Tagged: gun laws

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has released a robocall in Kentucky criticizing President Obama’s gun control proposals. In the pre-recorded call, McConnell accuses the President of trying to “restrict your constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

The call goes on to say McConnell will do everything in his power as Senate Minority Leader to protect Second Amendment freedoms.

The robocall was first reported in the online political journal Politico.

The President announced last week a set of wide-ranging gun control proposals, including a call for Congress to improve the federal background check system used to screen gun buyers. The White House also wants a ban on military-style assault weapons and a limit on the size of gun magazines available for purchase.

The debate over gun limits and Second Amendment rights was put on the front-burner after the December school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six others were murdered.

Tennessee Rep. Joe Carr is proposing a state law to make it a crime in Tennessee for federal agents to enforce any effort to ban firearms or ammunition.

The Murfreesboro Republican said that measure would also require the state's attorney general to defend any Tennessean prosecuted for violating the potential federal gun violations.

The move comes after President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades a month after the Connecticut school shooting that left six teachers and 20 students dead.

The president called for universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Kentucky second district Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie says he thinks preventing other tragedies like the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut can best be accomplished by focusing on mental health issues. The Bowling Green Republican favors that approach instead of what he calls "infringing on the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens."

Guthrie's House Committee on Education and the Workforce will be looking into school safety and he says he plans to get input from Kentucky education officials.

Third District Congressman John Yarmuth, on the other hand, says he fully supports all of President Obama's proposals to end gun violence. The only Democrat in Kentucky's Congressional delegation is co-sponsoring a bill to ban high capacity gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said he'll examine President Obama's just-announced executive orders to see if the president has overstepped his authority — and, if he believes so, will introduce legislation to overturn the orders. 

“Executive orders can be overturned and cannot run afoul of legislation that is the current law, if he tries to create legislation, I will oppose him,” Paul said on Wednesday.

Obama on Wednesday announced 23 executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence, plus a push for new legislation.

Paul made his comments as the president was unveiling his plans, prefacing them by saying he wasn’t sure of all the details.

Paul said he believes if he has to submit legislation to overturn the president, he would win the support of Republicans and Democrats.