The President announced yesterday that the taskforce run by Vice President Joe Biden has now handed him their recommendations that he may unveil as soon as Wednesday:
"At a news conference on Monday, exactly one month after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Mr. Obama said a task force led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had “presented me now with a list of sensible, common-sense steps that can be taken to make sure that the kinds of violence we saw at Newtown doesn’t happen again. He added: “My starting point is not to worry about the politics. My starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/us/politics/biden-meets-with-house-democrats-on-gun-violence-proposals.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Two measures being seriously considered is heightened background checks and a stricter gun trafficking law than currently in effect. While there is currently a trafficking law on the books it contains the qualifications that it's illegal to knowingly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from owning it. There's a sense among gun control advocates that this weakens the law too much:
"Gun control advocates said they were heartened by the prospects of a federal trafficking law, having warned for years that the absence of such a statue aids the illegal flow of firearms."
"I'd be thrilled," said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy of the centrist think tank Third Way and a former official at Americans for Gun Safety.
"Currently, to convict someone of illegal gun distribution, law enforcement officials must prove that a person who transferred a weapon to a felon knew or had reasonable cause to believe that that person was indeed a felon. Phrased specifically, a federal law may make it illegal for sellers to transfer a firearm to someone with a record that prohibits them from owning one. It would, in effect, give a legal incentive (in the form of criminal punishment) for private sellers to conduct thorough background checks before making their sales. Such a policy could also create a disincentive for straw purchasers: those people with clean records who buy firearms to transfer to those prohibited from owning one."
"Under the law, prosecutors have to prove that you knew the person was a prohibited buyer, and that is too high of a standard," explained Kessler. "Our feeling is, why have any standard at all? If you sell a gun to somebody without a background check, you should be liable if that person is criminal."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/biden-gun-policy_n_2475744.html
The President has made it clear he's not shy about using executive order where necessary and legal and that he's atually identified 19 different things he can do via executive order:
" President Obama this week will embrace a comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence that will call for major legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases and lay out 19 separate actions the president could take by invoking the power of his office, lawmakers who were briefed on the plan said Monday."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/us/politics/biden-meets-with-house-democrats-on-gun-violence-proposals.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Of course, this talk of executive action has predictably led to the usual loose GOP talk about impeachment:
"By proposing to use the independent power of his office, Mr. Obama is inviting political attacks by gun owners who have already expressed fear that he will abuse that authority to restrict their rights. Representative Steve Stockman, Republican of Texas, threatened Monday to file articles of impeachment if the president seeks to regulate guns with executive orders. “I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary,” Mr. Stockman said in a statement."
Of course, as Greg Sargent points out, no matter what the President suggests for gun control will be treated as if it's some sort of "fascist" seizure of government power-even his routine request to raise the debt ceiling has been treated the same.
More good news on the gun control front: NY is poised to pass the first gun control laws since Sandy Hook:
"New York lawmakers agreed to pass the toughest gun control law in the nation and the first since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, calling for a stricter assault weapons ban and provisions to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill who make threats."
"This is a scourge on society," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday night, six days after making gun control a centerpiece of his agenda in his State of the State address. The bipartisan effort was fueled by the Newtown tragedy that took the lives of 20 first graders and six educators. "At what point do you say, `No more innocent loss of life'?"
"The measure also calls for restrictions on ammunition and the sale of guns. It is expected to pass Tuesday."
"This is not about taking anyone's rights away," said Sen. Jeffrey Klein, a Bronx Democrat. "It's about a safe society ... today we are setting the mark for the rest of the county to do what's right."
Under current state law, assault weapons are defined by having two "military rifle" features, such as folding stock, muzzle flash suppressor or bayonet mount. The proposal would reduce that to one feature, including the popular pistol grip. The language specifically targeted the military-style rifle used in the Newtown shootings.
"Current owners of those guns will have to register them."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/new-york-state-gun-laws-first-united-states-newtown-sandy-hook-shooting_n_2478418.html
There is bipartisan support for it and this was agreed on exactly one month since the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
"It was agreed upon exactly a month since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy."
"It is well-balanced, it protects the Second Amendment," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island.
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