Biden calls on states to strengthen background checks on young buyers in USA TODAY op-ed

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden will convene governors and state lawmakers at the White House and urge them to help strengthen gun background checks on buyers younger than 21 years old to combat the stunning pace of mass shootings.

Biden, who has failed to convince a divided Congress to pass major national gun reform, said in a Sunday op-ed in USA TODAY that he will call for states to enact laws that provide the federal background check system "access to all records that could prohibit someone under age 21 from purchasing a firearm."

This move and other steps announced in the op-ed coincide with the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. in which a white 19-year-old gunman killed 10 Black people at a supermarket.

Several measures build off the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act - a gun law with limited restrictions that Congress passed last year - and a March 14 executive order Biden signed that seeks to increase the number of background checks during gun purchases.

"America doesn’t have to be a place where our children learn how to duck and cover from a shooter, or scan a movie theater or restaurant for their exit options," Biden wrote.

What Biden wants states to do on guns

• Biden's latest appeal to states on guns looks to strengthen a provision in the federal law passed last year that created enhanced background checks for firearms buyers younger than 21 years old.

• The law requires the background check system to contact state juvenile justice and mental health repositories for records when an individual younger than 21 is attempting to purchase a firearm to see if they're prohibited under federal law.

• But the FBI has found that privacy laws in some states are preventing agencies from responding to the inquiries.

• Biden said the enhanced background checks on buyers younger than 21 have already stopped 160 firearms "getting into potentially dangerous hands."

More on gun background checks

• Federal law requires background checks of individuals who are buying firearms from federally licensed dealers. But background checks are not required during purchases from unlicensed sellers, often at gun shows or online.

• In the March executive order, Biden directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to clarify what it means to be "engaged in the business" of selling firearms to ensure "rogue dealers" are checking the backgrounds of buyers as required by federal law.

• Twenty states and the District of Columbia have state laws that require gun background checks regardless of the license status of a seller.

'For God's sake, do something,' Biden says to Congress

In the one year since the Buffalo shooting, Biden has been forced to confront mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Monterey Park, Calif.; Michigan State University; Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Dadeville Ala.; and most recently, Allen Texas, among many other places.

Biden has repeatedly renewed his call for Congress to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but he's been unable to sway Republicans in Congress to support that. He has also unsuccessfully pushed for legislation for universal gun background checks.

Following the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provided grants for states that adopt "red flag" laws, which allow courts to remove firearms from those deemed a threat to themselves or others. But the law didn't go nearly as far as gun control advocates want.

In March Biden said he had exhausted the "full extent of my executive authority" on guns as he called on Congress to act in the aftermath of a shooting at Christian private school in Nashville that month that killed seven people, including three children.

"Gun violence is mobilizing an entire generation of young people. But we cannot sit back and pass this problem off to the next generation to solve," Biden said in the op-ed Sunday. "If we wait, too many of them will never have the chance to grow up."

Biden concluded with a message to Congress: "For God's sake, do something."

What else is Biden doing new on guns?

• Biden said he plans to invite law enforcement officials who support an assault-weapon ban to the White House "to build an even bigger, unrelenting coalition demanding that Congress pass additional gun safety legislation."

• He said the Departments of Health and Human Service and Education are "creating new resources" to help health care providers and educators under the impact of gun violence trauma on communities.

• Biden also said his administration is "doubling down on efforts" to ensure schools and communities know about resources to combat gun violence made available in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden one year after Buffalo shooting: 'For God's sake, do something.'