While everyone in the media was talking about the Republican debate yesterday, Obama quietly met with former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss gun control.
Jordan Fabian reported at The Hill:
Obama meets with Bloomberg to talk gunsPresident Obama on Wednesday met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ally of the White House on gun control. The meeting, which was not on the president’s public schedule, comes as he is weighing new executive action on guns in response to a series of mass shootings that have marred his presidency. Obama huddled with Bloomberg “as part of the administration’s continuing push to address gun violence in America,” the White House said in a statement. “The two discussed ways to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have access to them and what more could be done at the state and local level to help address gun violence in America,” the White House added. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, a close Obama confidante who has spearheaded the White House’s gun-control push, also attended the meeting.
It’s rather telling that less than 24 hours after every major Republican in the country was debating national security policy, the president was meeting with the patron saint of the nanny state to discuss curbing the right of Americans to defend themselves.
Earlier this week, Josh Siegel of The Daily Signal explained what’s going on here:
What You Need to Know About Obama’s Plan to Bypass Congress on GunsStymied by Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama is expected to act alone to take executive action to tighten restrictions on gun sales.White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, speaking at a vigil last week for victims of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting, confirmed that the president has asked his staff to complete a proposal that would expand background checks on gun sales without congressional approval.Before Jarrett’s public pronouncement, The New York Times and other media have reported the Obama administration’s action would broaden the definition of who is considered a high-volume gun dealer, a move that could force background checks for certain sales at gun shows, online, and in other areas that fall outside the law.The Gun Control Act of 1968 already requires professional gun dealers to be licensed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Buyers of guns from federally licensed dealers are subject to background checks.But the existing law doesn’t clearly define what it means to be in the business of selling guns.Obama’s executive action would intend to clarify that distinction in a way that broadens who is in the gun-selling business, so that more sales are “on the books” and thus require a background check.
Once again, Obama puts his agenda ahead of the concerns of the American people.
We shouldn’t have expected anything less.
Featured image is a screen cap from Forbes.
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