Obama Administration Not Likely To Tighten Gun Control Laws

Obama Administration Not Likely To Tighten Gun Control Laws

There’s recently been a lot of pressure on the Obama Administration regarding the lack of current legislation that is in place involving the legal possession, distribution and use of guns.

After a crazed gunman opened fire in a packed Colorado movie theater last week, many are calling for the leader of the free world to take action and tighten up the gun control laws.

But President Obama is not backing down on his position that the focus should be on conducting more thorough background checks on individuals who purchase guns, rather than on harsher gun control laws.

The Obama administration is unlikely to make a new push on gun control legislation in the wake of a deadly shooting in Colorado last week, despite calls for new measures from advocates like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“I would say that the president’s views on this are as he has stated and as he spelled out in the op-ed that was published in an Arizona newspaper,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, referring to a piece the president wrote in the Arizona Daily Star last year in the wake of the shooting of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona.

Carney added, “He (Obama) believes we need to take steps that protect Second Amendment rights of the American people but that ensure that we are not allowing weapons into the hands of individuals who should not, by existing law, obtain those weapons.”

Carney, briefing reporters on Sunday, repeatedly referred to “existing law,” suggesting the administration is unlikely to pursue any kind of ban on assault weapons or high-capacity gun magazines, as Bloomberg has urged. Instead of new laws, Obama has called for faster and more accurate background checks for people who attempt to purchase weapons.

This political dynamic is unlikely to change, at least in the near future. In 2011, Bloomberg and other gun control advocates thought the shooting of Giffords would help reshape the political debate around guns and force Congress and Obama to act on the issue. But Republicans remain strongly opposed to any gun control legislation, as do many Democrats from more conservative districts who are wary of incurring the wrath of the National Rifle Association.

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