GunsWH finalizing executive order tightening background checks of gun buyers
Sources say that the White House is about to announce a new executive order to expand background checks of individuals wishing to purchase guns. One proposal being considered would designate more sellers as high-volume dealers, closing a legal loophole which allows many sales conducted online or at gun shows to escape existing background check provisions. Two other developments on the gun front: On Thursday, Connecticut governor Dan Malloy said he would sign an executive order which would bar people on the government’s terrorism watch lists from buying guns in Connecticut; in the House, Democrats demand that a 17-year ban on government-funded research into violence involving firearms be ended.
Gun shows allow buying without background checks // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Sources say that the White House is about to announce a new executive order to expand background checks of individuals wishing to purchase guns.
The AP reports that Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett on Wednesday said the president has asked his advisers to finalize a completed plan and send it to him “in short order.”
“The president has directed his team in short order to finalize a set of recommendations on what more the administration can do on its own to save lives from gun violence, and those recommendations will include making sure we do everything we can to keep guns out of the wrong hands, including those expanded background checks,” Jarrett told a gun violence vigil in Washington, D.C.
Jarrett added: “Americans are mobilizing. Two weeks ago I met at the White House with a group of gun owners who believe in the need for change. Many were former NRA (National Rifle Association) members who made clear to me that the NRA no longer represents them, and they assured me that many more gun owners were feeling the same.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday declined to elaborate on whether and when such an executive order would be issued.
“These are essentially recommendations that the president has asked for from his staff based on their review of available executive authority,” Earnest told reporters. “The working assumption of this ongoing review is that Congress hasn’t acted and that’s been the source of immense frustration on the part of the president,” he added. “So given the congressional inaction, the question that’s been raised is what more can the Obama administration do, and that’s the substance of this review.”
“At this point, I still don’t have an update on the progress the administration is making on scrubbing the rules,” Earnest added.
The Hill reports that Jarrett’s comments are an indication that Obama could soon unveil a proposal which would trigger a heated battle with GOP lawmakers and gun-rights groups.
The White House has been weighing different executive actions on guns in the wake of the mass shooting at an Oregon community college in October. Discussions at the White House of the new measure became more urgent after the Sam Bernardino terrorist attacks.
One proposal being considered would designate more sellers as high-volume dealers, closing a legal loophole which allows many sales conducted online or at gun shows to escape existing background check provisions.
