The President's New Gun Laws - The Devil in the Details

The World was shocked by the violence at Sandy Hook. Every parent cried for those parents. Every one of us hugged our children and thanked God for their lives. Every one of us grieved. 

But once again, we, as a nation, willingly give up our freedoms to be part of a nanny state that believes that the government has our best interest at heart. Do we really believe that? Look at their track record!

Perhaps the best legislation would be to make any crime committed with a gun a federal crime. period. Put them in a federal penitentiary if there is a gun. That is a deterrent.

Once more I am aghast at the little bitty details: like Number 2 on this list - another infringement on our privacy, another one of those bits of legislation that over-reaches into the MEDICINE - and makes DOCTORS into LAW ENFORCEMENT officials! Really? why? How does that help my MEDICAL CARE???

Number 3 - "IMPROVE INCENTIVES" is what happens with schools. We will give you federal dollars if you do xxx. And then what happens? Schools, nationwide, stink. No one gets educated. Many federal dollars since the Carter Administration made the Federal Department of Education - and nothing has improved. It has become a behemoth for spending and regulation, a vehicle to empower the teachers unions, and a tool for propaganda for the Democratic party.

How about this one:  "Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign."

The NRA has been doing that for decades, right? Now it will be administered by the Federal Government, a whole new bureaucracy, a federally legislated and controlled gun-ownership bureaucracy that will take notes, track you down, put chips in you, mark you - because they don't want any stupid upstart citizens with guns to get out of hand. Only criminals can do that! 

Another good one: 

"14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence." WTF? Is using a gun a disease? Is it a disease when a subsistance hunter goes out to shoot the elk and deer he puts in his freezer to feed his family through the winter? Oh. I forgot. You live in New York DC LA... You wouldn't know about those guys, nor would you care. 

WHAT THE HELL? THE CDC CAN'T HANDLE THE FLU! Now they are an arm of the ATF? Really?

And this:

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. 

OBAMACARE has made a joke of any mental health system that was left. Take a pill. That is the prescription. Pills did not help the Sandy Hook people. His mom was trying to commit him; she was hindered by the state with laws that prevented her from being able to slap a conservatorship on a kid she knew was out of control. She had to go through government channels. And the state legislature struck down laws that would have made it easier for her to do that one month before the massacre. 

Sometimes, people with mental health issues are a danger to themselves and others. Period. Compassion for the patient has to be weighted against the safety of the public and the harm S/he can do to him/herself. 

The following is a list, provided by the White House, of executive actions President Obama plans to take to address gun violence.

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.