Gun control: Barack Obama to use executive orders to restrict access to weapons for 'a dangerous few'

'I cannot sit around and do nothing'

(Youtube)

As he approaches the final year of his presidency, President Barack Obama intends to try and fulfil one of his outstanding policy goals by restricting access to guns.

Following weeks of discussions with officials and legal advisers about how he could use his executive powers to circumvent the Republican-controlled Congress, Mr Obama will on Monday sit down with his top law officer to see how he can make it harder for “a dangerous few” to get their hands on guns.

Mr Obama tried and failed in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in which 26 adults and children were killed, to try and tighten access to weapons. He was unable to make genuine headway in the face of opposition from Republicans and powerful lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).

But as mass shootings have continued to play out with relentless regularity, Mr Obama has continued to look for ways to tackle gun safety, by measures such as improving background checks.

Following the San Bernardino shooting in December in which 14 people were killed and more than 20 injured, the Obama administration let it be known he was looking for ways to bypass Congress, with the presumption that Republicans would block any efforts to further restrict access.

Speaking during his weekly radio address, Mr Obama said he received so many letters from from parents, teachers and children about the “epidemic of gun violence” that he could not “sit around and do nothing”. “The gun lobby is loud and well-organised in its defence of effortlessly available guns for anyone,” he said.

“The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organised in our defence of our kids.” The Associated Press said the issue of gun laws remains one of the most divisive in the United States, particularly in the wake of a the string of mass shootings.

(Joe Raedle/Getty)

While many citizens want tighter rules for gun purchases and ownership, others believe such laws infringe on the their constitutional right to bear arms for self-defence and other purposes, enshrined in the much-debated Second Amendment of the Constitution. Mr Obama wants to take action such as expanding background checks.

Currently, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers.

But advocacy groups say some of the people who sell firearms at gun shows are not federally licensed, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing guns. The AP said one source said Mr Obama – who is still in Hawaii for his annual holiday vacation with his family - is expected to take executive action next week that would set a “reasonable threshold” for when sellers have to seek a background check.

In his efforts to work around Congress that has often been politically gridlocked during his time as president, Mr Obama has made aggressive use of executive power, particularly on immigration. It has been an increasingly effective and politically accepted presidential tool. On Monday, he will sound out US Attorney General Loretta Lynch on how to use it to curb gun violence.

While legal scholars are divided on whether Mr Obama has accelerated or merely continued a drift of power toward the executive branch, there's little debate that he's paved a path for his successor. The NRA, the country's most powerful gun lobbying group and which raises millions of dollars directed to politicians who vow to oppose any restrictions of guns, is against expanded background check systems.

The group claims studies have shown that people sent to state prison because of gun crimes typically get guns through theft, the black market or family and friends. “No amount of background checks can stop these criminals,” says the group's website.