WASHINGTON, D.C. — Even as President Obama spoke about his plan to roll out a package of 10 new federal restrictions on firearms sales Tuesday, gun-rights advocates were gearing up for a fight.
Obama said the new restrictions would be authorized via his executive order authority, without the scrutiny of Congress. He aimed his proposals a helping stop mass shootings and at times during his address fought back tears when referencing the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
“We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence,” said Obama in the East Room announcement. “We are the only advanced country on earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency. It doesn’t happen in other advanced countries.”
The President was clearly aware his actions will not be well received by those who back the 2nd Amendment and he had a direct message for them and for the chief gun lobbying organization the National Rifle Association.
“The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they cannot hold America hostage,” said Obama, flanked by victims of gun violence including former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. “We do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom.”
Among Obama’s proposals was to hire an additional 230 FBI personnel to speed the background check process now required for a firearm purchase. Another part of the measure called for the hiring of additional agents of the Federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to close the so-called “gun show loophole.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you are doing it over the internet or at a gun show, it’s not where you do it, it’s what you do,” said the President.
U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) criticized the action as a breach of the presidential powers.
“What President Obama is doing with his pen is directing his ATF and FBI to come in and redefine what a ‘dealer’ is,” Jenkins told MetroNews “Talkline” on Tuesday. “This could have huge ramifications. What the end result will be, I think we all know, is bad news for those who want to exercise their Constitutional rights to bear arms and to sell arms in a private transaction.”
Jenkins said Congressional action in the 1960s laid out specific guidelines for identifying firearms dealers.
U.S. Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) called this Obama’s latest “unilateral action based on questionable constitutionality.”
“Today’s announcement that President Obama will use executive actions to restrict the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase firearms is just the latest example of massive overreach by this Administration,” said McKinley in a statement. “Whether its guns, immigration, or coal, time and again President Obama has gone around Congress when it suits him.”
The hiring of the new agents will come with a $500 million price tag.
“Not a hint of all of this that he could have included in the 2016 spending plan, he didn’t,” said Jenkins. “Now to come in literally before the ink is dry on the 2016 budget he wants to change it. He needs to go through Congress and do it the right way.”
McKinley criticized Obama for making a divisive move that “would not have stopped these episodes of violence,” like the mass shootings in San Bernadino, Calif.
“We are all saddened by acts of violence like the attack in San Bernardino, but the best way to prevent them is to address the root cause, whether it is terrorism or mental health,” said McKinley.
“From his 2008 campaign onward, President Obama has made it clear by his actions that he has little regard for the 2nd Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Rather than using tragedies to divide us and provide cover for executive overreach, the President should focus on making us more secure and giving Americans peace of mind.”
“This is not a gun show issue. This is a mental health, criminal law, and terrorist driven,” Jenkins told MetroNews. “That’s what is so frustrating. This president is using those horrific incidents to justify his ideological drive to limit people’s Constitutional rights.”
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s statement on Obama’s proposal:
“Like most Americans, I want to prevent future incidents of violence and keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. Unfortunately, the president has decided to once again circumvent Congress and govern by executive overreach. In doing so, he has furthered an already divisive debate and infringed on the rights of law-abiding citizens. Instead of acting unilaterally, the president should work with Congress to make treatment for mental illness, an unfortunate common denominator in many recent tragedies, more available and accessible, and support better enforcement of current gun laws and standards.”
Second district Congressman Alex Mooney condemned the plan as well.
“Every American has the right to be safe and secure in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, and places of work. Our Second Amendment helps ensure that security. President Obama’s most recent executive order is his latest of many proposals aimed at stripping away the rights of law abiding American citizens. I will fight with my colleagues in Congress to stop Obama’s continual executive overreach,” said Mooney.
Sen. Joe Manchin said Obama should be working with Congress instead of against.
“Instead of taking unilateral executive action, the President should work with Congress and the American people, just as I’ve always done, to pass the proposals he announced today. Like all law-abiding Americans and gun owners, I want to prevent future incidents of gun violence and keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, but legislation and consensus is the correct approach.”