Question by Erik: Conservatives: If you read through the Executive Orders, they are actually pretty good?
They are mostly directing the agencies under his control to share information for more effective background checks and do further research into gun safety, mental illnesses, and violence. He even wants incentives for schools to have guards. No where does it place limits on what gunowners can have. (It does propose the attorney general look into who shouldn’t have guns, but the Order doesn’t limit anyone by itself. That would be a discussion for another day)
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.”
“My executive orders are pretty good so that they don’t need to pass through the Congress and be standardized with the Constitution”
He doesn’t need a bill from Congress to tell the agencies he is responsible for how to do their job. Be reasonable.
“A lot of it is composed of things we’re already supposed to be doing”
And now he plans to enforce them. Which is his job. So why so much resistance?
Pat, I appreciate your thorough response. But besides rolling your eyes at the meaningfulness of the Orders, you haven’t noted anything unconstitutional with them (with a possibly valid point on #2). Certainly nothing that warrants that unrest it’s drawn from the Right.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
The problem is that they sound good, but don’t really accomplish much. Not one of those things would have done anything to prevent that man from walking into Sandy Hook Elementary and shooting those children.
Since his mother purchased the guns, 1-6 are irrelevant.
7? Doubt a campaign would have deterred him.
8? No idication this was an issue in the shooting
9? These guns were never used in a crime
10-11? What information? And how is making it accessible to law enforcement going to stop an active shooter?
13? Law enforcement and first responders are already trained well for this. While training school officials may seem beneficial, they still aren’t going to possess the means to stop the situation.
14-15? Again, studies and statistics won’t help much with a situation on the ground
16-17? It is not a doctors place to question people about weapons available to them and I’m pretty sure hospital staff is well aware of the fact that they can report threats to law enforcement. They do it all the time.
18? What the heck is a “school resource officer?” Is this the armed guards that the NRA was criticized for suggesting?
19? This already exists on local levels, not sure why a federal model would be any better.
20-23? Really? This guy was from a fairly well-to-do family. If they were inclined to seek mental health treatment for him, they would have. These all presuppose that he would have sought mental health treatment if he could have. The truth is he could have and he DIDN’T!
I’m sure this is all well-meaning. But when a catastrophe hits, I doubt these will accomplish anything. Except the armed guard.
And that’s pretty much what conservatives have been saying all along.
Here are my issues…
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.”
The president is issuing an order that in essence circumvents a standing law. This is illegal. The law must be amended, not circumvented.
3. “Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.”
At the cost of whom? What incentives and why. Gun control is not a pawer vested in the federal government and is a state issue. This executive order aver reaches the federal government’s authority.
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.”
The same attorney general that gave guns to cartel members
5. “Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.”
They already have that ability
6. “Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
They already have that
7. “Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.”
it’s called the NRA
9. “Issue a presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.”
They already do
10. “Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.”
Start with the weapons lost in Fast and Furious
11. “Nominate an ATF director.”
Really…. to what end, B. Todd Jones is the acting director…. what is a new director going to do?
13. “Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.”
How do you maximize efforts to prevent violence and why aren’t we already prosecuting gun crime?
14. “Issue a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.”
So now violence is a disease…. talk about a waste of money.
16. “Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.”
You’re right it does not prohibit it, but it does not mandate it either and armed with that information the physician is supposed to do what. Break ethical conduct and tell the DOJ????
17. “Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.”
Health care providers don’t think that there is a federal law prohibiting this.
FYI for Paul above….. the declared gun free zone didn’t stop a shooter from killing twenty children. Idiot.
This whole exercises is idiotic. Most of what his EO covers are things that we are already supposed to be doing. Some of it is down right illegal and borders on unconstitutional. And still some is plain ignorant.
FYI, I love your edited comment, “And now he plans to enforce them.” Hasn’t that been he job since taking office? To enforce the law??? Why wait until now to enforce the law????
They dont understand nor do they care.
A lot of it is composed of things we’re already supposed to be doing!
Conservatives don’t care what it says.
With all this gun law talk, the fact remains, Obama is just plain lousy as a president?
Doing anything to their right to bear arms is like trying to mess with a 4 year old’s right to bear a blankie. They’re very emotionally attached to their guns. I doubt they care how reasonable any of this is.
Eric Holder should be afraid of #10.
Why should they actually read them when it’s so much easier to rant against them without knowing what they actually say? There is less thinking involved that way. They might get a charlie horse in their brain if they over exert it.
They are either tyranny or meaningless depending on whether or not they have read them yet.
La la la la la my dad use to full fist punch me so you are wrong.
Republicans have insisted for 4 years that Obama would use executive orders to ban guns. Forgive them for trying to deal with the reality that he did no such thing and, actually, supported many of their proposals regarding school resource officers and emergency plans for schools. They aren’t sure how to pivot this reality into fear mongering, so they are continuing to claim that he has banned guns.
And they’re going to accomplish nothing. There’s a cheaper way of getting armed, trained people in schools. It’s called lift the gun free zone and let teachers take a concealed carry class. They have a free class in Ohio, and hundreds of teachers have already signed up.
Bull.
That is what they are. Big deal.
Don’t confuse them with facts. Their minds are made up already.
“. It’s called lift the gun free zone and let teachers take a concealed carry class. ”
Because teachers never go crazy and shoot people.