Justice Dept. Shelved Ideas to Improve Gun Background Checks

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — After the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and others at a supermarket in Tucson in early 2011, the Justice Department drew up a detailed list of steps the government could take to expand the background-check system in order to reduce the risk of guns falling into the hands of mentally ill people and criminals.Most of the proposals, though, were shelved at the department a year ago as the election campaign heated up and as Congress conducted a politically charged investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious gun trafficking case, according to people familiar with the internal deliberations. It is not clear which, if any, of the conclusions were relayed to the White House.


President Obama, in his weekly address on Saturday, said he wanted to take “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this; regardless of the politics.” He did not, however, give any details. The Justice Department’s list included several measures that, even if Congress did not act, Mr. Obama could enact by executive order.It is far from certain, however, that the White House would be willing to wage a fight against the powerful gun-rights lobby or take attention from competing concerns, like negotiations over the looming fiscal deadline. While Mr. Obama’s words hinted at new steps to curb gun violence, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and other gun-control advocates said they fell short of a concrete response.

Political pressure on the White House is building in some quarters of the Democratic Party. Representative John B. Larson, Democrat of Connecticut, for example, called for Congress to pass measures requiring background checks on all gun sales, as well as banning assault rifles and high-capacity clips.

“To do nothing in the face of pending disaster is to be complicit,” Mr. Larson said. “It’s time to act. It’s time to vote.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/politics/justice-dept-studied-and-shelved-ideas-to-bolster-gun-database.html?hp&_r=0