Biden says EO is on the table...

[scottsvillesol]

oops double post

 

[scottsvillesol]

Is it possible that he could make the instant background check not so instant anymore? Under the guise of being more thorough?

 

[larryh1108]

This quote somewhat explains their thinking:

Biden said that the administration is weighing executive action in addition to recommending legislation by Congress. Recommendations to the Biden group include making gun-trafficking a felony, getting the Justice Department to prosecute people caught lying on gun background-check forms and ordering federal agencies to send data to the National Gun Background Check Database.

Some of those pieces could happen by executive action, but congressional say-so would be needed for more far-reaching changes such as reinstating the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Congress let the ban expire in 2004 under heavy pressure from the NRA. Democrats blamed a backlash against some lawmakers who voted for its enactment 10 years earlier for steep election losses that year.

It also appears that they don't have the support they need to do anything worthwhile:
quote:

Since then Democrats have been wary of legislating on guns, and efforts have fizzled in Congress. Already there are signs any new legislative effort by Obama could face tough going. Some pro-gun Democrats have voiced doubts, and the Senate's top Republican has warned it could be spring before Congress begins considering any gun legislation.

Obama has said that his efforts on guns can be successful only if he has the support of the public, and advocates who attended Wednesday's Biden meeting said part of the White House message was for participants to spread the word and keep up pressure on Washington.

So, to me, this sounds like good news and our efforts are paying off. EOs seem to be a little toothless but it makes him appear like he is doing something. I think we're moving in the right direction here.

source of the quotes:

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20130108/US.Obama.Gun.Control/

 

[joeschmoe]

Things Obama could TRY to do via exec order (aka, "We can't wait for Congress to act.")

* Instruct FBI to automjatically disapprove NICS checks for ugly guns.
* Instruct BATFE to lean on any FFL that doesn't report ugly gun sales to central database.
* Declare current laws against national gun resitration lists to be invalid due to the current "emergency."
* "Exempt" NICS and FBI from current law that prohibits them from keeping records of NICS approvals for more than 72 hours.
* Ban impoprt of all ammo not destined for police or law enforcement.
* Revise existing regulations to re-classify ugly guns and scarey ammo as "destructive devices."
* Press Hollywood to include anti-gun themes and messages in TV and movie productions.
* Instruct TSA to search cars on highways for ugly guns.
* Instruct TSA to compensate any gun at an airport or on the highways where the owner cannot provide immediate proof of purchase/ownership.
* Declare NRA to be a terrorist organization.
* Demand NRA membership lists as condition for maintaining status as 501xxx organization.
* Conduct repeated raids on NRA HQs to check for safety, administrative, environmental, etc violations.
* Confiscate business records of any pro-gun organization as evidence for any trival charge/violation, whether relevant to the offense or not.
* Prohibit military and government employees from owning ugly guns, or any guns at all.

Need I go on? Hate to give the government any new ideas...

- - - Yoda

No. No. No. No....

Please read the Constitution and some history on EO before you keep spreading these panic rumors. Loosen your tinfoil and learn how your government works.

We really need to just start mocking these kinds of posts.

 

[joeschmoe]

oops double post

No. He can't rewrite the law. The law says they have 3 days to find a valid reason to deny or it automatically gets approved.


The President is not a king!

 

[Yoda]

To SAM 1911, Moderator

I get paid not-so-big bucks to do independent, alternative analysis, to encourage critical, creative thinking, and to encourage planners to consider a wider range of possibilities. I'm one of the guys who gets paid to suggest to some serious folks that the Japanese MIGHT be planning to hit us where it would hurt the most, that the Germans might once again attack through the Ardennes, and that there is no particular reason why the rumors of missiles in Cuba should be dismissed out of hand.

Are my suggestions on what the administration might TRY (repeat, TRY) to do unilaterally really that far out of the range of possibilities? Consider that for a while, the police in California lurked near gun shows, and anyone walking in or out without proof of ownership of a firearm found it confiscated? I seem to recall the New Orleans and certain parish police in Louisiana would routinely confiscate legally-owned guns during regular traffic stops, and when the owners tried to recover them at police HQ, there was no record of the guns ever being taken. This was before and after Katrina. What law did Obama use when he ordered the BATFE to require FFLs in the south to report all multiple long gun sales, when the law specificaly referred to handguns only?

I also remind you that the TSA is ALREADY conducting random searches on the highways. If instructed to do so, it does not seem utterly impossible that they could just take possession of any gun they find during such searches if the owner can't provide convincing proof of ownership.

And so on...

If the Prez decides he can ignore debt limits, then what else might he decide to ignore? Is there any reason to believe the critters in Congress will do anything more than bitch, in frustration and ineffectively? They don't have much of a record of keeping the Executive Branch in check, as they are required to do.

Keep in mind that the things that really upset the apple carts are the things that you don't anticipate, not the things that feel familiar and comfortable.

- - - Yoda

 

[Frank Ettin]

We've had more than enough threads on executive orders, and all those threads do is spread more and more misinformation about executive orders. There's nothing new here.