Obama Takes Baby Steps On Gun Control

by Stuart Shapiro

With the failure of meaningful gun control in Congress, President Obama has turned to the regulatory process to do what he can.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) filed a notice Friday afternoon initiating a rulemaking process aimed at removing legal barriers that are keeping states from sharing records with the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS).

The database is designed to keep guns out of the hands of felons, drug abusers, the severely mentally ill and others who are prohibited from owning firearms.

But it is woefully incomplete.

Make no mistake about it; this is far, far short of what Congress could do to curb gun violence but, unlike in many areas, the President’s regulatory powers are limited in gun control.  It is nice to see him doing what he can, however.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.