MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is urging the state’s congressional delegation to gear up for a fight with the White House over President Obama’s newly announced executive actions on gun control.
The White House on Monday evening released details of the executive actions, which will include expanded background checks on gun purchases, additional federal agents to enforce gun laws and a $500 million expenditure to increase access to mental health care and to help “shape the future of gun safety technology.”
“The President and Vice President are committed to using every tool at the Administration’s disposal to reduce gun violence,” the White House said in a statement. President Obama officially announced his executive actions at a press conference Tuesday morning.
Governor Bentley, who has been at odds with the White House for months over the President’s Syrian refugee resettlement plan, said he believes the President has become a direct threat to the Second Amendment.
“America’s founding fathers prioritized the right to keep and bear arms, and President Obama is overstepping his authority and threatening to take away our 2nd amendment rights,” said Bentley. “It is unacceptable for the President to bypass Congress and the U.S. Constitution with his plan. The overreach by the President seems to be his preferred way of leading our country, and it is another reason why it is critical for Americans to send a conservative back to the White House in November. I encourage the Alabama congressional delegation to listen to the message of the Alabama people and fight to protect the fundamental rights of gun owners.”
Several Republican members of Alabama’s congressional delegation have already pledged to push back against the executive orders.
“Congress must be swift to respond to any executive action, and there will certainly be legal challenges as well,” said Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL1). “This debate is about more than the Second Amendment. This debate is about standing up to an out-of-control President who refuses to follow the Constitution.”
“There is a reason Congress has repeatedly rejected President Obama’s gun control agenda: on top of being unconstitutional, his proposals would not have prevented the recent attacks he uses to justify new laws,” added Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL2).
Several other Alabama congressmen also released statements promising to take action.
Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he believes Mr. Obama wants the United States to “look more like Chicago,” the president’s violence-ridden hometown.
The Chicago Tribune noted in October of last year that someone in Chicago is shot once every 2.84 hours, in spite of the city maintaining the nation’s strictest gun control laws. A total of 468 homicides were reported in the Windy City in 2015.
“President Obama wants America to look more like Chicago. I’m fighting for America to look more like Alabama,” said Shelby. “That is why I will work tirelessly to protect the Second Amendment and reverse any proposals by this President to restrict the constitutional rights of the American people.”
Congress will reconvene Tuesday at 2 p.m. EST for legislative business and is expected to take the first votes of the year later in the evening.
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3. Shelby unloads over gun control: ‘Obama wants America to look more like Chicago’
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