The most important measure will reportedly attempt to at least partially close the “gun control loophole” by requiring some unlicensed gun dealers – those who sell online or at gun shows but do not have a physical store – to get licenses and run background checks on buyers.
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Current and former White House advisers noted that Obama avoided any slide into “lame duck” status in 2015 with big policy moves including the Iran nuclear deal and an global agreement to fight climate change. Obama will meet with Lynch to discuss a three-month review of what actions he could take to help reduce gun violence.
“The plain truth is that President Obama’s gun-control agenda will only make it harder for law-aiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to self-protection. Tens of thousands”, Obama said in his weekly address Saturday. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama’s annual State of the Union address, set for January 12. Politico speculates that he’s targeting an expansion of the number of small-scale gun sellers who are required to be licensed, which would in turn require them to conduct background checks.
Besides considering widening background checks, the President expressed concern about the ability for people on the Transportation Security Administration’s No-Fly list to purchase guns. President Barack Obama is returning to the rancor of the nati… But anything Obama does by executive action is likely to be undone if a Republican moves into the White House in 2017. And on Friday, he’ll mark the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tuscon shooting that killed six and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who has since left Congress to found a gun control lobbying group that met with Obama personally last month.
“The administration has not communicated with us, and we have not been briefed”, said Doug Andres, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), in an email. Currently, federal law allows people to sell guns from their own “personal collections” without background checks and it’s the definition of “personal collections” that has been expanded -and debated – since the original firearms regulation laws were passed in 1968.
Obama’s address came as a Texas law allowing licensed firearms owners to carry handguns openly in public places took effect.
Rand has introduced legislation that would decree any executive action on gun control that either infringes upon congressional authority or potentially violates the Second Amendment as “advisory only” until legislation that supported the action is passed by Congress, notes.
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“This is nothing more than a political stunt to appease anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and will do nothing to increase public safety”, she said.
