US gun violence 'an international embarrassment,' says Biden

President Biden on Thursday decried the epidemic of gun violence in America as an "international embarrassment" as he rolled out a series of executive actions intended to address the issue.

"Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment," Biden said in the Rose Garden. "They're phony arguments suggesting these are Second Amendment rights at stake with what we’re talking about. But no amendment, no amendment to the Constitution is absolute."

"So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution," he added. "Gun violence in this country is an epidemic. And it’s an international embarrassment."

Biden, flanked in the Rose Garden by Vice President Harris and Attorney General Merrick Garland, outlined six measures his administration will pursue to try and curb gun violence.

Biden directed the Justice Department to propose rules to make "ghost guns," which are homemade weapons or firearms without a serial number that are more difficult to track, subject to background checks; to propose model "red flag" legislation for states that could help law enforcement to keep firearms out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals; and to reclassify pistols modified with stabilizer braces to be subject to the National Firearms Act.