Posted on 01/16/2013 7:49:13 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Even before President Barack Obama rolls out a series of proposals to curb gun violence in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings, conservative House Republicans are bristling.
More right-wing Republicans are voicing fierce opposition to the expected 19 executive orders on guns that Obama is preparing to announce Wednesday, along with legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Though details of the orders were unclear, some Republicans have already declared them a gross breach of executive authority.
“The more onerous that they are, the more we have a chance of having a revolt all across this country,” said conservative Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), no friend of Obama’s who voted for ex-Rep. Allen West as House speaker for the 113th Congress. “There is a tremendous potential for a horrendous public backlash against the president if he continues the policies that he has been doing of trying to go around Congress, create law and be a dictator like he’s been doing.”
Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have made clear the administration thinks it’s within its purview to skip the legislative process and impose unilateral changes.
“I’m confident that there are some steps that we can take that don’t require legislation and that are within my authority as president,” Obama said at a Monday press conference. “And where you get a step that has the opportunity to reduce the possibility of gun violence then I want to go ahead and take it.”
Congressional Democrats seem open to letting the president move ahead without them.
“I think the president to the extent that he has executive powers to deal with this issue, to try to make Americans safer, both has a responsibility and an intent to do so,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said. “I think the executive of our nation pledged to keep Americans safe, not only abroad but here as well, I think he would be well-advised to take such action as appropriate.”
Though details were foggy, even the idea of executive orders from the White House was enough to set off alarms in Republican quarters. On the more extreme end, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) threatened to introduce articles of impeachment against the president if he implements executive orders on guns.
“I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House and even filing articles of impeachment,” Stockman said.
Stockman added that Obama is launching an “attack on the very founding principles of this republic.”
“The President’s actions are an existential threat to this nation,” Stockman said in a statement. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms is what has kept this nation free and secure for over 200 years. The very purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop the government from disallowing people the means to defend themselves against tyranny. Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said executive orders should be used only to implement existing laws.
“The president’s imperial behavior and his abuse of power didn’t begin with the Second Amendment,” Issa said. “He did it with immigration. He’s certainly done it with the Obamacare. So, once again, it’s a president exceeding his intended authority.”
“If he wants to distort the Second Amendment or essentially pass laws, then he violates the trust of the American people,” Issa said. “Executive orders are only for implementing law, not circumventing the Constitution.”
Broun argued that it would be outside the authority of the White House to create new laws.
“They should not create law. They should not create a radical, socialistic agenda like this president is doing,” Broun said. “Hopefully, the American people are going to stand up and say no to this dictatorial rule that this president seems to be trying to assert himself to do.”
If Obama employs executive orders, Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) says it reflects the president’s behavior in general, including in the debt ceiling standoff.
“It’s part of an imperial presidency — he wants to have that make Congress irrelevant,” Ross said. “That has me somewhat concerned not only dealing with gun control, but especially if he exercises unilateral authority in trying to raise the debt ceiling.”
Obama has dismissed calls from Democrats that he should use his office to raise the debt limit without Congress, shooting down proposals like invoking the 14th Amendment or minting a trillion dollar coin.
“[Obama] has limited authority under the executive branch, but I think he’s going to put that to a test here especially with the gun stuff,” Ross said. “I think we have to have a discussion about guns, there’s no question about it. But to have one person in charge to make a unilateral decision on that is contrary to our system of government and contrary to what I think the citizens of this country deserve.”
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) — who was booted off plum committees for defying the House GOP leadership — echoed the possibility of cutting the White House’s budget if the administration moves unilaterally on guns.
“I’m very worried about what they might produce,” Huelskamp said. “It will be the responsibility of the House. If they’re going to come out with an executive order that strips authority out of duly elected folks in the House and the Senate, look at what we can do in the budget process.”
Words you'll never see printed in Polutico.
The longer I live, the more convinced I am that politicians just aren’t the brighter bulbs in any box.
House Conservatives... there ARE some? now THAT’s news...
It's time for the adults in the Democrat Party (if any) to start listening to the concerns of the people and the concerns of our representatives. We have not been in this position in 150 years, and I hope the far left fringe will back down before it gets worse.
the adults and decent people left the Democrat Party long ago, My FRiend.
They need to go on the offensive on multiple fronts. That means pushing to ease current restrictions for example.
Obama will announce his gun control program which involves a mix of Executive Orders and proposed Congressional action. He will have his Executive Orders signed before the sun sets and won’t particularly care what Congress does about his proposed legislation.
Petition your government..Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121.
Think citizen nullification of the unconstitutional edicts.
Of course Obama wants to stir up insurrection so he can test his little fascist army he has organized at DHS.
It would be a huge mistake if people generally thought there was anything surendipidous about Obamas conduct, his policy, and his usurpation of America.He is not fullfilling his oath of office to defend and uphold the Constitution.
This is beause Obama is a fascist. Fascists lie, cheat , steal, disembel, betray, foment mayhem, in order to render the final solution for the problems they themsleves induce and create: The Totalitarian State is Obama’s solution.
If you think Obama will only be in power for 2 electoral terms, you are sadly mistaken. Obama means to seize absolute power. To do that he must destroy the wealthy investor class of America ( or drive them out to take up residency elsewhere), and destroy the ability of America to resist tyranny through force of arms.
Read this :
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html
Boy, these guys sure talk tough. If they really meant anything they say they’d have cut the white house budget 3 years ago and stopped all the multi-million dollar vacations. Or two years ago they would defunded obamacare like they promised. I put no stock in what any politician who claims to be conservative says.
In my opinion, this video seems very appropriate considering the aims of the current Regime, Congress, and OBayMeCare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfv3jsLGzL0
Obama never "overreaches" on anything.
Like any cunning and shrewd gamesman, he overloads ornaments on the Christmas tree knowing full well some he will be forced to take off.....leaving him with the amount he wanted in the first place. He and his evil minions are adept at this strategery.
Executive orders on the ornaments he REALLY wants hung will take place on the side while his Republican opponents are still dancing around the Christmas tree congratulating themselves.
Leni
I suspect he'll let Congress deal with the banning and registration. What he will want and unfortunately will get is some massive database, a modern incarnation of the Nazis card catalog system.
Most people will not recognize the danger in the database he wants and breath a sigh of relief upon learning he isn't doing anything significant via Executive Order.
Well, duh! I was explaining this phenomenon to Mrs. Thinking not too long ago. A family friend who's mostly sane was arguing for how more government oversight of this or that business, and I told her it was a given that even if they did regulate it, it would by definition be regulation of the more capable by the less capable. She wondered how you could possibly know that, and I told her to imagine that she was the best basketball player in the world, then to decide if her aspiration would be more likely be to play basketball for a living or to work as a drone for the Bureau of Basketball Regulation. She got the point. Working in a bureaucracy is a filter to make sure you get only the WORST candidates available. She actually got the point. So to assume that politicians were the best at something, the "something" would have to be tyranny, which doesn't really help their case.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.