President Obama kicked off the last year of his term by announcing a serious of “Executive Actions” that he claims will address gun violence in the United States (despite FBI statistics that show violent crime involving firearms on a multi-decade decline).
Obama, the same President who allowed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to ship guns to Mexican drug cartels in order to foment violence that would justify more extensive gun control domestically, shed crocodile tears as he called for further restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.
These latest “Executive Actions” continue the dictatorial trend under President Obama of circumventing Congress and violating Article One of the United States Constitution, which delegates the responsibility of drafting laws to Congress. As Judge Andrew Napolitano said on FoxNews.com, “President Obama has very little room to issue executive orders on guns because the congressional legislation is so extensive, detailed, and clear.”
Napolitano continued,”we still have a Constitution in America. Under the Constitution, Congress writes the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. President Obama can no more write his own laws or impose his own interpretations upon them than the Congress or the courts can command the military.”
Under Obama’s latest gun grab plan, individuals who sell as few as one or two firearms will now be required to conduct background checks and obtain a federal firearm license through the ATF (a burdensome and expensive process according to the ATF’s own website).
Another “common sense” solution to gun violence, according to President Obama, calls for physicians and other health care providers to report patients they deem mentally ill to the the FBI’s national background check system in order to prevent them from purchasing a firearm. A simple visit to a cardiologist can lead to an individual losing their right to own a firearm, as was the case for David Sarti, who appeared on the National Geographic Channel’s series Doomsday Preppers.
Tucked away in the same medical provision section is a proposal that would prohibit some Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns. Specifically, those who are deemed incapable of handling their own finances or who are deemed mentally incompetent will be flagged in a background check as being ineligible to purchase a firearm.
As reported by Breitbart, “this means that information on beneficiaries who meet the criteria of mental impairment–demonstrated in part by an inability to manage their own benefits–will be added to the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) so that the beneficiaries cannot buy a gun.”
The fact that the latest Gallup poll shows only 2% of Americans view gun control/gun violence as the nation’s top issue places President Obama’s latest attempted gun grab on shaky ground.
Yet, as 2015 was likely a record year for gun sales demonstrates many Americans are afraid President Obama will continue his attack on the Second Amendment and charge towards his ultimate goal: a national gun registry that can be used by a tyrannical government to target gun owners.
One thing is clear: the opening salvos in the latest war to gut the Second Amendment have been launched.