Obama takes action over US gun laws

AFP, WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will introduce a raft of executive actions to try to reduce US gun violence Tuesday, bypassing Congress and launching a bitter 2016 election year fight.
Kicking off his last year in the White House with a defiant show of executive power, Obama will ignore Congressional opposition and take a series of unilateral steps to regulate gun sales and curb illicit purchases.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the measures would tighten rules on who must register as a gun dealer, narrow the “gun show” loophole that allow buyers to dodge background checks and a crackdown on “straw purchases” that see weapons purchased through intermediaries.
It would also encourage the Pentagon, with its vast buying power, to procure weapons from manufacturers who use “ gun safety technology” such as fingerprint scanners.
Obama will discuss the new measures—which Republicans who control Congress, weapons makers and gun enthusiasts have already lambasted as an infringement of constitutional freedoms—in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday.
Around 30,000 people die in gun violence every year in America, most by suicide.  Obama admitted his executive actions were “not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It’s not going to prevent every mass shooting. It’s not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal.”

 

Obama takes action over US gun laws

AFP, WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will introduce a raft of executive actions to try to reduce US gun violence Tuesday, bypassing Congress and launching a bitter 2016 election year fight. Kicking off his last year in the White House with a defiant show of executive power, Obama will ignore Congressional opposition and take a series of unilateral steps to regulate gun sales and curb illicit purchases. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the measures would tighten rules on who must register as a gun dealer, narrow the gun show loophole that allow buyers to dodge background checks and a crackdown on straw purchases that see weapons purchased through intermediaries. It would also encourage the Pentagon, with its vast buying power, to procure weapons from manufacturers who use gun safety technology such as fingerprint scanners. Obama will discuss the new measureswhich Republicans who control Congress, weapons makers and gun enthusiasts have already lambasted as an infringement of constitutional freedomsin the East Room of the White House on Tuesday. Around 30,000 people die in gun violence every year in America, most by suicide. Obama admitted his executive actions were not going to solve every violent crime in this country. Its not going to prevent every mass shooting. Its not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal.