The gauntlet is down.
Today, the White House says it has "identified 19 Executive Actions" the President might take to effect more (gun) Control upon the law-abiding citizens of these United States.
All the newshounds are betting that an "Assault Weapons Ban" or magazine-capacity restrictions will NOT be among those "Executive Actions", as even the (gun) Control-happy White House seems to recognize that such lawmaking from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be un-Constitutional.
So, what will those Actions be? Will any of them push the definition of constitutional Executive Action far enough to trigger action on Rep. Stockman's threat to offer Articles of Impeachment in the House?
There's plenty of speculation on what might be listed, but as I listened to Fox News' take on it this ayem, nothing jumped off the page of the five or six things mentioned as being much of a Constitutional stretch, but of course, the devil's in the details of how they are written.
The 900# gorilla still left in the room would be Executive Action trying to expand the current Federal purview of gun sales, currently limited to that required when purchasing either interstate or through an FFL, to ALL gun sales having to go through FFLs. That, in effect, would ban private sale or transfer, a right presumed by most to go along with the basic 2A itself. Since this perceived auxiliary right of the 2A has been somewhat eroded by State laws (New Yawk State is about to erode it further), one could speculate endlessly whether such an Executive Action is "new law" or not. This blog's take on it says that the present law requiring any Federal purview itself is un-constitutional, being a matter required to be left for the states to regulate as it falls within the definition of ordinary commerce.
This gun-blogger sees the "19 Executive Actions" press release as simple bragging by the White House, and perhaps an attempt to mollify the Left. Now that it's been announced that there are 19 items of Executive Action that the Prez is considering, the Left will begin to howl "issue all 19", and the schmoozers in the NRA will likely take the position that some are acceptable, instead of starting with the idea that there is no emergency here warranting Executive Action, and Congress must get the first shot at any new Gun Control initiatives.
With the basic White House Executive Action brag issued, the Prez will now shift his attention to the insane position he took yesterday on "pay the country's bills" as a euphemism for "let me raise my own debt ceiling", in defiance of the Constitution's Article 1, Sections 7 & 8.
Interesting that the House opened the new Congressional Session with a reading, Article by Article, of the entire Constitution on the Floor of the House. That's only the second time that's been done. Is Speaker Boehner trying to tell the President that maybe he needs some refreshing on just what the Constitution says abouut his actual powers?
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