The White House is finalizing executive action to expand background checks on gun purchases, according to a top official.
White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told those attending a vigil for victims of the Newtown shooting that President Obama’s advisers are working on and will soon be submitting a proposal that would expand background chucks on gun purchases, the Associated Press reported.
His review would be “in short order” and would bypass Congress, Jarrett confirmed.
The Obama administration has been pushing for gun control legislation since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The push has been renewed since October’s shooting in Roseburg, Ore., that left nine dead.
It’s been known that the White House has been examining what it can do without Congress for several weeks now. But when asked about the report, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he had no additional information about the process.
“I still don’t have an update in terms of the progress that the administration is making in scrubbing the rules and determining what elements of the president’s executive authority can be used to do a better job of keeping guns away from those who shouldn’t have them,” he said.
“This means, you know, what additional steps can we take to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally ill,” Earnest said. “It’s no surprise that that has been a priority of the president, but in terms of ongoing process or a timeline for rolling out some new ideas, I just don’t have an update for you at this point.”
Earnest said the Obama administration isn’t limiting gun-law changes to a set of executive action.
“We would welcome Congress” to take action, Earnest said.
“There is no piece of legislation that Congress can pass that would stop every incident of gun violence,” Earnest conceded. But lawmakers still should approve common-sense restrictions such as blocking people on the “no-fly” list from purchasing guns.
“That seems like a pretty common sense step,” Earnest said.
“Should we wait until someone on the list” walks into a store, “purchases a gun and kills a whole lot of innocent Americans?” Earnest asked about critics who say the administration’s proposal is unnecessary because none of the perpetrators in recent mass shooting incidents were on the list.
“Our nation is awash in guns,” he said. “That ready access to guns and that proliferation of violence weapons of war has not led to fewer gun deaths,” Earnest said about the uptick in gun sales post-mass shootings by Americans who fear being gunned down.
