Obama’s 23 Planned Executive Actions On Guns

After VPOTUS reported to POTUS on suggested gun solutions, the White House issued a list of 23 executive actions POTUS plans to pursue in the immediate future.  None of these 23 items lists guns which are to be banned, nor are high capacity magazines mentioned (though both are certain to be addressed in any future attempts at federal legislation).  Indeed, most of the items have to do with information sharing and background checks.  However, there are two extremely interesting items on the list that are worth knowing about.  No. 11 is "Nominate an ATF director."  You might ask, "What the hell?  Why haven't you nominated a director already?"  In case you've not been watching the news about nominations for Secretaries of Defense, Treasury and State, this process has become a tug-of-war.  The same has been true of the ATF.  However, it seems that the Republicans are not alone in their dogmatic opposition to any Obama choice for ATF--the gun lobby has been pushing them on this issue for some time.  The gun lobby is likewise behind item no. 14. "Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence."  The CDC is very well placed and very well funded to conduct such invaluable research.  Nevertheless, the CDC's budget for such research was taken away some time ago after much pressure from the NRA lobbyists.