Combating Emerging Firearms Threats and Improving School-Based Active-Shooter Drills, 80345-80350 [2024-22938]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 80345-80350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22938]



[[Page 80343]]

Vol. 89

Wednesday,

No. 191

October 2, 2024

Part III





The President





-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Executive Order 14127--Combating Emerging Firearms Threats and 
Improving School-Based Active-Shooter Drills



Proclamation 10817--Amending Proclamation 10773



Proclamation 10818--Gold Star Mother's and Family's Day, 2024



Proclamation 10819--National Hunting and Fishing Day, 2024



Proclamation 10820--National Public Lands Day, 2024


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 191 / Wednesday, October 2, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 80345]]

                Executive Order 14127 of September 26, 2024

                
Combating Emerging Firearms Threats and Improving 
                School-Based Active-Shooter Drills

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. During 2020, the last year of the 
                prior administration, homicides in the Nation increased 
                nearly 30 percent over the previous year--the largest 
                1-year increase in murders ever recorded. After that, 
                the Vice President and I took action to reduce gun 
                crime and other forms of violent crime. By the middle 
                of 2022, we had already taken more executive action to 
                reduce gun violence than any other administration at 
                that point in time. On June 25, 2022, I signed into law 
                the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Public Law 117-
                159)--the most significant new gun violence prevention 
                law in nearly 30 years. Rates of homicide in the United 
                States are falling at one of the fastest rates ever 
                recorded. Year-over-year comparison shows that 2023 had 
                one of the largest declines in the homicide rate in 
                recent history. This life-saving progress has continued 
                in 2024. While we have made great progress, much more 
                work remains to be done to reduce gun violence and save 
                lives.

                It is the policy of my Administration to coordinate 
                across executive departments and agencies (agencies) to 
                reduce gun violence and save lives. This order directs 
                enhanced coordination for two key challenges: combating 
                emerging firearms threats and understanding and 
                improving school-based active-shooter drills.

                One way to continue the progress on reducing gun 
                violence is to stay ahead of emerging violent crime 
                threats involving firearms. My Administration has 
                always taken these threats seriously. In April 2021, 
                one of my Administration's first executive actions to 
                reduce gun violence was directed at stopping the 
                proliferation of firearms without serial numbers, often 
                referred to as ``ghost guns.'' To expand these efforts, 
                the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 
                Explosives (ATF) of the Department of Justice 
                established an Emerging Threats Center, which focuses 
                ATF's resources on identifying developments in illicit 
                firearm marketplaces, including the use of new 
                technologies to make and unlawfully distribute 
                undetectable firearms and devices that convert 
                semiautomatic firearms into illegal machineguns. The 
                Vice President and I strongly disagreed with the 
                Supreme Court's decision to strike down an important 
                gun safety regulation on bump stocks--the device used 
                in the shooting at a crowded music festival in Las 
                Vegas--and called on the Congress to clarify that this 
                dangerous accessory is a machinegun.

                The Court's decision addressing bump stocks did not 
                alter the statutory prohibition on machinegun 
                conversion devices, which are prohibited for non-
                governmental possession even when not installed on a 
                firearm. The threat posed by the continued 
                proliferation of these devices is particularly acute. 
                These devices enable semiautomatic firearms, including 
                easily concealable handguns, to match or exceed the 
                rate of fire of many military machineguns with a single 
                engagement of the trigger--up to 20 bullets in one 
                second and 1,200 rounds in one minute. From 2017 
                through 2021, ATF recovered 5,454 of these devices--a 
                570 percent increase over the previous 5-year period. 
                These devices are often illegally imported or illegally 
                made on a 3D printer.

[[Page 80346]]

                Unserialized, 3D printed firearms--which can be used 
                for illicit purposes such as gun trafficking, 
                possession by people convicted of felonies or subject 
                to domestic violence restraining orders, or unlawful 
                engagement in the business of manufacturing or selling 
                firearms--are another emerging threat. These firearms 
                can be 3D printed from computer code downloaded from 
                the internet and produced without serial numbers, which 
                law enforcement uses to trace firearms recovered in 
                criminal investigations. Some 3D printed firearms can 
                be rendered undetectable by magnetometers used to 
                secure airports, courthouses, and certain events. 3D 
                printing technology is developing quickly, which can 
                cause the safety threat of 3D printed firearms to 
                suddenly increase.

