President Obama plans to unveil a comprehensive proposal to address
gun violence on Wednesday but is already facing criticism, over his
potential use of executive action to push multiple gun control measures
and over the staging of the announcement itself.
The president plans to reveal the details of his plan shortly before
noon on Wednesday, joined by children who wrote him letters about gun
violence and school safety.
"(Obama) believes and knows that most all gun owners are highly
responsible, they buy their guns legally, and they use them safely,"
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday. "He also has seen
and believes that most gun owners support the idea of commonsense
measures to prevent people who shouldn't have guns from getting them."
Carney, without getting into specifics, vowed a "comprehensive
approach." Two Democratic aides later confirmed that the legislative
plank would include a push for universal background checks, a ban on
high-capacity magazines and renewal of the assault weapons ban.
The announcement -- the product of a task force led by Vice President
Biden -- is cloaked in controversy. That the announcement would include
children as a backdrop added another level.
Roger Pilon, with the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, criticized
the staging as "tacky," saying Obama has "carved up the population on a
very emotional issue."
Yet in the wake of a school massacre last month in Connecticut that
left 20 first-graders dead, as well as six educators, the president has
stressed that children's lives could be on the line. Obama, like prior
presidents, often invites members of the public to act as a backdrop for
certain policy announcements. They are always carefully selected --
over the summer, he invited college students for a speech about student
loan rates and middle-class taxpayers to another talk on extending tax
rates. The White House has also invited doctors for speeches on the
health care overhaul.
The substance of Obama's announcement Wednesday, though, is likely to cause the biggest stir.
Sources say he's weighing as many as 19 possible actions he could
take through executive order. Those options could include more
aggressively enforcing existing gun laws, beefing up national research
on guns and ordering stricter action against people who lie on gun sale
background checks. They could include ordering tougher penalties for
gun-trafficking offenses and ordering federal agencies to make data on
gun crimes more readily available.
Carney on Tuesday declined to specify what actions the president might take via executive order.
The president, though, has already voiced support for separate
legislative measures in Congress, like the renewal of the assault
weapons ban. That is expected to face the toughest opposition in
Congress. But Biden, who led the gun violence task force and met with
the president Monday, indicated the group is also pressing for limits on
high-capacity magazines -- as well as background checks for anyone
seeking to purchase a gun. Carney reiterated Tuesday that Obama still
wants those measures pursued.
Such changes "make sense," Obama said. He said lawmakers will have to "examine their own conscience" in the debate ahead.
The president's push is drawing resistance from Republicans in
Congress. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, is now vowing to try to impeach
Obama if he takes any action via executive order.
He called the plan to implement some controls administratively "an
unconstitutional and unconscionable attack on the very founding
principles of this republic."
"I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including,
but not limited to, eliminating funding for implementation, defunding
the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment," Stockman
said.
The White House also has been at odds with the National Rifle
Association, as it tries to keep focus on gun control measures in the
wake of the Connecticut school massacre. The NRA, by contrast, has
called for an increase in school security and a closer look at the
entertainment and video game industries.
During his press conference Monday, Obama accused critics of his approach of "ginning up fear on the part of gun owners."
In response, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said: "The president
should go talk to the people buying firearms and ask them why they're
buying firearms."
States and cities have been moving against gun violence as well. In
New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was poised to sign into the law the most
restrictive gun law in the nation, after he delivered a fiery speech
last week on the need to make changes.
"This is a scourge on society," Cuomo said Monday night, exactly one
month after the massacre. "At what point do you say, `No more innocent
loss of life'?"
The bill had bipartisan support, with the leader of the
Republican-held state Senate saying it does not infringe on the
Constitution's Second Amendment, which guarantees the right of citizens
to bear arms.
The New York measure calls for a tougher assault weapons ban and
restrictions on ammunition and the sale of guns. It also would create a
more powerful tool to require the reporting of mentally ill people who
say they intend to use a gun illegally and would address the unsafe
storage of guns.
At the national level, advocacy groups have been pushing Obama to
order the Justice Department to crack down on those who lie on
background checks; only a tiny number are now prosecuted. Such a step
has support from the NRA, which has consistently argued that existing
laws must be enforced before new ones are considered.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says some 40 percent of
gun sales happen with no background checks, such as at gun shows and by
private sellers over the Internet or through classified ads.
No comments:
Post a Comment