Without the consent of Congress, the White House has little choice but to lobby harder and rely on unilateral executive orders. As the President said, he is “directing the Attorney General to move the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”
And the joy for those opposed to Second Amendment freedoms was immediate.
Everytown for Gun Safety along with its affiliated Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action was quick to praise the president’s announcement. The groups described the actions as “a home run for public safety.”
They called his moves “robust action” that targeted the “gun seller loophole.”
The groups touted the new measures as ways to avoid having dangerous people possessing weapons, though that is rarely the case with any gun control.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, lauded the president for “meaningful action to save lives from gun violence.” She praised the White House for “fully implementing the law and using every tool in their disposal to keep our families and communities safe.”
Actually, there are numerous tools at their disposal that are being largely ignored. While keeping guns away from violent criminals is a noble goal, gun control has proven to be wholly ineffective. The same cannot be said for a more stringent court system to keep violent criminals off the streets, fully supported police departments and prosecutors who realize that it’s the victims who need protection.
Everytown went further, calling for the Attorney General and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to promptly take up the “clear, strong directive” against gun rights.
Among their goals, of course, is to force sellers at gun shows and online to be categorized as “gun dealers” and run background checks.
Everytown was hardly alone in pouring accolades on the executive orders. Brady jumped on the bandwagon and celebrated the expanded usage of the Brady Background Check system. The group also applauded the new scrutiny and “transparency” to be bestowed on the gun industry.
Brady President Kris Brown asserted that Biden has tackled gun violence “in ways no president has ever done before.” The new measures, he believes, will save “countless” lives.
He also held high praise for the administration’s new call for gun industry violations to be released to the public. Brown said they will give researchers and journalists a new arsenal to expose malpractice within the industry.
This is almost laughable in its simplistic approach. The firearms industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the U.S. It rivals the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors for government pressure placed on participants.
But it is a common rallying cry among anti-gun activists to hold the weapons industry “accountable,” completely ignoring the obvious truth. If there are bad actors, they should be dealt with without trying to punish a legally and constitutionally protected enterprise.
The government’s resources would be better spent going after those who commit violent crimes and getting them off the street. Their guns, as every realistic person knows, are almost never obtained legally. Get the perpetrators out of circulation and public safety immediately benefits.
Many Second Amendment opponents are also joyous over the president’s edict to the Federal Trade Commission to examine how guns are marketed. Which is a silly idea, they are marketed to sell with advertisements and testimonials that make them more attractive to buyers.
And to be clear, kids cannot buy guns, only lawful adults.
There are far too many aspects to this week’s executive orders that just don’t add up. But that’s fine for the anti-gun lobby. They just want to feel as though “something” is being done, and it doesn’t much matter what that something is.
