns” and modified firearms, which are homemade firearms without serial numbers that can be used to trace them, making it difficult for law enforcement to determine where, by whom, or when they were manufactured and to whom they were sold.
The Justice Department’s ATF last month sought to update the legal definition of “firearm” in an effort to crack down on ghost guns.
In his Wednesday speech, Biden is expected to push cities to use $122 billion to help keep schoolchildren busy this summer – they’re often both targets and perpetrators of violence – and to expand summer hiring programs for teenagers, the officials said. Labor Department funding will be used to provide pre-apprenticeship jobs for youths and help formerly incarcerated adults and young people in 28 communities get work.
Before the remarks, Biden will meet with law enforcement officials, politicians, activists and prosecutors from around the country who have committed to using a portion of the funding for violence intervention programs.