http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... _comboNP_p
By Philip Rucker and Sari Horwitz, Updated: Tuesday, January 15, 12:24 PM
President Obama will unveil a sweeping set of gun-control proposals at midday Wednesday, including an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and limits on the number of bullets that ammunition clips can hold, according to sources familiar with the plans.
The announcement, which press secretary Jay Carney said is scheduled for about 11:45 a.m. at the White House, is also expected to include a slate of up to 19 executive actions that the Obama administration can take on its own to attempt to limit gun violence.
The White House has invited key lawmakers as well as gun-control advocates to appear at Wednesday’s policy rollout, according to two officials who have been invited to the event.
Joining Obama and Vice President Biden for the announcement will be children from across the country who wrote Obama letters after last month’s elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Carney said.
Carney declined to provide details on the administration’s gun proposals, and he acknowledged that there are “limits” to what Obama can achieve through executive action alone.
“I will not get ahead of the president in terms of what his package of proposals will include,” he told reporters Tuesday. “I will simply note that the president has made clear that he intends to take a comprehensive approach.”
Regarding executive action, Carney said, “It is a simple fact that there are limits to what can be done within existing law, and Congress has to act on the kinds of measures we’ve already mentioned, because the power to do that is reserved by Congress.”
I emphasize that these are proposals, not necessarily regulations. These proposals will have to pass A) Congress, and B) a constitutional muster in the form of a challenge before SCOTUS if they are too draconian.
What you have to realize is that, from Obama's perspective, the
proposals may have more political value than an actual change in the law. Let's game this out here for a moment...... IF he were to get an AWB passed, it might well blow up in his face the same way it blew up in Clinton's face. Guns are one of the proverbial third rails of politics. However, if his proposals get shot down, he still can claim the "moral high ground" (it isn't REALLY moral, but the media will help him sell that idea anyway, so consider it a practical fact) and say that he "TRIED, oh
LORD how he tried" to get common sense laws passed, but once again, evil republicans in a dysfunctional Congress are responsible for obstructing all that is good and true and right for the country. So even if he doesn't get what he wants with an AWB or any of his other "proposals," he still gets some political benefit from it, and he can use that to fire for effect on other issues like the debt limit, etc.
C'mon......let's do it for the children.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
