Is Obama planning to circumvent congress on gun control?
According to multiple news sources, that is indeed the case. President Obama is considering picking up his pen and paper to enact gun control by executive order.
By Emma Court of the Wall Street Journal
The day before President Barack Obama heads to Oregon to meet with families of victims in the community college mass shooting, a group of about 30 clergy and community organizers gathered outside the White House, calling on President Barack Obama to “stop whining” and use his position to achieve gun control without Congress.
The event, organized by Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a network of multi-faith community organizations, was scheduled in response to what the group calls inaction on the part of the White House. Speakers – including a rabbi who said his father was shot in his business and a man who was shot by a playmate at three years old – emphasized that the presidency still held power, even without Congressional cooperation.
The grass-roots activists said they believe the president can use executive power to push private-sector development of safer, smart gun technology and encourage gun executives to keep dealers accountable.
In the week following the mass shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College, a visibly frustrated President Obama called again for gun control and some Democratic presidential candidates unveiled their own gun-control plans. In her proposal, front-runner Hillary Clinton said she would push ahead with executive action on the issue, to require more sellers to perform background checks. Republicans candidates have largely rejected further regulation as counterproductive and an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
On Thursday, Senate Democrats put forth a set of gun control proposals prompted by the shootings. The plan calls for improved background checks and a crackdown on illegal gun sales. The fate of the Democrat-backed gun control bill in a Republican-controlled Senate is dim, and there’s no sign that there’s more momentum for gun control now than after the 2013 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. when Mr. Obama saw his gun-control measure fail in Congress.
Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/08/obama-heads-to-oregon-amid-frustration-in-gun-control-camp/