|
 Obama meets with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to
discuss his administration's options for tightening gun rules
without going through the Republican-controlled Congress, which does
not support the wide-ranging legislative changes that the Democratic
president prefers.
Although the White House has not spelled out his plans specifically,
they are expected to include measures that would require more gun
sellers to become licensed dealers and conduct background checks on
buyers.
Guns are a potent issue in U.S. politics. The right to bear arms is
protected by the U.S. Constitution, and the National Rifle
Association, the top U.S. gun rights group, is feared and respected
in Washington for its ability to mobilize gun owners. Congress has
not approved major gun-control legislation since the 1990s.
Republicans have roundly criticized the president's plans, calling
them an overreach of his executive authority.
 "This president wants to act as if he's a king, as if he's a
dictator," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican
presidential candidate, said on “Fox News Sunday.” "This is going to
be another illegal executive action, which I'm sure will be rejected
by the courts."
Obama will take part in a one-hour town hall-style
question-and-answer session on gun control broadcast on CNN at 8
p.m. EST on Thursday, the White House said.
The event, moderated by anchor Anderson Cooper, will give Obama a
chance to respond to criticism and raise public support for the
measures before his State of the Union address on Jan. 12.
Obama launched a push to tighten U.S. gun laws after the Newtown,
Connecticut, school shooting massacre in 2012. But the push stalled
in Congress. Last month's fatal shootings in San Bernardino,
California, by a couple who authorities suspect were inspired by
Islamic State, gave further impetus to the White House to try again
through executive actions.
"It would be better for our security if it was harder for terrorists
to purchase very powerful weapons," White House deputy national
security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Saturday in Hawaii,
where Obama was concluding a two-week vacation. The president
returned to Washington on Sunday. PUBLIC SUPPORT
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic
presidential front-runner who has said she would take executive
action on guns if elected in the Nov. 8, 2016, election, praised
Obama's anticipated move.
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"I applaud the president for taking a hard look at that and I
believe he will take some actions to require more gun sellers to do
background checks," Clinton said during a stop in New Hampshire,
according to her campaign.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month showed 65 percent of respondents
saying it was important that gun control be addressed in the United
States, while 29.4 percent said it was unimportant.
The Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to
the White House, has called on Obama to target high-volume sellers
of guns who are not licensed, using criteria such as the number of
firearms sold and whether a seller advertises or rents tables at gun
shows to determine who should be forced to obtain a license.
“There are many, many guns that are changing hands without a
background check,” said Chelsea Parsons, vice president of guns and
crime policy at the group. Obama would be well within his executive
authority to have the government to widen the number of sellers who
are required to be licensed, she said.
Republicans zeroed in on Obama's attempt to go around Congress as a
questionable way to advance his goals.
"His first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding
citizens, and it's wrong," said Republican presidential candidate
Jeb Bush on "Fox News Sunday." "And to use executive powers he
doesn't have is a pattern that is quite dangerous."
(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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