Courtesy of sterling commentor LAMH, so you can set your watches/recording devices:
President Barack Obama is mounting a final-year push to make gun control part of his legacy despite Republican opposition and is expected to announce unilateral action early this week.
He will join CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday for an exclusive one-hour live town hall on gun control at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, in hopes of mounting a final pitch to the public…
Obama will sit down with Cooper at 8 p.m. ET for the event, titled “Guns in America.” The event’s timing coincides with the fifth anniversary, next Friday, of the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in a rampage that left six dead and 13 others wounded.
In addition to discussing gun issues with Cooper, Obama will also take questions from the audience on the issue.
Obama has repeatedly expressed his frustration with Congress’ inability to pass new gun laws, and has frequently spoken out about increased gun control in the wake of mass shootings.
Ahead of Thursday’s town hall, Obama plans to meet Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss options for tougher gun restrictions. He is also expected to announce in the coming days a new executive action with the goal of expanding background checks on gun sales.
Plans for the action are not yet complete, and those familiar with the process warn that unforeseen circumstances could delay an announcement. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama’s annual State of the Union address, set for January 12…
Obama foreshadowed his actions in his weekly address.
“Change, as always, is going to take all of us,” Obama said in his address. “The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids. That’s the work of citizenship — to stand up and fight for the change that we seek.”…
Feebog
The only question is how many RW heads will explode.
David Koch
8 years ago today – 9:25 PM Eastern
Corner Stone
@srv: I, for one, am more than tired of idiots telling me how liberal the Austin area is.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Feebog: Going to sound like some really fucked up bubble wrap.
ThresherK (GPad)
Is George Mason full of gun nut idiots or just Chicago School Austerian idiots?
Smiling Mortician
@Corner Stone: I’m kinda tired of srv telling anybody anything.
Keith G
@Feebog:
Depends
In my part of the world, holding a Town Hall Meeting is only one notch away from Appointing a Blue Ribbon Committee. The proof will be in how much of his own skin he will put into this effort.
I like the fact that he has met with Loretta Lynch to suss out options. This bodes well for a thought out effort that will continue over time. If that is the case, I doubt any heads will explode, but I am sure more than a few feathers will be ruffled.
Elizabelle
I’m liking the optics of knowing those Yosemite Sam Bolde Patriot idjits may be holed up with their weapons, holding themselves hostage in a federal bird sanctuary, while our very smart president discusses common sense gun safety initiatives at a Town Hall, broadcast to the nation and world.
Maybe the Bolde ones will have slunk away by then, but maybe not.
Great contrast, though: which America would YOU rather be part of? Smart black dude, proposing ideas that the overwhelming majority of Americans would like to see get through Congress — were Congress not captive to the NRA.
Or the teahadists, in armed revolt, bird sanctuary.
Adam L Silverman
There’s basically only three things he can do under his administrative authority and they are all variants of each other dealing with background checks.
1) Issue an executive order (EO) stating that anyone who sells more than five or ten guns a year is really a dealer and not a private buyer/seller/collector and therefore they must get an FFL and conduct background checks for all sales/transfers.
2) Direct the head of the ATF that the substantive portion of #1 is the official administrative position of his administration and to adjust its activities accordingly.
3) Direct the head of the ATF to amend its rules through the official delineated rule making process.
The first will lead to immediate lawsuits and I would guess an immediate stay while it works its way through the Federal courts. The second would lead to lawsuits on behalf of anyone that gets caught up in the ATF’s new administrative interpretation of existing laws, regulations, and rules. The third one would make it through, barring Congress defunding ATF, without any real issues. However, it wouldn’t be complete until the next administration.
Unless Congress is willing to act there is little that can be done other than tinker around the margins. And even if the Supreme Court, in a future term, were to reverse Heller, it would just reset the status quo back before that decision took effect. This was that there was no explicit individual right to keep and bear arms delineated in the 2nd Amendment, but there is an implicit/implied one. So that just boots everything back to Congress on Federal gun issues and the states on everything else. And every state has a variant of the 2nd Amendment in their state constitutions. Some actually predate the Federal 2nd Amendment and many are much stronger, more expansive, etc.
