President Biden blamed his predecessor Wednesday when explaining to talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel why he hasn’t issued an executive order curbing gun rights in the wake of recent horrific mass shootings.
In his first interview in nearly 100 days, Mr. Biden told Mr. Kimmel that he had to be careful his executive orders didn’t run afoul of the Constitution, adding that former President Trump abused his authority with a slew of executive actions.
“What I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of Constitution, and constitutional authority,” he said in response to Mr. Kimmel’s question about issuing a gun-control executive order.
“I often get asked, ‘Well the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?’” Mr. Biden continued. “Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy.”
Democrats in Congress have called on Mr. Biden to use executive orders to implement things like universal background checks which are unlikely to survive any agreement in an evenly-divided Congress.
With gun-control legislation at a standstill, some are calling for Mr. Biden to take action on his own, following the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.
Earlier on Wednesday, the House passed on a near party-line vote a gun-control bill that raises the minimum age to buy assault weapons, limits magazine sizes and bans bump stock purchases. But with a 50-50 Senate split, such an ambitious bill has no chance in the upper chamber.
