OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
John Yoo, on his Main Feed post, wrote:
There are sensible regulations of gun ownership -- which don't violate the right to bear arms -- that conservatives should support.
Okay, now that we have actual proposals and actual Executive Orders to look at, I'd like to know which of these you support.
Legislation Obama Wants
President Obama would like Congress to:
- Institute another “assault weapons” ban
- Pass a law limiting magazine capacity
- Institute universal background checks, even on private transactions
Which of these do you support? Which ones should conservatives support?
Executive Orders
These are more interesting, since they do not require Congressional approval. I'll copy/paste them in full:
1) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2) Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3) Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4) Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5) Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6) Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7) Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8) Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10) Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11) Nominate an ATF director.
12) Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13) Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14) Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15) Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16) Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17) Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18) Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19) Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20) Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21) Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22) Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23) Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
I'll post which ones I can support after reviewing these a bit more. But I sure would like to hear from our lawyer-like folks as to any legal issues with any of these. (In particular, I'm thinking of #2 and #16, which seem problematic given the language in Obamacare.)
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Comments:
Nov '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
TheSophist: I'm sort of ok with #12 as well, although all this spending is a problem in and of itself. But hey, providing proper training to LEO, firemen, EMT's, and school officials doesn't strike me as violating any 2A rights, and it's probably not a bad idea either as long as we have our sensationalist media that likes to make these mass killers famous.
Plus, perhaps that would mean more training organizations around the country where plain old moms and dads can also get that same active shooter training, and at lower cost. · 8 minutes ago
Is it appropriate at the federal level, though?
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
BrentB67: I don' support any of the orders nor do I support John Yoo's assertion that there are 'sensible' regulations that conservatives should support.
If a person is not incarcerated or on parole there should be no background checks or other restrictions on any of the enumerated rights in the Constitution.
If someone is too mentally ill to own a gun why are they wandering around society? What is stopping them from driving through a school zone and up onto a sidewalk full of children at 45mph? · 4 hours ago
Jul '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Sadly it is starting to look like I sold all my guns via private party sales to unknow individuals over the last year or so.
Jul '10
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Every one of these proposals is nonsensical and would have never prevented Adam Lanza from shooting his own mother as she slept and then stealing her guns. Not a single child's life would have been spared had all these been in place two months ago.
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Apparently investors support each and every idea that VP Biden came up with. Guns banned, gun stocks rise: RGR +4.98% SWHC +5.69%. Capitalism: there is no substitute.
Jul '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
One of the better discussions I have heard about guns lately came from Dan Carlin’s podcast “Common Sense” episode “Show 244 - Gunning for Violence”. He has some suggestions for gun control I think many conservatives can agree with. The one I like most is to treat guns similar to the way we do alcohol and treat gun violence like we do drunken driving by significantly increasing the penalties on crimes committed with a gun to maybe 30 year sentences.
Jan '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Leigh
Is it appropriate at the federal level, though? · 22 minutes ago
Well, much depends on the actual regs, and what sorts of strings come attached, but in concept, the Feds can provide grants to states/localities for the purpose of training for events. I don't see a major problem with that.
Jan '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
You too, huh? Except for my Remington 870, same here.
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Or 90 years. But that isn't gun control, it's crime control and it is the only sensible approach if the real intent is to reduce the frequency of crimes committed with a gun.
Jan '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Again, #18 -- armed school resource officers -- could have prevented or minimized the damage done at Sandy Hook.
Jun '10
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
11) Nominate an ATF director.
Mr. "I Won" will re-nominate Andrew Traver, a dishonest, anti-gun zealot who - with the help of NBC Chicago - created a propaganda interview video implying that fully-automatic AK47's were all over Chicago's streets.
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
4) Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
Uhm....see that's just Biden funnin' with Obama right there.
Jul '10
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
What is a "resource officer?" I have never heard of such a government title. And usually if your government position has only recntly entered the lexicon, it's probably useless and too expensive.
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
I had the same question. A resource officer is, get this..... a law enforcement officer who is assigned to either an elementary, middle, or high school.
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Which one of these stops Sandy Hook or for that matter any of them?
I'm guessing none of them.
So, what's the point? Other than what the propagandists call "optics". That'll do it. Optics!
Sorry. Label me a cynic on this.
To beat the punch, yeah ,#18 could have helped with the damage.
Edited on January 17, 2013 at 1:50amSep '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
I think, as someone said above, the devil is in the details. For example, I have no objection to states doing a background check that makes use of federal crime databases and such to make sure an Iowa felon cannot move to California and buy a gun. However, when you add in more subjective issues like mental health, I start to get concerned. If a woman wants treatment for post-partum depression, does she have to choose between her mental health and her ability to own a gun? What about a teen diagnosed with depression, who tries to buy a gun at 25. Does their past issue matter? Isn't this simply going to deter people from getting help?
The same goes for executive actions like nominating an ATF director. Sure I want the agency to have a head, but not if he/she is the wrong guy/gal for the job.
Most of these are vague enough to be either harmless or terrible ideas, depending on the execution.
Dec '10
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
I've decided to cut back on Executive Orders ... sometime by around June, I'm just going to opt out of them all together ...
Apr '11
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
If my doctor ever brings up guns to me it better be followed by an invitation to the range.
Years ago I went to a doctor who, while going over my vitals, dryly asked me whether I wore a seatbelt. I asked him why a doctor would ask me that and he recited statistics at me.
If he were somehow required to ask me that by the insurance company or, God forbid, the government, the fact that he didn't preface it by some acknowledgement that he understood that it was an absurd topic for a routine medical check up suggested that the man was a tool with poor judgement.
Apr '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Having small kids, I get asked a lot of questions like this. Including by my ob/gyn.
I usually manage a variation on "that's no more your business than who I voted for last election. I also won't inventory the sword collection."
Dec '12
Re: OK, Conservatives: Which of These New Regulations and Gun Control Proposals Do You Support?
Well, it's been a long time since there was a director of the AFT. That seems to be an executive order from President Obama to President Obama.
Resource officers and emergency plans for their institutions are something the people in those institutions should decide on and deploy. If they need advice, their local police chief or sheriff can provide it. There is not need for the Federal government to be involved.
Background checks for gun sales between private individuals might be made available--that is, a private individual could access the database before selling a gun to someone he doesn't know. Making them mandatory is laughable. Not even most law-abiding citizens will comply; no criminals will.
Here in Chicago, we have handgun killings by gangs, including Mexican drug gangs. We're a "sanctuary city" that does not comply with Federal immigration law. The Federal government should challenge that Chicago ordinance and facilitate the deportation of illegal aliens convicted of felonies, including juveniles.