The President has announced that he’s seeking to enact new controls without the cooperation or consent of Congress. I understand how this could be worrying on the surface.
The thing is, he really can’t do that. I’ve written about this before. Whatever murky construct they may be, executive orders can’t be used to enact or alter laws. The chief executive doesn’t have that power, and for very good reason.
It’s unsettling that this President has repeatedly and publicly stated a desire to bypass our system of checks and balances. Regarding economic relief in 2011, he said,
We can’t wait for Congress to do its job. So where they won’t act, I will. We’re going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without Congress.
Statements like that should be chilling to anyone, regardless of political affiliation.
With that said, we haven’t seen the actual orders yet. The main one rumored will redefine or tighten the definition of a “dealer” in firearms. Continued...