"Obama Looking For Ways Around Congress On Gun Policy"

[Clio the Leo]

Obama Looking For Ways Around Congress On Gun Policy

With Reporting By Lucia Graves

WASHINGTON -- Faced with a Congress hostile to even slight restrictions of Second Amendment rights, the Obama administration is exploring potential changes to gun laws that can be secured strictly through executive action, administration officials say.

The Department of Justice held the first in what is expected to be a series of meetings on Tuesday afternoon with a group of stakeholders in the ongoing gun-policy debates. Before the meeting, officials said part of the discussion was expected to center around the White House's options for shaping policy on its own or through its adjoining agencies and departments -- on issues ranging from beefing up background checks to encouraging better data-sharing.

Administration officials said talk of executive orders or agency action are among a host of options that President Barack Obama and his advisers are considering. “The purpose of these discussions is to be a productive exchange of good ideas from folks across the spectrum,” one official said. “We think that’s a good place to start.”

<snip>

The extent to which Obama can change gun law without the hand of Congress is not, gun control activists say, wholly insignificant. Though they say they'd prefer longer-lasting, broader legislative responses to shootings like that which occurred in Tucson, Ariz., in early January, there are notable gaps that can be filled with presidential action.

With respect to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), a Clinton-era rule had prevented the military from reporting to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, had been rejected as a recruit for failing a drug test. Obama could reverse that without Congress, Glaze and an administration official said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/15/obama-gun-laws-congress_n_836138.html

[dennis4868]

1. Obama....

he is such a "republican" president.....

[derby378]

2. Not sure how I feel about this...

As long as he's just going after ways to tighten the net so that those who are already barred from owning guns can't get them, that should be fine. MAIG, however, has a few other items on their wishlist that could fly in the face of due process, for starters.

[DFab420]

3. Waiting for people

To say he isn't doing this right and should be working with congress and senate to make sure that it stays law...


Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't

[hollowdweller]

4. So Obama says yes to gun control but no to unions and restrictions on free trade

Why does he hate democrats winning more seats?

[rury]

5. He won't get much, if any, praise on this site for that

NOTHING he does is good enough for DUers.
It wouldn't matter to them if he resurrected every person who has ever died of gunshot wounds and restored them to life.
People on this board would bitch and moan because he finshed the job on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
As for me.....OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!