President Obama met today with Attorney General Loretta Lynch where the two apparently discussed the issue of his authority as president to take executive action on gun control. After leaving his meeting, the President told reporters that he does in fact have legal authority to take executive action. FBI Director James Comey and other U.S. law enforcement officials were also in the meeting.“The good news is that these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they’re also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in,” the president said after the meeting.
The President did not mention any specific recommendations or any specific actions he intends to take., but stressed that they are “entirely consistent with the Second Amendment and people’s lawful right to bear arms.”
President Obama has repeatedly expressed his frustration with lawmakers’ reluctance to take meaningful action to curb gun violence. After the mass shooting last October at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, President Obama began looking at executive action as a way of addressing this increasing problem.
The president will formally reveal his executive actions Tuesday, and even though they have no real details of Obama’s plan, Republicans have been quick to criticize.
“I haven’t seen [the proposals], Jeb Bush said on television Sunday. “but his first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding citizens, and it’s wrong.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan accused the president of “subverting the legislative branch.”
But Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders said GOP opposition was predictable.
“I would prefer that we could have bipartisan support, but the truth is, Republicans are not interested in doing anything about gun safety. I think he’s doing what the American people would like him to do.”
