While everyone is distracted with budget battles and the unrest in the Middle East, the White House announced two new gun control measures today. One new action attempts to close a loophole that exists related to background check and the other one prohibits the re-importation of U.S. military weapons.
The Associated Press first announced these new executive actions this morning.
One new policy will end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the U.S. to allies, be reimported into the U.S. by private entities, where some may end up on the streets. The White House said the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to be reimported since 2005; under the new policy, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.
The Obama administration is also proposing a federal rule to stop those who would be ineligible to pass a background check from skirting the law by registering a gun to a corporation or trust. The new rule would require people associated with those entities, like beneficiaries and trustees, to undergo the same type of fingerprint-based background checks as individuals if they want to register guns.
Vice President Joe Biden, Obama's point-man on gun control after the Newtown tragedy thrust guns into the national spotlight, was set to unveil the new actions Thursday at the White House.
Here we are again. The President is using any way possible to avoid letting the people and their elected official decide what kind of gun legislation is needed. President Obama will continue to issue these executive actions until he gets what he wants. Luckily, Congress is needed in order to pass any legislation banning “assault weapons” or actions on background checks for individual sales. But why is it that the president goes about making these changes when everyone is focused on other major news stories? Apparently he just wants to hide these actions in the news cycle.