(CN) - President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that will expand the number of background checks conducted before gun sales, impose harsher penalties on violations of federal firearms law and study how firearm manufacturers market to minors.

Biden will announce the order in Monterey Park, California, a community outside Los Angeles that endured a mass shooting in late January. Eleven people were killed by the gunman who opened fire at a dance hall during Lunar New Year celebrations. Before his speech, the president is set to meet with first responders and families of the victims.

His order aims to move the U.S. as close as possible to universal background checks without new congressional action while boosting existing laws and improving law enforcement cooperation.

A White House fact sheet says it will direct Attorney General Merrick Garland to "do everything he can to ensure that firearms sellers who do not realize they are required to run background checks under existing law, or who are willfully violating existing law, become compliant with background check requirements." Specifically, it will clarify the statutory definition of who is "engaged in the business" of dealing firearms.

"This move would mean fewer guns will be sold without background checks, and therefore fewer guns will end up in the hands of felons and domestic abusers," the fact sheet says.

The order would mandate improvements to the reporting of ballistics data from federal law enforcements for a clearinghouse that allows federal, state and local law enforcement to match shell casings to guns. Local and state law enforcement are not required to report such data.

Observing that thousands of firearms are lost or stolen in transit between dealers every year, Biden's order will also direct the secretary of transportation and the Department of Justice to take action. The White House said that there were 6,100 firearms reported lost or stolen during shipment between licensed firearms dealers in 2022, up from about 1,700 in 2018.

Biden is asking the Federal Trade Commission to issue a report about how gun manufacturers market to minors and use military images to market to the general public.

Finally, the president is calling for more awareness of so-called red-flag laws, which are intended to temporarily remove guns from people with potentially violent behavior.

"These laws are only effective if the public knows when and how to use red flag orders," the White House said.

Biden is scheduled to address the order at 12:45 p.m. PDT.

Source: Courthouse News Service