The White House also said it planned to ask Congress for $500 million to improve mental health care, and pledged to move forward with efforts to keep guns out of the hands with people deemed unsuitable because of mental illness.
Advertisement
“This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country”.
The executive order would broaden the definition of a gun seller to include collectors and those at gun shows.
“The one thing good about executive orders”, Trump said, “the new president, if he comes in, boom, first day, first hour, first minute, you can rescind that”.
Current law exempts anyone who occasionally sells guns for personal reasons, such as enhancement of their collection or as a hobby, from the requirement to obtain a federal license and perform background checks.
The president will meet Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey to discuss the administration’s options for tightening gun rules without going through the Republican-controlled Congress, which does not support the wide-ranging legislative changes that Obama prefers.
Regarding the executive gun control which Obama will announce January 5, Paul said, “I’m going to fight him tooth and nail”. But the issue of gun control bitterly divides Americans, with many viewing any attempt to regulate firearms as a possible infringement on their constitutional rights to own guns.
Obama’s plans immediately set off a political debate on the presidential campaign trail, both over the policy and whether the president has the authority to make it.
The new guidance from that Bureau is created to require more such sellers to conduct background checks, even if they’re doing business only at gun shows or online.
In an interview with ABC News, the Vermont senator added that an “overwhelming majority of the American people believe we should expand and strengthen the instant background check” system. The initiative also promised to be prominent in Obama’s final State of the Union address next week.
The White House conceded its moves are not a substitute for congressional action.
“We’ll be making sure that people have a very clear understanding of what can make a difference and what we can do”, he said.
None of this is sitting well with our Republican candidates for president-almost all of them decried Obama’s proposed actions this weekend, with varying degrees of cogency.
“When I become president, [the order] will be stricken from executive action – by executive action I will take”, he pledged.
Advertisement
“He knows that he can’t get it through congress so he’s just gonna try and do it by executive action as if he’s King Barack Obama”, said Republican Presidential Candidate Chris Christie.
