Obama on Gun Control: What to Expect

Obama on Gun Control: What to Expect

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Jan 05, 2016

On January 5, the Obama administration will announce a series of executive actions to combat gun violence in the U.S. Among other things, the actions would expand mandatory background checks for some private sales and also provide more funding for mental health treatment, FBI staff and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives agents.

"These are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch," Obama told reporters gathered Monday in the Oval Office. "But they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in."

The President said he planned to roll out the new restrictions, aimed at combating a wave of recent shootings, in the coming days. He will hold a town hall on the topic Thursday, January 7, that will air on CNN and is expected to make it a focus next week during his final State of the Union address.

He insists that he merely wants to enact a few common-sense gun safety measures, but Republicans have posed the question, “What about the second amendment?”

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said, that while she backed Obama’s efforts, she feared that voting another Republican into office would undo any of his progress.

Since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, Obama has tried relentlessly to change the course of gun violence in the U.S. Despite flexing his executive muscle, in the last year, we’ve seen mass shootings in South Carolina, California and Oregon. There were over 8,000 Americans dead due to gun violence in 2015. These events that have finally broke the last straw for Obama.

“We’ve become numb to this,” Obama said in October, his voice dripped with disbelief and frustration after yet another mass killing. He has questioned the nation that he leads, asking why no other advanced country seems so blighted with regular killing sprees.

Obama is turning his words to actions. He has publicly stated he will be making gun violence a priority for his final year in office.

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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