There is strong reaction in the Bay Area to President Obama’s orders from gun shops to people who lost loved ones to gun violence. “It doesn’t happen in other advanced countries”. “Not to debate the last mass shooting, but to try to do something to prevent the next one”.
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The biggest changes would require background checks on all gun sales and change a federal privacy rule to help keep people with mental health restrictions from possessing guns. “I guarantee you if we go back through those, many of those would be involved in gun crimes”.
The departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security get to “conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology”.
Demand for firearms hit an all-time high in 2013 after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut – gun buyers became so convinced that a crackdown was approaching that the industry was hit by “panic buying”, as Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack put it on a conference call in 2014.
“We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world”, Obama said.
We thank President Obama for standing up to the Gun Lobby and call on Congress to take meaningful action to protect American lives. They are in denial about climate change and in paralyzing internal disagreement on immigration, and refuse to consider any new gun regulations. And that was denied Jews in Kansas City.
“The timing of this announcement, in the eighth and final year of his presidency, demonstrates not only political exploitation but a fundamental lack of seriousness”, said Chris Cox, a senior NRA official.
During the press conference, the president did not hide his frustration over his inability to pass gun control legislation. “If we can set it up so you can’t unlock your phone unless you’ve got the right fingerprint, why can’t we do the same thing for our guns?” But it’s unclear whether the steps will significantly curb unregulated gun sales. He stressed the fact that numerous actions he’s calling for can only be imposed through legislative action. “And when the other party takes the White House, there’s usually a flurry on that first day of certain executive actions or orders to undo something that the previous president did”, said Jon Schaff, Northern State University Political Science Professor.
“Certainly we are concerned enough not to rest on our laurels”, he said.
While he agrees Congress needs to also take action, Garnett said he applauded Obama’s actions because it will at least prompt more discussion and about gun control.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said that, if elected, he would reverse the measures. “This should not be allowed under our constitutional framework”.
Overriding all of this, of course, is the mantra of opposition to gun control measures: If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
“When the background law was passed, we didn’t have online commerce”, he said. It is also clear, though, that this right – like the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment, for example – is not absolute and that governments retain some power to reasonably regulate guns. However, an NRA spokeswoman quoted in The New York Timesappeared to downplay the significance of the measures.
People who are convicted felons, involuntarily committed to mental institutions, addicted to illegal drugs, dishonorably discharged from the military or in the country illegally are barred from owning guns.
LaPierre said his group has fought for 20 years to get more felons and mentally disturbed individuals entered into the background check system. “The goal is keeping bad actors away from firearms and also to make it easier for authorities to make sure that the gun laws are properly followed and enforced”.
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There are loopholes for those who want to avoid a background check, LeRose said. States that have gone beyond federal background check laws have seen less gun violence, he said.
