Obama Has Heard Us, and For The First Time, is Considering Executive Actions On Gun Violence! Yesterday we were pleased to learn that President Obama is, for the fist time, considering executive actions on gun violence as our petition demands. (See Petition above). After the Umpqua Community College shooting, President Obama said halting the gun violence epidemic “is not something I can do by myself. I've got to have a Congress, and I've got to have state legislatures, and governors, who are willing to work with me on this.” Now, there has been a complete turnaround. President Obama is involved in “ongoing” “executive actions” to “keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” said White House spokesman Joshua Earnest this week. Hillary Clinton has also vowed to use executive actions against gun violence--though between now and when she could assume office, 45,000 more gun deaths will occur. Before our petition, no one had talked about executive actions; now, the President, Hillary and groups like Everytown for Gun Safety are. That is great but Everytown’s petition omits our key demands a 1) review of carrying requirements 2) appointing a commission to address gun violence and 3) elevation of trafficking to a felony to lessen inner city violence. Without those demands, in our petition, the violence will likely not be abated. Gun rights advocates are also reacting to the idea of executive actions. “Obama Has Your Guns And Ammo In His Crosshairs!” screamed one pro-gun site. “Obama Launches Huge Executive Orders to Destroy Gun Rights,” said another. What an irony that by fighting all efforts to stop gun violence, the pro-gun movement has brought its biggest fears upon itself. Thank you, everyone, who has signed our petition so far. You are ahead of the curve in recognizing that different new strategic actions against gun violence must be initiated now. But, it is essential to keep the pressure on President Obama. You can do this by personally committing to bring in one petition signer a week (two would be better). If you do this, we will reach a critical pressure mass before the holidays! Elliot Fineman CEO National Gun Victims Actions Council www.gunvictimsaction.org P.S. Please visit our web site to see other novel actions we are taking against gun violence. https://gunvictimsaction.org