Obama reveals action on guns
Background checks and mental health are covered in the 10 new provisions.
washington» The administration on Monday unveiled a series of executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence and hoping to make progress in one of the most frustrating policy areas of President Barack Obama’s tenure.
The package, which Obama plans to announce Tuesday, includes 10 separate provisions, White House officials said.
One key proposal would require more gun sellers — especially those who do business on the Internet and at gun shows — to be licensed and would force them to conduct background checks on potential buyers.
Obama would devote more federal funds to treating mental illness, a move that could require congressional approval, and require that firearms lost in transit between a manufacturer and seller be reported to federal authorities.
“We have to be very clear this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country, is not going to prevent every mass shooting, is not going to keep guns out of the hands of every criminal,” he said. “But it will potentially save lives in this country and spare families the pain and the extraordinary loss they’ve suffered.”
Even before its official unveiling Tuesday morning, Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail blasted the idea, and some advocates have threatened to challenge it in court.
While Obama’s action is modest compared with legislation that Congress could adopt, it still will affect aspects from how the federal government might leverage its purchasing power to advance “safe gun” technology to what information federal and local law enforcement will share on individuals who are trying to purchase weapons illegally.
The president, who went over the initiatives in the Oval Office on Monday with administration officials such as Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, said inaction by Congress in the wake of several high-profile mass shootings and other gun-related violence justified his decision.
“It is my strong belief that for us to get our complete arms around the problem, Congress must act,” Obama said to reporters after the meeting.
In lieu of that, he added, the actions he will announce “are well within my legal authority in the executive branch but also are ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in.”
Licenses to sell
One of the main provisions is new federal guidance requiring some occasional gun sellers to get licenses from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and to conduct background checks on potential buyers.
Rather than set a single threshold for what triggers this licensing requirement, it will be based on a mix of business activities such as whether the seller processes credit cards, rents tables at gun shows and has formal business cards.
Colorado already has required checks for purchases at gun shows since Columbine. And in 2013, Democrats passed a law that requires residents to undergo a background check on the sale or transfer of a firearm whether the weapon was a purchase at a big-box outdoor supply store or a swap between close friends, and to pay a fee for that background check.
Other parts of the president’s plan aim to bolster the FBI’s background checks system, including a push by the U.S. Digital Service to modernize its processing operations and a proposal to add 200 new ATF agents and investigators to bolster enforcement.
Obama will instruct federal agencies, which collectively represent the nation’s largest firearms purchaser, to “explore potential ways” to promote technology that would prevent the accidental discharge or unauthorized use of a gun, according to