Horowitz: Obama Moving on Gun Safety the Only Way He Can

Horowitz: Obama Moving on Gun Safety the Only Way He Can

Poised to unveil a series of Executive Actions designed to close some of the loopholes that currently enable 40% of guns to be purchased without a background check, President Obama is acting through the only path now available to him. As the failure of bi-partisan legislation to close the gun show loophole sponsored by Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and  Joe Manchin (D-WV) to pass in the wake of 20 children being gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut demonstrated, no meaningful common sense gun measures will be passed by Congress at least in the foreseeable future. This legislation could not overcome a Senate filibuster, even though expanding background checks is a popular measure with 90% of Americans and even 70% of NRA members indicating their support.
 
Apparently unconcerned that they did not know the details of the planned Executive gun safety measures which were not yet public, the Republican Presidential candidates spared little invective or hyperbole in denouncing the President’s anticipated move. For example,  speaking to Dana Bash on CNN’S State of the Union this past Sunday, Carly Fiorina said,. “It is delusional, dangerous, not to mention unconstitutional. We have long lists of criminals who own guns, who routinely purchase guns. We know who these people are, and we are not prosecuting any of them.” Donald Turmp said, “The one thing good about executive orders: The new president, if he comes in -- boom, first day, first hour, first minute, you can rescind that.”

As we can see by the shrill criticism of policies that have yet to be unveiled, even  if legal experts conclude that these soon to be announced actions are well with-in the President’s authority, they are likely to be roundly denounced by Republican officeholders, candidates and the NRA.  And to be fair, the President’s strategy of aggressively using Executive Action, when Congress refuses to act on important policy areas such as climate change and immigration, has created fertile political soil for his opponents to make the argument that he is acting like a King—not a President.

Still, the devil does lie in the details. Gun safety advocates argue that there is sufficient executive discretion to expand who is defined as a “ high volume gun dealer’’ and must conduct background checks under the existing legal definition. Additionally, wider latitude can be given to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to investigate lost and stolen guns and stricter reporting of when guns are lost or stolen can be put in place These proposals,  before they are unveiled, will have undergone an extensive legal review.

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To call attention to the need for common sense gun safety measures and to highlight the Executive Actions he will take this week, President Obama will host a one hour Town Hall at George Mason University on Thursday evening to be televised by CNN. Obama used his weekly radio address to set the stage, poignantly outlining what has occurred since Congress failed to pass universal background checks in the wake of Newtown three years ago: “Since then, tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have been mowed down by gun violence. Tens of thousands. Each time, we’re told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn’t do anything.We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something – anything – to protect our kids from gun violence.”

President Obama’s actions are likely to have limited reach. To comprehensively address the problem, legislation is needed. But given Congress failure to act, the President is making a difference through the only avenue currently open to him. And that sure beats doing nothing.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor at University of Rhode Island.