Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Executive action on gun control could come early in the new year. CNN is reporting President Obama will act sometime ahead of his State of the Union address on an executive order aimed at expanding background checks for gun buyers.
Dealing with the issue this way is concerning to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who said during a stop in Madison earlier this month that “I think President Obama ought to stay within the lanes of what his constitutional duties are.”
Johnson said he supports measures that actually help prevent violence, while protecting the second amendment rights of citizens. “I’ve got an open mind,” he said. “But I’ve got to be looking at, whatever is proposed, would actually start preventing tragedies.”
Johnson said he has supported efforts to tighten up laws on straw purchases, funding enforcement of existing gun laws, and “trying to grapple with the issue of how do you keep guns out of the hands of people with serious mental illness.”
The White House has been hinting for much of the past month that the president was considering executive action on gun control, in the wake of a long line of mass shootings nationwide this year and a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. Obama has also voiced frustration about a lack of Congressional action on measures he believes could prevent guns from getting into the hands of those who are interested in carrying out similar attacks.