Biden: Obama Will Act on Guns With or Without Congress
- Religion Today
- Updated May 07, 2013
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Vice President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that President Obama is going to take action on gun control, and he can do so through "executive orders," CNSNews.com reports. "I want it clear to the American public that on behalf of the president we are reaching out to all parties, on whatever side of this debate you fall," Biden said. "But the president is going to act. There are executive orders, executive action, that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet. But we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members -- as well as legislative action we believe is required." Obama appointed Biden to head a task force to put together options for federal actions on firearms following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and the group is set to make recommendations to the president by the end of the month. Talk of unilateral White House action -- on which the administration declined to elaborate -- has alarmed gun-rights supporters. "The Founding Fathers never envisioned executive orders being used to restrict our constitutional rights," said Rep. Jeff Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina. "We live in a republic, not a dictatorship."