President Obama outlined Tuesday executive actions on gun control that he says should help curb gun deaths in the U.S. Among the changes, Obama is making it easier for states to share mental health records when someone is buying a gun. “People kill, not guns kill, but maybe we do need more background checks”, Springs resident Jolita Frank said.
Advertisement
CNN is moderating the town hall Thursday evening in Virginia.
Researchers say a decline in hunting is partly responsible for the shrinking number of households with a gun.
The audience members will be able to directly question the president.
Private sales have increasingly gone online over the last decade, but precise data is hard to pin down.
The Obama plan, created to make it harder for gun buyers to avoid background checks, should speed the process of background checks, the White House said.
Mental Health: Remove barriers that can keep states from reporting and sharing information about people barred from owning guns for mental health reasons, and spend $500 million to increase access to mental health care.
An analysis from the New York Times shows that gun sales spiked to 1.1 million when he took office in 2009, blowing past the previous high of 754,000 that were sold in September 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The new federal rules might have an effect on less-controlled sales in neighboring states – sales that ultimately put guns on Maryland streets. “Of the people who are diagnosed with mental illness, they are actually less violent than the people who are not diagnosed with mental illness [as a percentage of the population]”. “Somebody could get in trouble for selling one gun without a license”.
A lawsuit filed in October alleges that an abusive husband purchased a handgun through an Armslist ad and used it to kill his wife and two other women at a salon in suburban Milwaukee in 2012. But prohibited buyers have evaded the law to buy guns. He said many private sellers want to conduct background checks but are discouraged by a “costly and burdensome” system that requires them to go to licensed dealers and pay fees.
Everytown president John Feinblatt called the clarification a welcome if modest step. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 23 million background checks were performed in 2015, almost three times the 8.5 million performed in 2000.
The Obama administration appeared determined to tamp down expectations, with Obama saying he realizes his actions won’t stop all gun violence.
Advertisement
“So if Congress isn’t doing what the President wants, the President has that right through certain interpretations of the Constitution, to enact an executive order”, said Dr. Craig Albert, Augusta University Political Science Professor.
