PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Stymied by Congress, White House imposes its own gun limits :: 10/31/2016
WASHINGTON - Much of the debate over guns during the presidential campaign has focused on big proposals to expand background checks for gun sales or restore a national assault weapons ban.
But a series of smaller steps by the Obama administration during the past several years have enraged gun rights supporters.
Besides a highly publicized expansion of background checks for gun-show sales and online purchases in January, about a dozen other White House actions show how much the next president can affect gun policy, even without Congressional approval, gun rights advocates say.
The Obama administration's moves have included barring a type of ammunition and halting the import of guns collected by some enthusiasts.
Advocates of gun restrictions say the steps are necessary given Congress' unwillingness to pass such controls as universal background checks, despite large support in national opinion polls.
“The White House is limited in terms of what they can do without the backing and support of Congress. President Obama and his administration have explored all possibilities in response to the violence,” said Po Murray, chairman of the Newtown Action Alliance, founded after the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in an interview.
Gun rights supporters say a Hillary Clinton administration would be more of the same.
“This election is about law abiding Americans' right to have a firearm in their home for self-protection,” said Catherine Mortensen, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, which has reportedly spent more than $25 million to defeat the Democratic presidential nominee.
Adam Winkler, a UCLA constitutional law professor who authored “Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America," said Clinton would likely have to turn to executive action, too, because of the divided Congress.
For example, he said, Clinton could expand a prohibition on those convicted of domestic violence from owning guns. The ban currently does not cover those convicted of domestic violence in dating relationships or on all family members.
“But her hands will be tied, much like Obama's," he said. "Sky-is-falling claims that Clinton's election would lead to broad civilian disarmament are just silly."
Paul Helmke, past president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and a former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, said Obama has "done pretty much everything he really can without submitting it for congressional approval."
Still, even changes that do not fundamentally alter the right to own a firearm have angered gun rights supporters.
For example, in July, the State Department updated the definition of who must register as an arms manufacturer and pay a $2,250 annual fee under an international arms trafficking law.
Its definition included some work, like threading gun barrels, considered regular gunsmithing. The department did say most work on guns doesn't require registration, as long as special machinery is not involved and the work doesn't improve weapons' accuracy or firepower.
Still, the NRA and some members of Congress saw the move as burdening gun owners.
Also under the Obama administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned the import of ammunition for AK-74 assault rifles that was considered armor-piercing. A federal judge upheld the ban earlier this year.
AFT had proposed banning AR-15 ammunition, which can also pierce armor, as well. It backed off when gun-rights groups protested that the ammunition is used for hunting.
Such actions are about the most significant that Obama has been able to take, said Jay Wachtel, a former AFT agent who now lectures on criminal justice at California State University Fullerton.
“He’s been screwed. There’s nothing he could really do,” said Wachtel. “We’re hopelessly polarized. You can try tinkering with the margins.”
Such steps have helped protect police somewhat, Wachtel said, who noted that more powerful ammunition is much the reason that police are becoming more militarized.
But, in truth, many kinds of readily available ammunition can pierce police vests, he said.
Unable to get Congress to pass background checks for all gun sales, the Obama administration has also taken steps to expand them on its own.
Most notably, in January, it announced clarifications widening checks on gun-show sales and for online purchases.
The administration previously closed what Vice President Joe Biden had described as an “artful dodge” allowing felons and others barred from having guns to avoid background checks by registering machine guns and other weapons to a trust or a corporation.
In response to January's restrictions, the NRA said the move “displays the Obama administration’s typical, knee-jerk, anti-gun bias and instinct to further burden and discourage lawful gun ownership.”
On the same day as the action, Obama barred military weapons sold or donated by the U.S. to overseas allies from being brought back into the country.
Gun rights supporters say that affected those who collect historic guns.
The White House said the move keeps military-grade weapons off the streets.
Among other limits put in place by Obama and pointed out by the NRA is a 2011 order requiring gun sellers to tell the ATF if they sell multiple semi-automatic rifles to a single buyer in a southwestern border state.
The White House justified the move as combating drug traffickers. The NRA and many members of Congress balked that it was another burden on gun dealers and a step toward keeping track of everybody with weapons.
Two years ago, ATF expanded its prohibition of people who are not allowed to have guns because of a mental defect to include those ordered to undergo outpatient treatment. The change did not affect people who voluntarily enter treatment.
Gun-rights advocates saw that as another infringement, as well.
That same year, another Obama administration effort to stop banks from dealing with businesses engaged in illegal practices came under fire. Gun rights groups said the operation affected legal businesses, such as ammunition dealers.
Envisioning the future under a Clinton administration, Murray, of the Newtown Action Alliance, said she could unilaterally use the government’s purchasing power to encourage gunmakers to sell smart-guns that only fire when an owner's fingerprints are recognized.
Meanwhile, under Republican Donald Trump's administration, Murray predicted a future that looks more troubling. He could undo rules that Obama has imposed on background checks, while sapping the ATF of resources to enforce gun laws.
