Southland Dems Praise Obama on Gun Control

Democratic leaders and local officials in Los Angeles hailed President Barack Obama’s executive gun measures Tuesday, saying policies to increase background checks for gun purchases and other steps will help reduce gun violence, while pro-gun groups called the actions an overreach of presidential powers.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she is “very pleased (the president) is using his authority to bring some sanity to our gun laws and keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other potentially dangerous individuals.”

The senator said Obama’s executive actions target “loopholes that allow felons and other prohibited purchasers to buy weapons at gun shows and online without background checks.”

While the executive policies will help, “we still need congressional action, and I very much hope that one day my colleagues will find the courage to do the right thing and stand up to the gun lobby,” said Feinstein, who has long pushed unsuccessfully to pass gun control measures.

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, also backed more action by Congress, saying “the president is doing his job -- it’s time for Congress to help.”

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said the executive policies, which include calling for better enforcement of existing federal laws that require gun dealers to perform background checks, “will simply save lives.”

Bass urged her Republican colleagues to also support other parts of Obama’s proposal, which include spending $500 million in federal funds on addressing mental illness, funding research on gun violence and supporting universal background checks.

“Overwhelming majorities of Americans -- both Democrats and Republicans -- are pleading with Congress to act,” Bass said.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and other Los Angeles city leaders also voiced support for the executive actions.

Garcetti said gun violence is an “epidemic” that has become “particularly devastating for cities.”

“By ensuring that gun buyers undergo basic screenings and seeking stronger enforcement of existing laws, we can begin to curb gun violence that devastates families and makes our communities less safe,” he said.

City Attorney Mike Feuer was in the audience for Obama’s White House speech announcing the policies, as part of a coalition of national prosecutors supporting gun control measures.

Feuer and his counterpart in New York, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., issued a joint statement saying the actions will “reclaim communities coast to coast from the bloodshed wrought by illegal guns.”

The prosecutors said they “know all too well that violent gun offenders routinely skirt background checks by obtaining weapons through ‘private sales’ at gun shows and online marketplaces.”

“By contrast, traditional gun retailers have prevented more than two million prohibited persons from obtaining firearms through mandatory background checks of potential buyers,” Feuer and Vance said. “Requiring more gun sellers to obtain licenses and perform these checks is a common-sense measure that will save countless American lives.”

But pro-gun groups said Obama overstepped his powers Tuesday and his policies may not actually reduce gun violence.

Craig DeLuz, a spokesman for the Sacramento-based Firearms Policy Coalition, said the executive actions are a “drastic overreach” because they sidestep the legislative process, and by extension the constituents who elect lawmakers to vet and create policy.

DeLuz said “the devil is in the details,” and without going through Congress, it is hard to know whether the policies will be more or less restrictive than those in California, which requires background checks in all gun sales, including transfers of personal guns between individual owners.

He added that “nothing that (Obama) is proposing would have done anything to stop any of the mass shootings.”

Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, a pro-gun political action committee, questioned parts of Obama’s policy that Parades said redefines who is considered a gun dealer. The policies are “shallow at best ... and detrimental at worst,” he said.

Changes to the definition of a gun dealer are “ easily challengeable in the courts, in that standards have been set for years and now he’s going to change that,” Paredes said. “That’s not going to change anything, that’s not going to have an impact on anything, telling people they can’t sell their personal firearms at gun shows.”

Paredes said theft was a likelier way for criminals to get their hands on guns, and transfers “between Uncle Fred and Cousin George” should not be the target.

“It’s already illegal for people to derive a living off of selling firearms without a license,” he said, arguing it should not take executive action to improve enforcement of existing laws.

Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, called the actions “ill-conceived” and a “presidential power grab.”

Such policies are “meant to keep people from realizing that the government cannot protect us from terrorist attacks by the lone wolf religious fanatics,” he said. “But people are increasingly realizing that more gun laws will not protect us from terrorists or violent criminals, and so are voting with their wallets, buying millions of firearms to protect themselves.”

--City News Service, photo via White House