Barack Obama Announces Executive Gun Control Today
President Barack Obama will reportedly announce executive gun control actions on Tuesday. The gun controls are expected to expand background checks to cover private gun sellers as well to place new reporting requirements on the backs of federally licensed firearms dealers.
According to ABC News, the White House has been open about the fact that the Department of Justice has spent months helping Obama find a way to go around Congress and increase gun control “unilaterally.” And Obama has tried to head off certain opposition to his pending actions by blaming the “gun lobby” for stirring up opposition in the first place.
During his first weekly radio address of 2016 Obama said, “The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids.”
But the reality is that expanding background checks to cover another sliver of private sellers and placing new reporting requirements on federally licensed dealers won’t stop high profile shootings or mass public attacks. Background checks are already demonstrably impotent to stop mass attackers, who pass background checks to acquire their guns, then use those guns to carry out evil ends.
For example, Obama referenced the heinous firearm-based attack on Gabby Giffords when explaining his reasons for pursuing executive gun control. What he did not say is that Giffords’ attacker–Jared Loughner–passed a background check to acquire the gun, then used to shoot and wound Giffords.
