The Chicago Defender claims President Donald Trump should not be able to use executive orders to erase or reverse gun controls that former President Barack Obama implemented via executive orders.
The paper alleges that Trump, and other presidents, should have to present their executive orders for a vote so that the orders can gain approval before being implemented.
The Chicago Defender zeroes in on the repeal of Obama’s Social Security gun ban, saying, “One of the first regulations that Trump opposed was Obama’s executive order on gun control. Obama made it mandatory that information be released on those who are mentally ill and included in background checks, making it impossible for those with certain diagnoses to buy guns.” The Defender continues, “With all the senseless killing, including those of infants and children done by those who are mentally ill, a more strict gun policy would be effective, but Trump nullified Obama’s rule.”
Missing from the Defender’s coverage is the fact that the repeal of the Social Security gun ban was not an executive order. Rather, it was legislation that was passed by the House on February 2 and the Senate on February 15. Trump signed it into law on February 28.
While criticizing Trump for an executive order that was actually not an executive order, the Defender admits Obama used executive orders to reverse policies by George W. Bush but claims those orders were acceptable because they “benefitted [sic] the majority of the nation.” On the other hand, the Defender suggests the power of executive orders allows presidents “to govern the country in a way that would … allow them to deliver their promises to their supporters better, but it does not acknowledge the needs of the country as a whole.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.