I've yet to find confirmation, but what the president announced yesterday were executive actions that will form the basis of a series of executive orders. The White House posted the following fact sheet detailing their specific plans:
- Click here.
This is in addition to the following: Live Updates: What the President is Doing to Keep Guns Out of the Wrong Hands.
Here's my attempt to summarize the various proposals.
1 - Firearms sellers must have a federal license and must conduct background checks. The Bureaus of Alcohol, Tobacco, Forearms and Explosives is establishing the rules containing these requirements. Click here for the ATF's rulemaking page. The FBI is improving the background check system so that it works 24/7. Additional staff is to be hired to process these checks.
2 - 200 new ATF agents will be hired to help enforce gun laws. The next budget submitted by the president will request funds for the new personnel. An Internet Investigation Center (not on line yet as I can tell) has been established to track illegal online firearms trafficking, and more people have been hired for the National Integrated Ballistics Information Center.
3 - Half a billion dollars will be requested to expand access to mental health care. The Social Security Administration will issue a rule that will allow (as I interpret it) information it possesses regarding mental health for purposes of background checks. Also, the Department of Homeland Security will issue a rule that will (again as I interpret it) remove legal restrictions on states sharing information about the mental health of interested gun buyers with other states. Click here for the rule making process for SSA, and click here for the rule making process for DHS.
4 - Three separate executive departments have been directed to "conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology." These are the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.
If you are keeping count, 8 separate institutions are involved in implementing these actions. And this is just a summary. The fact sheet goes more in depth.
