New Gun Control Regulations Coming Soon From The Obama Administration

At least 12 new gun control regulations will reportedly be forthcoming from the Obama Justice Department this year.

While sounding reasonable on the surface, it’s difficult if not impossible to know how broad these rules will turn out to be before they become officially published and the ever-vigilant Second Amendment advocates and their gun control counterparts can study and process the details. Critics claim this latest gun-related initiative is another end run around the legislative branch of the federal government, however.

Congress voted down an expanded background checks bill in April, 2013, some months after the shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Since then, most Capitol Hill lawmakers in both parties have shown no interest in moving forward with any new legislation affecting gun rights or gun ownership.

On exception is Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) who has just introduced the Firearm Risk Protection Act that would require gun purchasers to carry liability insurance or face a $10,000 fine.

In addition to 23 executive orders previously announced by the Obama White House affecting guns, President Obama and Attorney General Lynch intend to implement various new firearms regulations, The Hill reported.

“The [Justice Department] regulations range from new restrictions on high-powered pistols to gun storage requirements. Chief among them is a renewed effort to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally unstable or have been convicted of domestic abuse. Gun safety advocates have been calling for such reforms since the Sandy Hook school shooting nearly three years ago in Newtown, Conn. They say keeping guns away from dangerous people is of primary importance. But the gun lobby contends that such a sweeping ban would unfairly root out a number of prospective gun owners who are not a danger to society.”

Apart from the inevitable lawsuits challenging the regs once they are released into the public domain, they are “likely to set off a firestorm of criticism and opposition from gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners Of America (GOA) who argue such regulations would keep guns from people who are not dangerous and pose no risk of violence,” the International Business Times explained.

In law, the list of definitions in a measure, which usually is the first order of business, can be decisive. The gun lobby has already warned, for example, that depending on how the term is crafted, those defined as mentally ill could even include ordinary, non-violent individuals undergoing counseling for a temporary condition.

“Groups pushing for changes to the nation’s gun laws have long called for stricter rules about the ability of domestic violence convicts to obtain and keep guns. Curbing access to guns, they argue, will result in a decrease of homicides in domestic violence cases,” IBT added. An official with a gun rights group claimed, however, that someone who got into a minor spat with a spouse or another member of the household could also be disqualified from gun ownership based on a misdemeanor conviction.

As far as potential new weapons storage restrictions in the upcoming Obama gun control regulations, “Most gun storage regulations are plain common sense requirements that responsible gun owners already practice. But the government could make those regulations so onerous that having a gun for home defense would become problematic,” the American Thinker noted.

[Photo By David McNew/Getty Images News]

Added: Megyn Kelly and Dana Loesch discuss the potential DOJ gun control regulations in the video below: