PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS
Last Action Date: May 6, 2024
Obama Has This BIG Plan To Start Off The New Year, Many Americans Will Be Furious :: 12/19/2015
President Obama is expected to issue a executive order decreeing new gun control measures early in the new year.
Roll Call is reporting, “Senior congressional aides and sources in the gun-control community expect the White House to use its executive powers to tighten federal gun laws shortly after President Barack Obama returns from a Hawaiian vacation in early January.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed to reporters on Thursday that a legal review is underway to determine in what ways the president can act without Congress.
“There are common-sense things that can be done that would make our country safer, that would make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to get their hands on a firearm,” Earnest said. “And we can do that without undermining the basic constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.”
Obama used similar language in the aftermath of the San Bernardino attacks, though many have pointed out that all the measures the president has advocated for in the past, including universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and limits on the number of rounds in magazine clips, are already in place in California.
A recent CNN/ORC poll suggests the American public does not support the president’s call for more gun control laws, with 52 percent opposing such a move. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found 53 percent are against the assault weapons ban.
According to Roll Call, the administration is zeroing in on non-licensed sellers of firearms for executive action. A inside source told the news outlet,
“What we expect is that they are going to better define what it means to be ‘in the business’ of selling firearms.”
Under current federal law, all licensed dealers must perform a criminal background check before selling a gun to anyone. The majority of firearms are sold by licensed dealers; however, the private sale of firearms between individuals are not covered. Presumably, the administration may be seeking to require private individuals who sell over a certain threshold to perform background checks.
Obama also called for banning anyone on the federal government’s No Fly List from obtaining firearms. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and others have argued that it is unconstitutional to strip American citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process of law. Those placed on the No Fly List must seek redress after learning the Department of Homeland Security has made the determination: i.e. guilty until proven innocent.
.@POTUS meets @MikeBloomberg as he prepares an executive order on guns https://t.co/lZ6I4pxKPf via @Kevinliptakcnn pic.twitter.com/c9qENns3B8
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 17, 2015
The president met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday, reportedly to discuss what actions can be taken to further his gun control agenda. Bloomberg, a strong proponent of gun control, has declared a war on the National Rifle Association, pledging $50 million of his own money in the fight. His goal is to elect pro-gun control candidates and make gun rights advocates “afraid of us.”
.@MikeBloomberg talked #guncontrol with @POTUS this week…Tel them to leave our #2A rights alone! pic.twitter.com/GPW8tIfbD7 — NRA (@NRA) December 18, 2015
