The Facts On The President's Gun Violence Executive Actions

We all knew this day would come. We've known the Vice President and his commission were working on recommendations to stymie the kind of acts of violence we've seen in places like Newtown, CT. There has been an enormous amount of rumor and hyperbole surrounding the commission's recommendations. Add in various conspiracy theories and cries for revolution and uprising and you have what I call a "perfect storm of biased and subjective opinions disguised as facts". Like the NOAA, we should name this storm - Logic Storm "Lunacy".

First, let's start with the 23 executive actions the President can take. You should know the President, while he cannot pass laws, he can write instructions for his executive agencies on how they can enforce existing laws. Contrary to what you read on social media or partisan-loyal sites, the President is NOT taking away guns. What he plans on doing is ASKING Congress to renew the assault weapons ban. We'll cover that at a later when we have his bill in front of us. You should know this bill has the same chances of survival in the House of Representatives as ice in a microwave.

Here are the actions the President will order (click here for a link to the pdf):

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

There you have it.  There is no existing measure TODAY to take away your guns. The most prominent piece of these executive actions is mental health. Most of of the actions are meant to supplement existing law enforcement and mental health initiatives BOTH sides claim are needed. There is nothing overly invasive for private citizens in THESE actions. No black-booted thug army created. No UN-mandated confiscation plan. That is not to say the assault weapons ban won't be.

The Violence Policy Center, an anti-assault weapons non-profit think tank said in 2004:

Soon after its passage in 1994, the gun industry made a mockery of the federal assault weapons ban, manufacturing "post-ban" assault weapons with only slight, cosmetic differences from their banned counterparts. The VPC estimates that more than one million assault weapons have been manufactured since the ban's passage in 1994. The sad truth is that mere renewal would have done little to stop this flood of assault weapons.

Salon.com reminded us today the likelihood of such a bill passing through the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.  Though the article is harsh on the GOP one cannot ignore with a 33 vote deficit and a GOP House swollen with partisans, there is very little hope of a ban occurring during this term.

There is some language in the executive actions that will ruffle some folks' feathers such as proposing gun shows no longer be exempt from background checks.  This closes a significant loophole in existing federal law regarding background checks. There's also very broad language thus far as to providing mental health treatment to Medicare recipients. It's a nice tie-in for folks who presumably the President wants to buy-in to "Obamacare". Ironically, most active shooters have come from upper to middle class homes and weren't on any acknowledged public assistance.

Are there things in the President's current plans that I don't like?  

Yes.  

Do I think this will stymie the tide of most gun violence?  

No.  

Is that because I think this covers crimes like Newtown and not crimes that occur on streets in cities like Chicago where the weapons are already on the street and purchased through various straw purchases?  

Yup.  

Are there things I like?  

Yup.

  

Are they pertaining to mental health and putting additional resources in the hands of those who have to respond and mitigate these issues? 

Yup.

Do I think an assault weapons ban is feasible or worth pursuing?  

Not really. The bad guys already have these guns and tougher sentences do little in preventing these heinous acts.  

Are these actions a good start? 

Possibly. We'll have to wait and see, unfortunately. C'est l'vie.