NYT: Obama’s New Gun Controls Are Just More Talk, No Action

The New York Times (NYT) claimed on February 7 that for all the attention given to President Obama’s unilateral orders to reduce “gun violence,” his executive gun controls are just more talk with little action.

The NYT claims the main results of the controls are “an updated webpage and 10,000 pamphlets that federal agents will give out at gun shows.” While other aspects of the controls–like the appearance that Obama was ramping up the number of FBI personnel assigned to background checks–were things that were already in place and would have transpired with or without the executive action announced January 5.

According to NYT, a tell-tale sign that Obama’s gun controls lack teeth is the fact that no task forces have been formed or assigned to increase enforcement of gun laws. In fact, “Obama administration officials said they had no specific plans to increase investigations, arrests or prosecutions of gun sellers who do not comply with the law.” And at this point, “no funding has been reallocated to accelerate gun sale investigations in Washington or at the offices of the 93 United States attorneys.”

For all the talk about expanding the scope of government oversight to cover more private sellers, National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Mike Bazinet says, “Nothing, from what we can see, has changed.”

Michael Bouchard, former assistant director of the ATF, points out that the agency has been without “a confirmed director” for nearly a year. He believes Obama should have nominated someone for the position as part of the executive announcement if he were serious about getting things done. Bouchard asked, “How could you say that all this stuff about guns is so important, but you don’t think it’s important enough to name a nominee to run the agency?”

Breitbart News previously reported a gun ban for some Social Security beneficiaries was part of Obama’s executive actions, as well. But that, too, had been in the works separately for some time and was co-opted by Obama during the executive announcement.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.