Obama launches final-year push on gun control

Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to discuss his options and he’ll hold a town hall on the topic Thursday that will air on CNN. They reportedly include a new requirement that small-scale gun sellers conduct background checks.

Rhodes spoke to reporters in Honolulu hours before Obama flew back to Washington from a family vacation in Hawaii.

Guns are a potent issue in USA politics.

“We know that we can’t stop every act of violence”, Obama said. He returned to the White House about noon Sunday.

Mr Obama delivered a devastatingly frank, honest address to the nation in October past year after the Umpqua Community College shooting in which 10 people were killed (including the perpetrator).

The high-profile rollout reflects a White House continuing to look for ways to wrap up unfinished business, despite an uncooperative Congress. His calls grew louder following the 2012 massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, and again after mass shootings in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and San Bernardino, California in recent months. Fiorina refused to say flatly, however, whether she would support expanded background checks on would-be gun purchasers. The President has repeatedly expressed his frustration with Congress’ unwillingness to pass new gun laws and has frequently spoken out about increased gun control in the wake of mass shootings.

“There are many, many guns that are changing hands without a background check”, said Chelsea Parsons, vice-president of guns and crime policy at the group.

The Gun Violence Archive, which collects data on gun incidents from media, government and commercial sources, reported 33 deaths on January 1 from 106 incidents involving firearms.

For Obama to do anything without first declaring a national state of emergency leaves us all at enormous risk of becoming random victims of the gun violence epidemic.

The President also called for more action on gun violence in his weekly address. “I will take on that fight”.

But 2016 Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders defended the president’s plans Sunday, appearing on two political talk shows to say that Mr. Obama is “doing what Americans want him to do”. The Vermont independent, who has been criticized by rivals Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley for not being tough enough on guns in the past, was one of the 48 senators who voted in favor of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s amendment to expand background checks. “The fact is if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that they’re necessary”. “This is going to be another illegal executive action, which I’m sure will be rejected by the courts”. The American people deserve a president who will respect their constitutional rights – all of them.