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Obama to act unilaterally over gun violence

Monday, 04 January 2016 9:43 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 04 January 2016 9:55 PM ]

US President Barack Obama speaks with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, January 4, 2016. (AFP Photo)

US President Barack Obama says he will bypass Congress and its opposition to gun control through introducing a raft of executive actions to resolve the crisis.

"We have tens of thousands of people every single year who are killed by guns," Obama said in remarks at the Oval Office on Monday, adding he would take unilateral measures to end "the scourge of gun violence."

He said the proposals, presented to him by Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the White House, would focus on regulating gun sales and preventing illegal purchases.

According to his aides, Obama’s move could tighten rules on gun dealers, widen background checks to more buyers and clamp down on "straw purchases" which enable suspect individuals to buy guns through an intermediary.

The president admitted the measures were "not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It's not going to prevent every mass shooting. It's not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal," but he said "it will potentially, save lives in this country."

During a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other advisers on Monday, Obama said "the good news is .. these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they're also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support."

Obama has vowed to use "whatever power this office holds" to put limits on gun sales through executive action, which does not require congressional approval.

The Republican-controlled Congress has snubbed previous efforts of the Obama administration to tighten gun laws.

The majority of Americans say the most important events of 2015 were the mass shootings in the United States, including the attack in San Bernardino, California, according to an Associated Press-Times Square Alliance poll.

On December 2, in the deadliest mass shooting in the US in three years, 14 people were killed and 22 others were injured when two extremists attacked a center for people with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the United States every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides.

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