GOP field rips Obama’s move towards executive action to tighten gun

Obama has a Monday meeting planned with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss his plans to issue an executive order related to gun control.

“We’re going to save the Second Amendment”. But anything Obama does by executive action is likely to be undone if a Republican moves into the White House in 2017.

The president is “fired up” for his a year ago at the helm, and is committed to an aggressive agenda in 2016, AP reports.

The president said in his weekly radio address on Friday he has received “too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing” about the issue. He’s slated to make his case for changes in his State of the Union address on January 12. The prime-time speech will give the president another chance to try to reassure the public about his national security stewardship after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

In an email sent out over the weekend by the Democratic Party, President Barack Hussein Obama urges followers to join him in the effort to enact stricter gun laws.

Obama, who has been thwarted by the Republican-controlled Congress in his push for tighter gun control legislation, could act through an executive order, which would be immediate and carry the force of law.

In an interview with ABC News, the Vermont senator added that an “overwhelming majority of the American people believe we should expand and strengthen the instant background check” system.

“I think that’s what the president is trying to do and I think that will be the right thing to do”.

He expressed particular support for background checks for gun shows and online sales.

In the midst of what he has called “our epidemic of gun violence”, President Obama is contemplating using executive action to enforce more stringent regulations on firearm purchases – a move necessary in order to eschew Congress. And unsurprisingly, 2016 G.O.P. presidential candidates are piping up to condemn this move.

Obama could take the less risky path on guns by directing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to redefine its guidance on who is considered a dealer under federal gun law.

“We know we can’t stop every act of violence, but what if we could just stop one? But what if we tried to stop even one?”

Federally licensed gun sellers are required by law to seek criminal background checks before completing a sale.

The Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the White House, has called on Mr. Obama to target high-volume sellers of guns who are not licensed, using criteria such as the number of firearms sold and whether a seller advertises or rents tables at gun shows to determine who should be forced to obtain a license. The meeting, broadcast from George Mason University, will be aired on CNN and be hosted by Anderson Cooper.