                In addition to the threat of domestic crime, these 
                emerging firearms threats pose a significant risk to 
                the national security and foreign policy interests of 
                the United States. Many foreign countries have heavily 
                regulated automatic weapons and 3D printed and 
                undetectable firearms. The wide availability of these 
                emerging firearms threats would undermine other 
                nations' gun laws and the safety and security of our 
                allies. Technical data and software for 3D printed 
                firearms and machinegun conversion devices can be used 
                by international gangs, criminals, and terrorists in a 
                manner contrary to United States national security and 
                foreign policy interests.

                Multiple agencies have the authority to help stop the 
                proliferation of these emerging threats, and it is the 
                policy of the United States to work collectively across 
                agencies to identify threats, engage in information 
                sharing, and work together to develop and implement 
                effective strategies to combat these threats. 
                Authorities that can address emerging firearms threats 
                extend beyond the Gun Control Act (Public Law 90-618) 
                and the National Firearms Act (Public Law 73-474). 
                Focused and enhanced coordination is needed to ensure a 
                unified and robust strategy for enforcing existing 
                legal authorities and using every available tool and 
                resource. This interagency effort will build on the 
                life-saving work that has occurred to date to stop the 
                proliferation of machinegun conversion devices, 
                including the ongoing efforts at the Department of 
                Justice and ATF.

                My Administration also has invested significant 
                resources in school safety and has taken steps to keeps 
                firearms out of schools. These steps have focused on 
                preventing unauthorized access to firearms for youth 
                and individuals in crisis; supporting schools that are 
                implementing evidence-based safety and gun-violence 
                prevention and intervention solutions; and addressing 
                the mental health needs of students, particularly those 
                impacted by gun violence.

                Keeping students and educators, including teachers and 
                other school personnel, safe from gun violence in their 
                schools is a top priority for my Administration, but 
                there is more to do to make our schools safer. Since 
                the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado 
                in 1999, according to one analysis, there have been 
                more than 400 school shootings that exposed more than 
                375,000 students to gun violence. Exposure to school 
                shootings takes a terrible toll on students and 
                educators. A nationally representative study found that 
                51 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds in the United States 
                worry about school shootings.

                The majority of States require schools to conduct 
                active-shooter drills for students and educators. About 
                95 percent of K-12 public schools in the United States 
                conduct lockdown drills, which include drills to 
                prepare for an active-shooter situation. These drills 
                vary widely in their approach, and many parents, 
                students, and educators have expressed concerns over 
                the effectiveness of and trauma caused by some 
                approaches to these drills.

                Despite their ubiquity, there is very limited research 
                on how to design and deploy these drills to maximize 
                their effectiveness and minimize any collateral harms 
                they might cause. While additional research is ongoing, 
                it is difficult to conclusively determine which 
                specific practices are most effective in preparing 
                schools for active-shooter incidents, preventing 
                injuries

[[Page 80347]]

                and fatalities, and minimizing any associated 
                psychological impacts or traumas. The Department of 
                Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, 
                the Department of Education, and the Department of 
                Homeland Security continue to work together on a range 
                of school safety issues, including the beginnings of 
                research into these important questions. It is time for 
                these agencies to extend their efforts to help schools 
                better design and conduct effective and age- and 
                developmentally appropriate active-shooter drills.

                Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order:

                    (a) The term ``machinegun'' has the meaning given 
                by 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(24) and 26 U.S.C. 5845(b), and 
                includes a ``machinegun conversion device,'' which is 
                any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, 
                or combination of parts designed and intended, for use 
                in converting a weapon into a machinegun.
                    (b) The term ``undetectable firearm'' means a 
                firearm as proscribed by 18 U.S.C. 922(p).
                    (c) The term ``3D printing'' refers to the additive 
                manufacturing process, during which producers transmit 
                digital designs to 3D printers. The computerized design 
                guides the fabrication of products, building them up 
                layer by layer rather than cutting away from a large 
                block of existing material as in most traditional 
                manufacturing. This term includes additive 
                manufacturing technology used to produce a firearm, 
                firearm frame or receiver, or machinegun conversion 
                device.

