Obama Expected to Announce New Executive Action on Guns

While the president and his administration have not yet fleshed out the action, changes include expanding the “background check requirement to additional sellers”, the report notes. The legislative push would have had far reaching implications for gun ownership, but never made its way through Congress.

“It is complicated. That’s why it’s taken some time for our policy folks, our lawyers, and our experts to work through this and see what’s possible”, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told CNN. It is unclear whether that will be included in the president’s executive action.

President Obama will start the new year by taking executive action on guns, CNN reports. “And rather than deliberating on these constitutionally-cramping actions thoughtfully and with input necessary to make sound decisions, President Obama is pursuing them with an eye toward political expediency – and the “splash” he can make”, she added.

The executive order requires trusts or corporations to receive background checks just as if they were an individual.

Frustrated with little action from Congress, Mr Obama has vowed to use “whatever power this office holds” to put in place gun control measures via executive action. States that require a background check for private sales online experience 48 percent less gun trafficking, 38 percent fewer deaths of women shot by intimate partners, and 17 percent fewer firearms involved in aggravated assaults, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. But Democratic lawmakers urged Mr. Obama last month to eliminate ambiguity in federal laws surrounding the term “engaged in the business” as it pertains to licensed firearms dealers. The group recently provided recommendations to the White House for action on guns, including standardizing the definition of who must become licensed to continue selling guns.

The gun control proposals are expected to be revealed next week before President Obama’s final State of the Union address on January twelfth. Factors would include volume and speed of sales, and whether or not the seller relies on advertising to sell guns.

While the enormous gathering in Las Vegas isn’t technically an NRA event, the group’s strong anti-Obama stance will nearly certainly be evident there, and a fresh proposal to stiffen regulation may have the effect of pouring gasoline on a fire already burning hot.