Obama prepares to take executive action on guns

President Barack Obama delivers

remarks after a national security
team meeting on Dec. 17. Photo:
Getty Images
HONOLULU — President Barack
Obama will meet Monday with
Attorney General Loretta Lynch to
discuss executive actions he could
take to make it harder for “a
dangerous few” to get their hands on
guns.
Obama said on his weekly radio
address that he gets so many letters
from parents, teachers and children
about the “epidemic of gun violence”
that he can’t “sit around and do
nothing.”
“The gun lobby is loud and well
organized in its defense of
effortlessly available guns for
anyone,” Obama said. “The rest of us
are going to have to be just as
passionate and well organized in our
defense of our kids.”
Obama recently directed staff at the
White House to look into potential
executive actions, such as expanding
background checks.
Currently, federally licensed firearms
dealers are required to seek
background checks on potential
firearm purchasers. But advocacy
groups say some of the people who
sell firearms at gun shows are not
federally licensed, increasing the
chance of sales to customers
prohibited by law from purchasing
guns.
A source familiar with the
administration’s efforts said Obama
is expected to take executive action
next week that would set a
“reasonable threshold” for when
sellers have to seek a background
check. That person didn’t know
whether it would be based on the
number of guns sold or revenue
generated through gun sales.
The source, a member of a gun
control advocacy group, was not
authorized to discuss details before
the announcement and spoke on
condition of anonymity. White House
officials won’t confirm the timing.
Obama is in Hawaii for his annual
holiday vacation with his family.
Obama tips his hat after finishing the
18th hole at the Mid-Pacific Country
Club golf course on December 28 in
Kailua, Hawaii.

In his efforts to work around

Congress that has often been

politically gridlocked during his time

as president, Obama has made the

aggressive use of executive power,

particularly on immigration. It has

been an increasingly effective and

politically accepted presidential tool.

While legal scholars are divided on

whether Obama has accelerated or

merely continued a drift of power

toward the executive branch, there’s

little debate that he’s paved a path

for his successor.

Depending on who succeeds him,

many Obama backers could rue the

day they cheered his “pen-and-

phone” campaign to get past

Republican opposition in Congress.

The unilateral steps he took to raise

environmental standards and ease

the threat of deportation for millions

of immigrants in the U.S. illegally,

may serve as precedent for moves

they won’t cheer.

The National Rifle Association

opposes expanded background check

systems. The organization’s Institute

for Legislative Action says studies

have shown that people sent to state

prison because of gun crimes

typically get guns through theft, the

black market or family and friends.

Also, many purchases by criminals

are made from straw purchasers who

pass background checks. “No

amount of background checks can

stop these criminals,” says the

group’s website.

Obama has consistently expressed

frustration after mass shootings,

saying it shouldn’t be so easy for

somebody who wants to inflict harm

on other people to get his or her

hands on a gun.

Going into his final year in office,

Obama said his New Year’s

resolution is to move forward on

unfinished business.

“That’s especially true for one piece

of unfinished business, that’s our

epidemic of gun violence,” Obama

said in his weekly address.

He said a bipartisan bill from three

years ago requiring background

checks for virtually everyone had

huge support, including among a

majority of NRA households. But the

Senate blocked it.

He said tens of thousands of

Americans have since died as a

result of gun violence.

“Each time, we’re told that

commonsense reforms like

background checks might not have

stopped the last massacre, or the

one before that, so we shouldn’t do

anything,” he said. “We know that we

can’t stop every act of violence. But

what if we tried to stop even one?”