                Sec. 3. Combating Emerging Firearms Threats. (a) There 
                is hereby established an interagency Emerging Firearms 
                Threats Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force shall 
                be chaired by the Director of the Office of Gun 
                Violence Prevention. In addition to the Chair, the Task 
                Force shall consist of the following members:

(i) the Secretary of State;

(ii) the Attorney General;

(iii) the Secretary of Commerce;

(iv) the Secretary of Homeland Security;

(v) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(vi) the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(vii) the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor;

(viii) the Counsel to the President;

(ix) the Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy 
Council;

(x) the Deputy Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor to 
the Vice President; and

(xi) the heads of such other agencies and offices as the Chair may from 
time to time invite to participate.

                    (b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the 
                Task Force shall submit to the President, through the 
                Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a 
                report containing a risk assessment and strategy to 
                stop the proliferation of machinegun conversion 
                devices, with a particular emphasis on the devices used 
                to convert a standard, semiautomatic firearm to a 
                machinegun. The risk assessment and strategy shall 
                include:

(i) information regarding the use, recovery, origins, and distribution 
channels of machinegun conversion devices, including:

  (A) the software or technology used for 3D printing machinegun conversion 
devices; and

  (B) the origins of machinegun conversion devices that are seized at ports 
of entry, illegally imported into the United States, or otherwise recovered 
by law enforcement agencies in the United States;

[[Page 80348]]

(ii) an assessment of existing applicable legal authorities of the agencies 
represented on the Task Force and other agencies identified at the 
direction of the Chair to regulate software or technology used to make 
machinegun conversion devices, which shall include a review of export and 
import laws;

(iii) an assessment of the technological and legal feasibility of 3D 
printing companies designing 3D printers that block the functional 
capacities of software that can 3D print machinegun conversion devices;

(iv) an assessment of the operational capabilities and legal authorities of 
agencies to detect, intercept, and seize machinegun conversion devices that 
are illegally imported or illegally produced domestically, including 
through 3D printing;

(v) an interagency plan for expanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
initiatives with Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforcement to stop 
the flow into the United States of machinegun conversion devices;

(vi) an interagency plan for seizing as criminal instrumentalities 3D 
printers that are acquired for the purpose of illegally making machinegun 
conversion devices and recommendations for additional administrative 
actions necessary to facilitate such seizure;

(vii) an interagency plan for expanding partnerships with State, Tribal, 
and local law enforcement for Federal training on identifying machinegun 
conversion devices, tracing the firearms to which they were attached, and 
submitting seizure data to ATF;

(viii) an interagency plan--with input from 3D data providers, technology 
companies, and civil society--for voluntary, regulatory, and international 
mechanisms to limit the availability on the internet of files used for the 
purpose of unlawfully producing machinegun conversion devices;

(ix) an interagency plan for effective coordination to limit the illegal 
export and import of software or technology on the internet that can be 
readily used to 3D print machinegun conversion devices; and

(x) recommendations for any additional authorities or funding agencies need 
from the Congress to more effectively address the proliferation of 
machinegun conversion devices.

                    (c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the 
                Task Force shall submit to the President, through the 
                Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a 
                report containing a risk assessment and strategy to 
                address the emerging threat related to 3D printed 
                firearms, including unserialized or undetectable 3D 
                printed firearms. The risk assessment and strategy 
                shall include:

(i) information regarding the usage, recovery, origins, and distribution 
channels of 3D printed unserialized firearms and 3D printed undetectable 
firearms, including the software or technology used for 3D printing 
unserialized firearms or undetectable firearms;

(ii) an assessment of how 3D printing of firearms can facilitate violation 
of the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. 922(p));

(iii) an assessment of existing authorities, including export and import 
laws, that regulate software or technology used for 3D printing firearms, 
including undetectable firearms;

(iv) an assessment of the technological feasibility of 3D printers 
proactively blocking the functional capacities of software used to 3D print 
undetectable firearms;

(v) an interagency plan for seizing as criminal instrumentalities 3D 
printers acquired for the purpose of illegally producing or dealing in 
firearms, including unserialized or undetectable firearms, or for the 
purpose of producing firearms for criminal purposes, and recommendations 
for additional administrative actions that may be necessary to facilitate 
such seizures;

[[Page 80349]]

(vi) an interagency plan for effective coordination between the Department 
of Justice and the Department of Commerce to limit the illegal export or 
import of software or technology on the internet that can be readily used 
to illegally 3D print firearms, including unserialized or undetectable 
firearms;

(vii) an interagency plan for expanding partnerships with Federal, State, 
Tribal, and local law enforcement to train them on identifying undetectable 
or unserialized firearms made with 3D printing software or technology and 
reporting recoveries of such firearms to ATF; and

(viii) recommendations for any additional authorities or funding the 
agencies need from the Congress to more effectively address the problem of 
3D printed firearms, including unserialized or undetectable firearms.

                    (d) The Task Force shall be responsible for 
                interagency coordination necessary to facilitate 
                agencies' implementation of the recommendations and 
                strategies in the reports described in subsections (b) 
                and (c) of this section.
                    (e) At the direction of the Chair, the Task Force 
                may coordinate interagency efforts to address 
                additional emerging firearms threats.

                Sec. 4. Understanding and Improving School-Based 
                Active-Shooter Drills. (a) Within 110 days of the date 
                of this order, the Secretary of Education and the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with 
                the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human 
                Services, and the Surgeon General, shall develop and 
                publish information about school-based active-shooter 
                drills for schools, including institutions of higher 
                education, and for State, Tribal, and local educational 
                agencies. Such information shall include:

(i) a summary of existing research and recommendations on active-shooter 
drills, including information on:

  (A) how educators can collaborate within schools--as well as with 
families; communities; State, Tribal, and local law enforcement; and other 
emergency response officials--to implement drills that effectively prepare 
a response to school-based active-shooter situations, including by 
accounting for the particular needs of educators and students with 
disabilities; sharing evidence-informed age- and developmentally 
appropriate practices, such as those that prevent or limit trauma and 
psychological harm to those participating in drills; and facilitating 
effective and timely communication with students, educators, first 
responders, family members, and other relevant stakeholders; and

  (B) how schools must comply with Federal civil rights laws prohibiting 
discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and 
disability when creating, implementing, and evaluating active-shooter 
drills, including by effectively serving educators and students with 
disabilities as well as ensuring that communications with educators and 
students consider their language-related needs (e.g., communicating in a 
manner and language that educators and students are able to understand); 
and

(ii) resources on school-based active-shooter drills, including information 
on:

  (A) the types of drills that may be appropriate to prepare students and 
educators for school-based active-shooter situations; and

  (B) how to create, implement, and evaluate evidence-informed, effective, 
and age- and developmentally appropriate school-based drills, including:

(1) how best to engage with students, family members, educators, law 
enforcement, and other relevant stakeholders on the process for creating, 
implementing, and evaluating these drills;

(2) how best to communicate with students, family members, educators, and 
other relevant stakeholders before, during, and after the drill, including 
through the use of notification plans for students, educators, parents, and 
other parties;

[[Page 80350]]

(3) how to prevent or limit trauma or psychological distress associated 
with active-shooter drills and support students and educators who may 
experience such trauma or psychological distress; and

(4) how best to serve people with disabilities and those with unique 
language-related needs.

                    (b) Within 110 days of the date of this order, the 
                Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security, in coordination with the Attorney General, 
                the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the 
                Surgeon General, shall develop and publish information 
                on recommended areas for future research that can help 
                inform policymakers, educators, students, parents, and 
                other relevant stakeholders about different types of 
                school-based active-shooter drills, the appropriate 
                frequency of such drills, and the effects of such 
                drills on students and educators. This information 
                shall include potential funding sources that could help 
                advance research on, and inform improvements to, 
                active-shooter drills.

                Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    September 26, 2024.

[FR Doc. 2024-22938
Filed 10-1-24; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P