I think it's pretty well known that I am no fan of the current president. I really haven't been a fan of any president since I was born. However, he seems to me to have done this one right.
Great care appears to have been taken so as to create two effects:
- Avoid violating the second amendment or, really, even treading near its protections.
- Avoid fixating on guns as the problem and stay focused on gun violence.
I think that last bit is a little dumb. There is no gun violence problem in america. There are gun violence incidents and, everyone reasonable seems to agree, there's no way you are going to prevent every incident of gun violence.
Half the executive orders amount to simply declaring he will do his job. Like nominating a director of the ATF. Oh no. Not a director! Some of them are things like encouraging the states to share information with the federal government. There's no violation there, of the second or ninth amendments. If anything, it's more recognition of the latter than I've seen in years.
Some of them are just common sense, like reminding doctors that they are not federally obligated to keep in confidence their concern that a patient might harm themselves or others. Three times. Another common sense order is reminding gun stores that they are not obligated to sell guns to crazy people and offering them training on how to spot a nut.
Nestled in there are even a few good ideas. I'm not going to tell you what they are, though, because I want you to read the orders for yourself. If you do - if you actually read the orders and evaluate them against the text of the constitution - you probably will realize you should reserve your outrage for other problems...
...like when he tries to push an unconstitutional assault weapon ban through later this year.