Origuy
@srv: You’re referring to this? Looks to me like she’s having a bit of fun with a reporter who’s a bit nuts on the subject.
dogwood
I think it’s important for democrats to keep talking about this even if nothing comes of it right now.
dogwood
I would add that conservatives have been railing against abortion for 40 years. Much of that time they made little progress. The last 15 years they’ve been very successful in curtailing a woman’s access to abortion.
mclaren
But…but…but according to DINOs like Emma, this makes president Obama a “liberal dictator.” Taking “unilateral action” is just absolutely totally unthinkable for a Democratic prez, because [rule-of-law/power-of-congress/our-balance-of-powers/eeeeeevil-dictatorship]!
Of course, never mind that all presidents take unilateral action from day one. Executive orders, signing statements, flexible interpretation of laws, leeway in implementing congressional directives… Obama took unilateral action when he ordered drone assassinations in Pakistan. Obama took unilateral action when he told the IRS not to implement the part of the ACA that sets the cadillac tax in motion for a year. Obama took unilateral action when he issued an executive order giving federal employees paid maternity leave. Obama took unilateral action when he ordered federal services not to look at criminal convictions of non-violent drug offenders who applied for jobs.
No, the DINOs only seem to object to “unilateral action” by a Democratic prez when it would move America toward a genuinely progressive society. As long as the unilateral action involves murdering brown babies with hellfire missiles fired by drone, the DINOs just loooooooooooove that unilateral action. If the unilateral action were to involve ordering the DOJ’s antitrust dept to indict and convict Wall Street crime lords, though, that would make a Democratic president a “liberal dictator.” And we can’t have that, nosiree bob!
The Lodger
@srv: Yes, but Tall Whites are most likely to get past the rope line into Studio 54.
mclaren
@Adam L Silverman:
Utterly totally provably false.
Here are 5 things Obama can do, right off the top of my head:
[1] Issue an executive order directing the ATF to regard gun sales at gun shows as evidence of gun dealing, and require the ATF to put anyone who sells guns at gun shows without requiring a background check etc. through the gun dealer bureaucratic licensing wringer.
[2] Order the DOJ to regard gun sales w/o background checks at gun shows as conspiracy to evade state and federal gun registration laws, and prosecute accordingly.
[3] Use the NDAA to kidnap and hold in detention indefinitely without access to a lawyer anyone who sells guns at gun shows without requiring a criminal background check or registration on the basis that this is material support for terroristic activity.
[4] Use the NDAA to kidnap and hold in detention indefinitely without access to a lawyer the state legislators who passed the state laws allowing anyone tosells guns at gun shows without requiring a criminal background check or registration on the basis that this is material support for terroristic activity.
[5] Use the NDAA to kidnap and hold in detention indefinitely without access to a lawyer Wayne La Pierre and his chums at the NRA on the basis that they provide ongoing material support for terroristic activity.
I’ll throw in 4 more, what the hell:
[6] Use the NDAA to kidnap and hold in detention indefinitely without access to a lawyer U.S. firearm manufacturers who produce assault rifles and/or extended ammo clips and/or full auto modifications for the receivers of semiautomatic weapons on the basis that they provide ongoing material support for terroristic activity.
[7] Direct the ICE to much more extensively examine any imported firearms shipped to America. This examination may require meticulous disassembly of said firearms and microscopic examination for metal fatigue, manufacturing defects, etc. Said examination may take up to 10 years…or possible even more. Per weapon.
[8] Require the ATF to conduct periodic close examinations of all assault rifles registered in state and local venues to make sure that they are in good workin gorder. The close examination will take about a year. They will be conducted yearly. Yes, this in effect means that people’s assault rifles will be taken and never returned. Too fucking bad. No one needs an assault rifle to hunt Bambi.
[9] Direct the DOJ to conduct waves of ruinous lawsuits against the NRA for violating the 14th amendment. Send so many lawyers that they darken the horizon. Grind the NRA into dust with legal fees.
This is just off the top of my head. I can think of 20 more methods before breakfast.
mclaren
@The Lodger:
You, sir, have the won the internet for today.
AxelFoley
@Feebog:
All of them, Katie.