WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, in his first major gun control measures since taking office, is announcing executive actions Thursday aimed at addressing what the White House calls a “gun violence public health epidemic.”

Biden also is nominating David Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Biden has faced increasing pressure to act after a recent series of mass shootings, but the White House has repeatedly emphasized the need for legislative action. While the House passed a background-check bill last month, gun control measures face slim prospects in an evenly divided Senate, where Republicans remain near-unified against most proposals.

A White House fact sheet said those shootings “underscored the relentless” nature of the epidemic.

Biden is to be joined at the late morning Rose Garden event by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Most of the actions are coming from the Justice Department.

Biden is tightening regulations requiring buyers of “ghost guns” to undergo background checks. The homemade firearms — usually assembled from parts and milled with a metal-cutting machine — often lack serial numbers used to trace them. It’s legal to build a gun in a home or a workshop, and there is no federal requirement for a background check.

The Justice Department will issue a proposed rule aimed at reining in ghost guns within 30 days, though details weren’t immediately issued.

A second proposed rule, expected within 60 days, will tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces, like the one used by the Boulder, Colorado, shooter in a rampage last month that left 10 dead. The rule will designate pistols used with stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own and are subject to a more thorough application process and a $200 tax.

The department also is publishing model legislation within 60 days that is intended to make it easier for states to adopt their own “red flag” laws. Such laws allow for individuals to petition a court to allow the police to confiscate weapons from a person deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

The department also will begin to provide more data on firearms trafficking, starting with a new comprehensive report on the issue. The administration says that hasn’t done in more than two decades.

Biden also is making investments in community violence intervention programs, which are aimed at reducing gun violence in urban communities, across five federal agencies.

The ATF is currently run by an acting director Regina Lombardo.

Chipman is certain to win praise from gun-control advocates. During his time as a senior policy adviser with Giffords, he spent considerable effort pushing for greater regulation and enforcement on ghost guns, changes to the background check system and measures to reduce the trafficking of illegal firearms.