Gun violence a priority as Obama sets AG meeting
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Barack Obama will meet with the United States attorney general on Monday to discuss executive actions he could take to make it harder for “a dangerous few” to get their hands on guns.
Obama said on his weekly radio address that he gets so many letters from parents, teachers and children about the “epidemic of gun violence” that he can’t “sit around and do nothing.”
“The gun lobby is loud and well-organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone,” Obama said. “The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organized in our defense of our kids.”
The issue of gun laws is one of the most divisive in the US, particularly in the wake of a string of mass shootings. While many citizens want tighter rules for gun purchases and ownership, others believe such laws infringe on the their constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense and other purposes, enshrined in the much-debated Second Amendment of the Constitution.
Obama recently asked White House staff to look into potential executive actions, such as expanding background checks.
Currently, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say some of the people who sell firearms at gun shows are not federally licensed, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing guns.
A source familiar with the administration’s efforts said Obama is expected to take executive action next week that would set a “reasonable threshold” when sellers have to seek a background check. That person didn’t know whether it would be based on the number of guns sold or revenue generated via gun sales.
In his efforts to work around Congress that has often been politically gridlocked during his time as president, Obama has made aggressive use of executive power, particularly on immigration. It has been an increasingly effective and politically accepted presidential tool. While legal scholars are divided on whether Obama has accelerated or merely continued a drift of power toward the executive branch, there’s little debate that he’s paved a path for his successor.
Depending on who succeeds him, many Obama backers could rue the day they cheered his “pen-and-phone” campaign to get past Republican opposition in Congress. The unilateral steps he took to raise environmental standards and ease the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants in the US illegally, may serve as precedent for moves they won’t cheer.
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