Executive orders and gun control

So how does this bode well to prevent dictatorial abuse of power? Why doesn't he just sign an EO that bans ALL guns and ammo - period?

 

He only banned importation of guns from Kalashnikov Concern, hence no more Saigas. Trump banned imports from Molot, hence no more Veprs. Both are to blame.

 

The Tiananmen Square massacre happened in 1989. Clinton didn't take office until 1993. I think he had other motivations for blocking the importation of Chinese weapons.

 

Until they then come after them once the foreigners are taken care of.

 

The Street Sweeper and Stryker 12 were reclassified as destructive devices. Why were
these singled out then and newer high cap rotaries like the SRM 1216 and others left alone?

 

BUT if it takes a few years to go to SCOTUS perhaps - like most things from the government - if they can keep a temporary program in place for a bit it becomes permanent; these dictatorship powers are too disconcerting

 

True. But neither was overturned and substantial political pressure was applied to the legislative branch. In the gap between the orders and the passing of the supporting laws, the internments and confiscations continued.

In the case of gold ownership, the government paid a fixed $20.67/troy ounce, then raised the price to $35 under the Gold Reserve Act, and pocketed $2.8 billion (in 1934 dollars) in profit. See Exchange Stabilization Fund - Wikipedia

(I'm not speculating on the odds of something similar happening here, just pointing out some extreme cases that make this a complex topic.)

 

That happened well after those shotguns were banned from import.

 

Which can be taken from two viewpoints. One viewpoint says that it cuts competition and therefore creates a false floor for pricing and benefits the arms makers by cutting out the cheap and poorly made guns which would be bought by folks looking only to stick a gun in the nightstand (or cheap throwaway guns for miscreants of all flavors). The other viewpoint is that it creates capacity capability, and skilled labor in the domestic market. Should there be another world war scale military event the US already has weapons and ammunition facilities up and running with skilled labor to finish the guns and maintain production equipment, oh by the way doing so employs several thousand workers and all but guarantees a healthy supply of arms and munitions if they are needed. The small arms popular today are truthfully not far off from military weapons in that the AR15 lines could easily be fooled over to m4 lines, and duty sized pistol lines could simply divert from LEO and Civilian market straight into military procurement. Either of these things can be seen as beneficial. The third way to look at the import restrictions is that it eliminates the cheapest of arms and ammo from being imported, and many will arbitrarily claim that the purpose of that limitation is to make it harder for certain groups to have a means by which to protect themselves (see history for claims of racial, national, sexist, political, religious, or other discrimination by simply raising prices). That last viewpoint is harder to see as beneficial except that it does make the cost of
throwaway guns much more expensive for the aforementioned miscreants who are forced to spend an extra $25 to buy a hi-point instead of a Lorcin.

 

These were IMPORTS. They decided they failed the "sporting purposes" test for imports and hence were no longer importable shotguns. Since they were no longer importable shotguns and they had a bore diameter exceeding 0.5", they became destructive devices. The SRM 1216 is, I believe, made here, so as a shotgun it doesn't have to pass a sporting purposes test.

 

An executive order is a tool that directs an agency to do something. It has the force of law with that agency. However, an executive order cannot exceed or conflict with a law passed by Congress. A president cannot direct an agency to do something it is not allowed to do, nor can he obstruct or impair an agency from doing what they are supposed to do. (OK, in the real world that happens subtly almost every day, but mainly slow rolling policies).

Congress would have to pass a law that would enable a ban on semi-auto rifles.

What could be done by Executive Order?

An EO could order agencies to narrow the interpretation of sporting purposes, and further restrict - or completely halting - imports of parts kits, parts or firearms that don't meet a very narrow definition of "sporting purposes". Say bye-bye to AK kits, spare parts, imported magazines, etc ... That kind of restriction (de facto ban) does have a basis in law (though pushing to the limits), and does not exceed the statutory authority of agencies. Unfortunately.

An EO could direct agencies to start looking at banning additional types of ammo (remember the 2014 ban on 7n6 ammo? And the Obama administration went after M855 2015, but had to pull back only because of Congress and public outcry?). An EO could also restrict imports various types of ammo. Think prices are high now, and ammo scarce?

Off topic for this legal subform is the political constraint. While this current president regularly touts the 1994 AWB (an act of Congress, not an Executive Order), he omits the political blowback that cost his party a significant number of seats, and control of Congress, in the next election. It might not cost them the House, but could swing the Senate back if they push this too far.

 

OP/alfsauve: an astute editorial days ago in a major news network said the same thing.

If the filibuster remains as it now is, with the Senators’ various strengths and weaknesses,

.....there won’t be any Major gun control laws passed.

Nobody can cancel the Midterm elections, which make the WH and “his” slender majorities nervous. This is also a factor in the “Gun Issues” calculations.

“They” can’t afford to go fishing for huge salt water (political) crocodiles, from a really small boat, so to speak.

Plan to vote in the Midterms, but don’t get worked up about this.
——- Switch off the ‘News’, play aviation games on your main computer (learn how to do “deflection” shooting with the P-38’s or ME-109’s 20mm cannon, or learn spin recovery)....go outside.

 

Deleted by author.

 

AlexanderA : Exactly: "Kamikaze Mission". Perfect expression. Neither our Astute Dear Leader nor his 'non-Alzheimer' handlers seem to be ready for a huge risk.

But look at how many people seem to believe - on any gun forum I scan - that they would easily volunteer for a one-way political mission, no matter how great the risk to the Party.
Why haven't they already done so?