What You Need to Know About Obama’s Executive Actions On Gun Violence

Fighting gun violence is not a left or right issue. Conservative and liberals just think that the way to control gun violence, and ultimately prevent it, is different.  Liberal President Barack Obama has issued a new series of executive actions, his favorite form of avoiding real legislation that has to be approved by Congress, which aim to tighten loopholes on gun control.

Obama’s long-list of new executive actions include the sharing of background check information between states, which gun sellers must get a dealers license and conduct background checks, clear up the reporting system to missing or stolen guns, and remove patient privacy limits so that mental health records can be submitted to the federal background check registry.

Another one of these executive actions involves Social Security, and the use of the Social Security Administration to “report” beneficiaries of Social Security who are deemed mentally ill, legally incompetent, or unable to handle their own finances as not allowed to purchase a firearm. This has actually been in the works for some while.

Some of these are pretty clear-cut measures that everyone can get around. Some like background checks, even if we know that that number of guns bought at gun shows that go on to be used in crimes is extremely low.  We support being able to report your gun missing or stolen, so that if it is used in a crime, it is not tied to the wrong person.  Some even support limiting the ability of the mentally ill to get ahold of guns, though we question whether violating HIPPA and other privacy laws is the way to do it.

These actions, however, do not take into account the many criminals that do not “buy” their guns legally, and therefore are not going to go through the legal hoops such as background checks or mental health screenings.  If all licensed dealers must conduct background checks, that just makes it even more likely that someone looking to use a gun of malicious reasons will avoid going to a licensed dealer.

Hiring more FBI agents to work on background checks is a nice way to create some jobs, but it still does not solve the problem of criminals not getting background checks in the first place. A thousand new agents working on background checks can’t stop the one crazy criminal who buys a gun illegally, like so many do.

What is very important to know about Obama’s new gun regulations is that they are susceptible to reversal when a Republican takes the White House in 2016.  Another important thing to know is that these actions are probably not the end of the 2^nd Amendment as we know it. We all know that the Obama administration isn’t the greatest at enforcing laws, and soon, a Republican will be in the White House and able to sort out which of these “actions” are legal, which are actually commonsense, and which are completely unhelpful in the fight against gun violence.

If you are really up in arms about these executive actions, the best way to fight back is to vote Right in 2016.

You can read more about these executive actions from the White House themselves here