Obama's "Unconstitutional" Expansion of Gun Laws?

In his final year of office Obama plans to take care of some “unfinished business”. Obama seems to have set his sights on the issue of gun control following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012 where 20 students and 6 adults were shot and killed. He has proposed a plan to expand the currently vague gun laws regardless of Congress’s cooperation. Through an executive order he is able to bypass Congress as he tries to pass his law. Not only his plan to expand gun laws, but also conservatives’ reaction to it has been plastered across the news stations.

Often times, dealers that go through unconventional medians such as websites, flea markets, and gun shows don't declare themselves as "dealers". In the past they weren't subject to background checks. Obama is proposing that these people be included in the dealer category because they are "in the business" of selling firearms. This is referred to as the "gun show loophole".

Obama proposed a plan to expand background checks to almost anyone buying a firearm from a dealer. This plan covers online purchases, gun shows, and other venues and excludes guns bought by collectors and gun hobbyists. To prevent firearm transactions from falling through the cracks, the FBI will hire 230 employees to conduct back ground checks on the buyers.

The conservatives, especially the GOP candidates, have been extremely vocal in their backlash against Obama’s proposed plan and his means of accomplishing the change. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, stated that Obama knows good and well that there are already laws on the books requiring the license of all dealers regardless of the transaction’s venue and that this will “no doubt be challenged in the courts”. Florida Senator, Marco Rubio, believes that “this executive order is just one more way to make it harder for law-abiding people to buy weapons or to be able to protect their families.” Following the San Bernardino shooting, Obama is believed by conservatives to have diverted the focus away from a terrorist to a gun control issue.

Obama, who has already enacted nearly two dozen gun laws, argues that his newest plan is in line and consistent with the second amendment. He thinks this could “potentially save lives”.