Biden is making gun control a central part of his re-election campaign. Biden is referring to shootings at Parkland High School, Sutherland Springs Church, and a Las Vegas concert during the Trump administration. In four years, there were eighteen mass shootings during the Trump administration that occurred in public places and did not transpire in the course of another crime, such as robbery or selling drugs. “Mass” is defined as involving four or more fatalities.
But 23 mass public shootings have occurred so far under Biden – a 46% higher annual rate than under Trump. The deadliest shooting resulted in twenty-one murders at a school in Uvalde, Texas — four more than were killed in Parkland.
Besides touting the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Biden also points to his new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ regulations for background checks on the private transfer of guns. But these additional background checks wouldn’t have prevented any recent mass public shootings. For example, the Uvalde murderer didn’t obtain his gun through a private transfer, and he passed a federal background check. Indeed, there isn’t one mass shooting in this century that universal background checks would have stopped. But almost no one seems to challenge the Biden campaign’s stance on this issue.
Biden claims credit for the drop in reported murder rates last year, pointing to his background checks and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It is quite strange that Biden claims credit for new background checks lowering murder rates last year, when the new rules are only going into effect this year. Also, while last year’s projected murder rate was indeed down from 2022, it’s still 7% above 2019 levels.
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