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Obama wiffs on gun control

So after promising the nation that the time to act was NOW and that he would take actions even if the congress wouldn't, Obama showed his hand today.

From Obama's side, he will take 13 executive actions, which you can read here.

Basically, he's doing next to nothing. Almost all of his proposals are vague statements about awareness campaigns, increasing background checks, and launching a 'dialogue' on mental health.

Not a single one of his executive actions will do anything to curb gun violence.

On the flip side, the tough measures - a ban on assault rifles and limiting clip sizes to 10 rounds a clip - he's punted over to the congress to vote on.

The congress, being a Republican majority, will likely not vote for such restrictions.

So as to be expected, Obama was full of sound and fury but ultimately did next to nothing from the executive office side of things.

Were his hands always tied? Of course. He can't make laws on his own, he needs congress to approve them. Which is why it's bad PR to go out and lead the public to believe that you will use executive orders to address the issue, when in reality you know that you are not going to.

While the Republicans are playing a PR game in favour of guns, Obama is playing just as silly a game by punting the issue to the Republicans. This way, when nothing gets done, and there's another school shooting, he'll be able to say it wasn't his fault.

And hey, that's politics I guess, but this is also typical Obama, telling the public one thing (that he, through executive orders if necessary, was going to act) and then doing another. This is why Obama gets knocked, rightly so, for poor leadership.

So the gun debate will continue, I suspect, for many more years (and tragedies) to come.


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