Earlier today, President Obama announced expansive new gun control and Colorado’s Republican legislators are pushing back against what is widely considered a complete overstep of his presidential authority. Democrats, for the most part, were silent on the massive overreach. Well, except for Rep. Diana Degette, who frequently makes up her own facts about guns. She thought it was great.
Obama’s plan includes ten new regulations, including closing the so-called gun loophole, which doesn’t actually exist. This provision would require additional gun sellers to be licensed and would force them to conduct background checks on buyers. Obama’s invocation of mass shootings is bizarre in that none of the perpetrators in mass shootings took advantage of this so-called loophole. His other provisions would provide additional funding for background checks, mental health, and other gun tracking initiatives.
Constitutional lawyers agree that Obama’s push is not likely to stand up in court since his branch of government is not tasked with making laws, which bolsters Republicans’ statements that Obama’s actions exceeded his constitutional role. Here is your representative government working hard for you, PeakNation™:
Congressman Mike Coffman
“This President has just demonstrated with his action that, once again, he has no respect for representative government nor for the limitations that our Constitution places on the powers of his office.”
Senator Cory Gardner
“Once again, President Obama has decided to take divisive, unilateral action rather than work with Congress. Today’s announcement of new executive orders on gun control makes it clear that he has little respect for the constitutional rights of gun-owning Americans, and even less respect for our constitutional system of government.
“The Congress, as representatives of the people, makes the laws. It is the President’s job to enforce those laws. The President is not empowered to make up his own laws when he doesn’t like the ones Congress has written. Executive orders cannot, and should not, stand in place of the Constitution. The desire on the part of the President to govern the entire country based on his own whims is dangerous….”
Congressman Scott Tipton
“…This is President Obama’s legacy. It is marked by a complete unwillingness to work with the people’s representatives within the scope of the Constitution to identify and advance solutions to address the nation’s challenges. Instead, he has chosen time and again to ignore the limitations on the Constitutional authority of the Executive Branch, fostering the most divisive political climate in memory, creating a deep mistrust of government by the American people, and leading to countless successful legal challenges to his actions.”
Congressman Ken Buck
“The Constitution is clear: Congress writes the laws, and the President enforces them. This latest executive action bypasses Congress, tossing Second Amendment rights by the wayside and setting a precedent for future gun grabs. Moreover, under current law it’s already a felony for any individual to transfer a gun to someone who they reasonably believe can’t legally possess it, subject to five years in prison.”