Obama shows restraint on guns
There were no executive orders
As executive actions go, President Obama’s effort to clamp down on illegal gun sales was relatively restrained.
The actions contained no executive orders, the best known and most formal exercise of unilateral presidential authority — only a presidential memorandum asking federal agencies to study smart gun technology. He proposed only one new regulation, a Social Security Administration rule that would allow it to share lists of people on disability with the national background check system.
And the centerpiece of the initiative was the issuing of a guidance document on which gun sales require a Federal Firearms License — and therefore subject to a criminal background check. That document mostly restates existing case law and breaks no new legal ground. For all the predictions of executive orders exceeding the president’s authority, Obama’s actions generally colored within the lines.
“There is nothing here that anyone could say in good faith even pushes at the boundaries of executive authority,” said Chelsea Parsons, the vice president of gun policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group. She sees the actions as part of an incremental approach that Obama or future presidents can build on.
Republicans were underwhelmed. “Ultimately, this executive ‘guidance’ is only a weak gesture — a shell of what the president actually wants,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
“I would describe this as an approach that reflects the extent of his authority under the current statute, and that is I think why we would describe these as pretty robust actions,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.