With only a year left in his second term as president, President Barack Obama is looking to toughen up gun laws in the United States through an executive order.
“This is not a plot to take away everybody’s guns,” Obama said in a ceremony in the East Room on Tuesday. “You pass a background check, you purchase a firearm. The problem is, some gun sellers have been operating under a different set of rules.”
Under current law, only federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background checks on buyers. Through websites, at gun shows and flea markets, though, sellers can sidestep the background checks by not registering as licensed dealers. The new federal guidance from the Obama administration clarified that it applies to anyone “in the business” of selling firearms.
