If you’ve been paying attention to Facebook or Twitter over
the last few days or watching Fox News, no doubt you’ve seen innumerable
articles and posts on the “tyranny,” “imperialism,” and “despotism” regarding Obama’s twenty-three
executive orders on gun-control. Call Thomas called Obama our “imperial
emperor in chief,” and Fox News is leading the “tyranny”
hysteria. This may be a minor point
to those whose only goal is to spread a culture of fear and paranoia, but reading
the actual list of what Obama has put into action one discovers there’s really
nothing tyrannical about it. The executive orders have to do with background
checks, mental health, promoting gun safety, law enforcement training, and studying
gun violence. Nowhere in the twenty-three is anything about taking away your
guns. Nowhere is there anything about shredding the Constitution. Nowhere is Obama demanding to be king.
For all this talk about Obama trampling the Constitution, I
keep wondering where all these “Constitutionalists” were when President Bush
oversaw the enactment of the USA
PATRIOT Act, a law which runs roughshod over the 4th, 5th,
and 6th Amendments. Amendment
four regards “unreasonable searches and seizures,” Amendment five guarantees “due
process of law,” and Amendment six ensures the “right to a speedy and public
trial.” Slap the word “terrorist” on an
individual and those “inalienable rights” go out the window. Thanks to the
Patriot Act, I need to prove my identity to get a library card, but somehow requiring
someone who wants to by a weapon capable of deadly force to under go a background check is a breach of
our rights as citizens. Huh? Here’s a blog post by conservative hero Sean
Hannity defending the Patriot Act and criticizing Democrats for accusing
George W. Bush of disregarding the Constitution. My how the tables have turned.
It’s time to stop the madness. It’s time to stop the
insanity. It’s time to stop the paranoia.
Here are Obama’s
twenty-three executive actions:
1. Issue a Presidential
Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the
federal background check system. -Gasp!
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. -Jefferson is rolling over in his grave!
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. -Oh the humanity!
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. -He'll never take our freedom!!!
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. -He clearly hates liberty!
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. -It's time to stand and fight!
23. Launch a national
dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
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