New Obama Gun-Control Plan Won't Involve Congress

The president begins to roll out new initiative
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 4, 2016 7:01 PM CST
New Obama Gun-Control Plan Won't Involve Congress
President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Obama is gearing up for another whack at gun control—this time on a smaller scale and without Congress. Unlike his failed push for legislation after Sandy Hook, these moves will mostly enforce existing laws and seek extra funding, the New York Times reports. His biggest planned move: to remind America that gun sellers are legally supposed to register as dealers and perform background checks on buyers. Other moves include getting more money for law enforcement and pushing federal agencies to research guns. "These are ... recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch," he says, per CNN. Among the reactions:

  • Donald Trump: "Pretty soon, you won’t be able to get guns. It’s another step in the way of not getting guns."
  • House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan: "We may have to go to court just like we did with executive amnesty a year ago."
  • Hillary Clinton: "We've got to act, but I don't think that's enough and I think we're going to have to keep pushing forward on the political front and I intend to do that."

Obama met with top law enforcers Monday like Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, and he's planning a CNN town hall on the issue Thursday—which seems to speak volumes, Politico reports. "It’s obvious, the way that they are rolling out this issue, that the president and staff understand how politically difficult it’s going to be," says a top Democratic aide. (More gun control stories.)

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