[ot-caption title=”A protest in Washington, D.C., promoting gun control legislation. (via, Slowking4, Wikipedia)”]

After 372 mass shootings in 2015 and numerous attempts to encourage Congress to pass stricter gun control laws, President Obama has decided to bypass Congress and take matters into his own hands.  On January 4th, President Obama met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI director James Coney, the White House staff, and the deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.  During this meeting, he discussed potential paths of executive action and listened to Lynch’s recommendations on how to proceed most effectively.  Lynch’s specific recommendations were not announced, but after complaints that Obama might be overstepping his legal authority, he assured Americans that the recommendations were “well within my legal authority.” 

On Tuesday January 5, Obama addressed the nation from the East Room of the White House.  He explained why these measures on gun control are important and emphasized that they will not break the Second Amendment, despite criticism from his opponents.  Obama revealed that his goal was not to take guns from the hands of law abiding citizens, but to require background checks for all individuals buying guns.  One specific measure that Obama plans to include in the executive action is to clarify the law that requires gun dealers to register and conduct background checks on clients.  Currently, the gun show loophole, also referred to as the Brady bill loophole, allows gun collectors to sell guns without checking the backgrounds of their clients.  Many of these transactions occur online.  Obama’s plan hopes to eliminate this loophole by redefining who is considered a gun dealer.  He also wants to make gun collectors who sell guns involved in the mandatory background checks. Along with fixing the background check situation, Obama also suggested improvements to the mental health system.

There has been significant backlash from gun control opponents, including presidential candidate Marco Rubio.  He questions Obama’s constitutional authority to “undermine” the Second Amendment and take away gun rights for law abiding citizens.  Obama responded at a town hall meeting held Thursday January 7th at George Mason University. While Obama acknowledged that the gun control executive action would not solve all problems, he hopes that it will save as many lives as possible. Obama began the meeting by stating that he has no intentions of taking guns away from law abiding citizens. The meeting had both gun control advocates and opponents, although the NRA declined their invitation to attend.

Sources: CNN, PBS, Fox, ABC

Image source: Slowking4