Obama Taking Executive Action On Gun Control, Second Amendment Supporters Rally Against The Order

President Barack Obama will finalize a plan to take executive action on gun control. The proposed order has Second Amendment supporters, like the National Rifle Association and Republican presidential candidates, rallying against the White House.

In a related Inquisitr report, CNN will broadcast a live Town Hall meeting, where President Obama will discuss his executive action on gun control. The event, being held at George Mason University, is scheduled to air Thursday at 8 p.m., ET.

After the October shootings at an Oregon community college, Obama requested White House advisors to explore gun control initiatives that could be enacted through executive action. Based on these recommendations, the president will attempt to bypass Congress in order to tighten and clarify current regulations.

The commander-in-chief intends to meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch today to go over and conclude a potential gun control strategy that would hopefully curtail gun violence. President Obama believes executive action is necessary, as Congress has been reluctant to act on the problem in the past.

President Obama to meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch tomorrow to discuss ways of reducing U.S. gun violence https://t.co/GFg8fGHkdn

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 3, 2016

While on vacation in Hawaii, Obama announced the issue could no longer be ignored.

“I get too many letters from parents and teachers and kids to sit around and do nothing,” he said in a weekly address.

Although not finalized, the gun control measures are expected to focus on sales made through small firearms dealers without a background check. Some transactions, like the ones made at gun shows or by private parties, do not fall under the current background check rules.

As it stands, only gun dealers licensed through the federal government require a buyer’s criminal history be verified. Yet, current law allows people to sell guns from “personal collections” without needing to perform the check

Previously, Obama has indicated that the description of a licensed gun dealer needs to be more encompassing to include these types of transactions. The new gun control measures are expected to include an expansion of the definition.

Should the classification be stretched to include small dealers, it may limit the number of trades made through private sales and somewhat close the “gun-show loophole.” Even though those transactions will not be eliminated entirely, Obama’s executive action can make them more difficult.

The president’s gun control action will most likely strengthen reporting requirements for lost or stolen guns, as well. Two years ago, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives suggested mandatory reporting of lost firearms to the federal agency. However, the gun industry successfully shot down the proposal, saying voluntary reporting was enough.

Several GOP presidential candidates disagree with the president’s action, proclaiming such an order may be a violation of the law and of the Second Amendment.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the president’s executive order may be unlawful.

“Now this president wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator. Fact is, if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that they’re necessary. But this is going to be another illegal executive action, which I’m sure will be rejected by the courts.”

Jeb Bush, also appearing on Fox, said Obama’s “first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding citizens, and it’s wrong.”

At a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, GOP front-runner Donald Trump said any action that could change the Second Amendment would be quickly reversed once he was elected president.

At least one Democrat presidential candidate seems to support the administration’s executive order. Prospective nominee Hilary Clinton plans to continue the momentum for increased gun control measures should she win the presidency.

“I will take on that fight. I’m very hopeful and excited that the president is going to take some action with executive action in the next week or two,” she commented during a recent campaign event in New Hampshire.

After the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, an Obama-led bill was offered to Congress to tighten gun control laws. However, the bill never passed, and the president is convinced this was due to direct influence from the NRA, the country’s leading gun-rights advocate.

NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker said the president didn’t get his way with Congress three years ago because most Americans are against more gun control.

“Now he is doing what he always does when he doesn’t get his way, which is to defy the will of the people and issue an executive order,” she said on Saturday.

Baker continued her comments by saying the planned executive order is a ruse that will not increase public safety but is only being done to placate billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The president’s proposed gun control plan is likely to follow recommendations made by Bloomberg’s anti-gun nonprofit organization, Everytown.

The start of 2016 will potentially be without a bang. The executive order announcement comes ahead of the president’s final State of the Union speech set for next week as well as the Iowa caucuses in February. The meeting today with the Attorney General will reveal the details on how Obama plans to take executive action on gun control.

[Photo by Martin H. Simon-Pool/Getty Images]