P
resident Obama is seriously considering circumventing Congress with his executive authority and imposing new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers. Under the proposed rule change, dealers who exceed a certain number of sales each year would be required to obtain a license from ATF and perform background checks on potential buyers.As the president heads to Roseburg, Ore., on Friday to comfort the survivors and families of those killed in last week's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, the political calculus around his most vexing domestic policy issue is shifting once again.
Most vexing issue? Did I tellya this was the WaPo?
"We are hopeful we can find a way to do this," said one senior administration official, who noted that lawyers were still working through details to ensure that the rule could pass legal muster. "It's a lot more clear today than it was a year ago how to work this out."
Why not make the announcement in gun-free Chicago, and combine it with the announcement of the release of 6,000 felons?
White House officials drafted the proposal in late 2013 to apply to those dealers who sell at least 50 guns annually, after Congress had rejected legislation that would have expanded background checks more broadly to private sellers. While the White House Office of Legal Counsel and then-Attorney General Holder initially concluded the regulation was legally defensible, according to several individuals involved in the discussions, some federal lawyers remained concerned that setting an arbitrary numerical threshold could leave the rule vulnerable to a challenge.
Arbitrary smarbitary! People are dying! My people.
ATF officials, moreover, objected that it would be hard to enforce
[deep breath] Whew! There ya go. Now no one else needs to hold their nose and cover their eyes to go to the WaPo site.
