The President’s Executive Actions include requiring the Federal Bureau of Investigation to hire hundreds more people to conduct these background checks, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Those in the East Room listening to Obama’s speech included Vice President Joe Biden, former congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, comedian Amy Schumer, and those who have that have lost family members from these ongoing mass shootings.
The president wants to require businesses selling firearms to get a license and be forced to conduct background checks for everyone that wants to purchase a gun, even businesses at gun shows.
If a background check stops someone who shouldn’t have a gun from getting a gun, then that can only be beneficial, Scheffler said. But at gun shows, websites and flea markets, sellers often skirt that requirement by declining to register as licensed dealers.
“How do you get the guns out of the hands of the criminals, thugs and gangbangers (and) the people in this country that don’t purchase guns through the law-abiding process?”
Some people argue it’s not the guns that are causing the problems.
And yet the GOP candidates are excoriating him as “divisive”, “gun-grabbing”, “unconstitutional”, “lawless”.
“As a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, we in the Houseare looking at all options we have to make sure the president is not allowed to expand interpretations of existing law without the acknowledgment of Congress, including preventing funding from going to any of these initiatives”. Plenty of gun rights supporters agreed – “crocodile tears” was a popular characterisation on social media. He said, “There could be stricter regulations and everyone should get background checks”.
“The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they can not hold America hostage”, Mr. Obama added.
According to the Washington Post, it is already a felony for a private seller to sell a firearm to someone who “likely couldn’t pass a background check” due to a criminal record or a history of mental illness. “We maybe can’t save everybody, but we could save some”. Mark Barden, whose son was shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School, introduced the president with a declaration that “we are better than this”.
The measures outlined on Tuesday by Obama were limited since his legal advisers considered actions that unilaterally establish universal background checks or that ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons or high capacity magazines go beyond his legal authority.
White House adviser Valerie Jarrett explained this is personal for the president.
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Rumors swirled of an executive order in recent weeks following a mass shooting/terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California which left 14 dead and 22 injured.
