“REFORMS.” The Hill: How durable are Obama’s gun reforms?

Earlier this month, President Obama announced that he was taking a series of executive actions to attempt to restrict the sale of guns. The reaction on the presidential campaign trail was predictable. The president was denounced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as a tyrant who was usurping his constitutional authority. Numerous candidates pledged to reverse all of the measures enacted by the president.

Much of the media coverage of the president’s actions (and much of the political response) lumped all of the gun control measures together. But in reality, the president’s announcement contained a variety of different policy instruments. Some of these will be easy to reverse by a new president in 2017 who might favor easy access to guns. Others will be a bit more long-lasting. The actions by the president can be divided into four categories.

I’d like to see the Republican Congress take a bigger hand in promoting firearms rights.