Marylanders react to President’s executive action
A number of mass shootings over several years and many states, along with the everyday gun violence in cities and towns nationwide, has led to an announcement by President Obama Tuesday highlighting the initiatives within his executive action to curb such violence.
The president’s executive action will beef up background checks by revamping the current system and hiring over 200 FBI examiners to process those background checks 24/7.
These initiatives will also take the fight to the web. $4-million are being allocated to a new Internet Investigation Center to track illegal arms dealing. The Obama Administration is also proposing $500-million in funding for increases in access to mental health care, which will need congressional approval.
Legal barriers retaining information from States will come down as it pertains to the mentally unstable to ensure those prohibited can’t buy firearms.
Lastly, the president announced that he is directing the departments of defense, justice, and homeland security to research smart gun technology.
“I believe in the Second Amendment. It’s there written on the paper. It guarantees the right to bear arms. No matter how many times people try to twist my words around. I taught constitutional law. I know a little bit about this. (laughter, applause) I get it. But I also believe we can finds ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the Second Amendment.” Said President Obama.
According to the White House, within the past 10 years, over 100,000 people died as a result of gun violence in the United States.
Dorchester County Sheriff James Phillips tells 47 ABC he doesn’t see much change coming to the Eastern Shore as a result of the President’s initiatives. When it comes to illegally obtained guns, he says theft, not illegal purchasing is the problem.
“The majority of illegal firearms that we come in contact with in Dorchester county have been stolen from somewhere else.” Said Sheriff Phillips, “We just recovered one about 3 weeks ago that was stolen in Baltimore City.”
Bob Arthur, the owner of Shooters Supply in Berlin, shares some of the same thoughts in that the executive action is unnecessary. He tells us that’s it’s already very difficult to buy a gun in the state due to the various levels of state background checks.
“it’s just one law after another after another. There’s laws on the books that prevent people from getting guns that shouldn’t have them.”
When making a sale on a rifle or shogun, Arthur says a customer must fill out a federal form.
After that, he has to call the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to confirm on the federal level that the customer is eligible to buy the gun.
In his speech the president also stated that barriers associated with mental health records are removed and shared with the background system in his new policy. In addition, he suggests the development of gun technology to ensure that no one can fire a gun that isn’t theirs.
“If we can set it up so you can’t unlock your phone unless you’ve got the right fingerprint, why can’t we do the same thing for our guns?”
Bob Arthur also tells us that since the national talk about guns and the government began to heat up again, he has seen a surge in assault rifle purchases.
