Obama Uses Executive Actions to Bypass Congress on Gun Control Again

On August 29, Vice President Joe Biden announced two new gun control measures implemented by President Obama via executive actions.

Fox News reports the measures target military surplus weapons and the method in which certain guns are registered in the United States.

Regarding military surplus weapons, the U.S. has allowed old weapons to be “sold or donated to U.S. allies, or to be reimported into the U.S. by private entities” for years. 250,000 such firearms have been reimported since 2005 alone, all of which have been “curio” or “relic” firearms that were 50-years old or older. But with Obama’s executive action, such reimportation ends “except for museums and a few other entities like the government.”

The second gun control measure addresses the ability of certain corporations or trusts to acquire and register firearms without a background check. These are often investment firearms, Class III and the like. But Obama says this must stop and from now on someone must go through a background check on behalf of the corporation or trust. 

“Curio” or “relic” firearms are not wildly popular with criminals, and attempts to find a record of a trust going on a shooting spree were unsuccessful.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.