Obama moves to require background checks for more gun sales

“… It’s not going to prevent every mass shooting, it’s not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal, it will potentially save lives and spare families the pain and the extraordinary loss that they’ve suffered as a outcome of a firearm getting in the hands of the wrong people”, Obama said.

He said the recommendations from his cabinet were “well within” his legal authority and “entirely consistent with the Second Amendment”.

Mr Obama held talks with the country’s attorney-general ahead of an announcement on new executive actions on gun control.

In an attempt to prevent gun purchases from falling through the cracks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will hire 230 more examiners to process background checks, the White House said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized the president’s plan Monday, saying the underlying cause of gun violence is mental illness, and that the gun control measures advocated by the White House will not stop such attacks. Decrying what he said was the subversion of Congress, Mr Ryan said the country deserved “a president who will respect their constitutional rights – all of them”.

But Borst, having operated a gun store under New York’s SAFE Act since 2013, says any action from Washington won’t make Americans safer.

One area the administration has been focusing on has been the so-called “gun show loophole”.

Since then, the president has complained repeatedly that mass shootings and routine gun violence are much more prevalent in the USA than in other developed countries. “It’s a pattern that’s quite risky”, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said on Fox News Sunday.

However, the more President Obama pushes for more gun control, the more push-back he seems to get from many gun owners.

Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) said Obama was “left with no choice but to take executive action in order to save American lives”.

According to a statement by the White House, President Obama’s executive action includes a four-point plan that aims to strengthen the background checks system used in the gun buying process and expand the role of the ATF.

But many who sell guns at flea markets, on websites or other informal settings do not register as dealers.

Obama presented the recommendations discussed during a White House meeting Monday with top officials including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey.

“This is going to be another illegal executive action, which I’m sure will be rejected by the courts”. “I’m not opposed to expanding some of the background checks [on gun sales]”.

In his weekly address, President Obama told the nation, “Each time we are told common sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre or the one before that, so we shouldn’t do anything?”

On Thursday, Obama is set to participate in a primetime debate on gun control legislation in an effort to make the case for his new laws.