The announcement has become a contentious issue throughout US politics and is expected to be an issue in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.
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Obama also said guns should have more safety features, such as child locks and fingerprint recognition, which would allow only the owner of the gun to pull the trigger.
The debate has been ongoing for years, and West Michigan is no different.
Later, at a town hall meeting in Rochester, N.H., Christie said Obama was refusing to listen to the American people.
There’s a lot more Obama could have tried to do but which did not make it into his planned executive actions such as a requirement that every gun sale in the country is proceeded by a criminal background check; a ban on gun sales to people on terrorist “no-fly” lists and a ban on large capacity magazines.
He said his plan would stop some gun deaths, but not all, and said it’s worth trying measures that might lead to some decrease.
The White House said the ATF is also finalizing a rule to ensure that dealers who ship firearms notify law enforcement if their guns are lost or stolen in transit.
There are thought to be substantially more than 300 million guns in circulation in the United States, more than one per person.
President Obama said more people who sell guns outside retail stores should be licensed, and they would then be obligated to conduct background checks on buyers. The Obama administration acknowledged it couldn’t quantify how many gun sales would be newly subjected to background checks, nor how many now unregistered gun sellers would have to obtain a license.
In an at times emotional speech in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, Obama said Americans are not inherently more prone to violence but claimed the U.S.is the only advanced country that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency.
“We maybe can’t save everybody, but we could save some”, Obama said.
The latest CBS News poll shows 51 percent of Americans believe gun laws should be stricter, but that is down seven points since last fall.
“It is long past the time when we can simply condemn the Sandy Hook or Charleston or San Bernardino shooters and mourn the victims”.
“Today, we celebrate another example of how President Obama and Vice President Biden continue to keep that promise”, Barden said. “Unfortunately, by once again choosing to circumvent the people’s representatives in Congress, President Obama has only served to undermine the Constitution and further polarize this issue”.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, both competing for the nomination from Obama’s party, pledged to build on his actions if elected.
In Congress, Democrats and Republicans similarly lined up on opposite sides.
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“The fact that Congress doesn’t do something, whether or not I happen to personally agree (with) it, doesn’t give the president the legal authority to do it”, he said. But House Speaker Paul Ryan predicted a certain challenge in the courts.
