Plan presented to the President

[pfinn]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/wh_now_is_the_time_full.pdf

Here is the link to the official White House document that outlines all the items presented to the President. It includes Executive Orders and Legislative steps.

[pfinn]

And here are the 23 Executive Orders signed by Obama:

1. "Issue a presidential memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system."

2. "Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system."

3. "Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system."

4. "Direct the attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks."

5. "Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun."

6. "Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers."

7. "Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign."

8. "Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission)."

9. "Issue a presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations."

10. "Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement."

11. "Nominate an ATF director."

12. "Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations."

13. "Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime."

14. "Issue a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence."

15. "Direct the attorney general to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies."

16. "Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes."

17. "Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities."

18. "Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers."

19. "Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education."

20. "Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover."

21. "Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges."

22. "Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations."

23. "Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health."

[JeremyP]

With a quick glance a couple of these orders seem like common sense stuff.

Are any of these infringing our rights as Nebraskan Gun Owners?

[rudy]

This is the part I do not like (see below).  Sorry for the unusual formatting on the titles of the sections, don't want to try and fix it on an ipad.  This part is garbage.  Any semi-auto with a magazine capacity greater than 10 rounds is an instrument of mass violence according to the president, but anything less and it is magically OK, plus a load of some other gems.  What a load of crap.

2: Banning MiliTary-style assaulT Weapons and high-capacity Magazines, and Taking Other common-sense steps to reduce Gun ViOlence We need to do more to prevent easy access to instruments of mass violence. We also need to provide law enforcement with additional tools to prevent gun violence, end the freeze on gun violence research, make sure health care providers know they can report credible threats of violence and talk to their patients about gun safety, and promote responsible gun ownership.

GeT MiliTarY-sTYle assaulT WeaPOns and hiGh-caPaciTY MaGaZines OFF The sTreeTs A 2010 survey by the Police Executive Research Forum found that more than one-third of police departments reported an increase in criminals' use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines since the prohibition on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons expired in 2004. T o protect law enforcement and enhance public safety, we must redouble our efforts to:

• Reinstate and strengthen the ban on assault weapons: The shooters in Aurora and Newtown used the type of semiautomatic rifles that were the target of the assault weapons ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004. That ban was an important step, but manufacturers were able to circumvent the prohibition with cosmetic modifications to their weapons. Congress must reinstate and strengthen the prohibition on assault weapons.

• Limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds: The case for prohibiting high-capacity magazines has been proven over and over; the shooters at Virginia T ech, T ucson, Aurora, Oak Creek, and Newtown all used magazines holding more than 10 rounds, which would have been prohibited under the 1994 law. These magazines enable any semiautomatic weapon to be used as an instrument of mass violence, yet they are once again legal and now come standard with many handguns and rifles. Congress needs to reinstate the prohibition on magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

• Finish the job of getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets: It is already illegal to manufacture and import armor-piercing ammunition except for military or law enforcement use. But it is generally still not illegal to possess or transfer this dangerous ammunition. Congress should finish the job of protecting law enforcement and the public by banning the possession of armor-piercing ammunition by, and its transfer to, anyone other than the military and law enforcement.

[JimP]

2. "Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system."

So ...... HIPPA applies to you and me, but not teh Feds?

Lex bovis, non Jovis. 

[FarmerRick]

another version.  I hope none of you guys like your C&R guns   


http://www.scribd.com/doc/120654341/White-House-Obama-Gun-Proposals

[gigabelly]

I may have to hear the questions from the doctor, but I don't have to answer it or be entirely forthcoming with my responses.  Do I have guns in my house? Nope, they're in the barn with my Huey gunship.

My question is if this magazine and "military style" weapon blurb is proactive or retroactive?  I don't think these things are able to be implemented as things sit now.  Sounded to me like they are just his intentions.  I don't have cable so I missed the actual broadcast.  (all main stream news is agenda driven, by the way. Everyone should cancel cable in my worthless opinion)  It basically sounded like plans, not laws. Correct me if I am wrong

[maanbr]

by banning the possession of armor-piercing ammunition

I think that is a great statement

[Ronvandyn]

So ...... HIPPA applies to you and me, but not teh Feds?

Lex bovis, non Jovis. 

No Jim, HIPPA applies to care providers and medical information, not to the average Joe or Jim.  You can tell anyone about your medical history, so can your wife, your dog, the cat next door, but your doctor and his nurses / assistants / office personnel cannot.  Not without your written permission.

Ron

p.s.  I worked in a HIPPA covered field for 5 years, what a load of crap that was!

[SS_N_NE]

I took a quick run through the document....saw a lot of solutions with $$$$$ attached....

$4 billion
$14 million
$10 million
$20 million
$150 million
$30 million
$50 million
$15 million
$40 million
$25 million
$25 million
$50 million

...and a few mentions of grants without a $$$$ attached.

Looks like they found another way to fan the checkbook. Why is everything about spending money?

[HuskerXDM]

I took a quick run through the document....saw a lot of solutions with $$$$$ attached....

$4 billion
$14 million
$10 million
$20 million
$150 million
$30 million
$50 million
$15 million
$40 million
$25 million
$25 million
$50 million

...and a few mentions of grants without a $$$$ attached.

Looks like they found another way to fan the checkbook. Why is everything about spending money?

I'll bet China won't have a problem lending the US money to take guns out of our hands...

[dcjulie]

And here are the 23 Executive Orders signed by Obama:

2. "Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system."

16. "Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes."

17. "Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities."

20. "Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover."

21. "Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges."

22. "Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations."

This is SCARY!  I urge anyone who has had any mental health diagnosis anywhere on their records to have their health care provider declare them completely recovered from whatever it was.  Personally, as a health care provider, the idea that anyone can tell me that I have to give the government private and confidential health information scares the daylights out of me.  Pretty soon we'll be seeing executive orders telling us that anyone who isn't right handed should be flogged in the public square!

[OnTheFly]

Here is the email I received from the Veep...

Hello --

Today President Obama announced a plan to help protect our kids and communities from gun violence. You're going to hear a lot about it, but I wanted to make sure you got a chance to get the facts, straight from me.

After hearing from Americans from across the political spectrum, we decided to focus on some key priorities: closing background check loopholes, banning military-style assault weapons, making our schools safer, and increasing access to mental health services.

The ideas we sent to President Obama are straightforward. Each of them honors the rights of law-abiding, responsible Americans to bear arms. Some of them will require action from Congress; the President is acting on others immediately. But they're all commonsense and will help make us a little safer.

Now is the time for all of us to act.

Read about the events that brought us to this point, learn about the plan we've proposed to help protect our kids, and then add your name in support to help build momentum for this plan.

Here's what we've put together:

We're calling for requiring background checks for all gun sales and closing the loopholes that allow dangerous individuals to make their purchase without going through one of these checks.

We're asking for a new, stronger ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that allow a shooter to fire dozens of bullets as quickly as he can pull a trigger. And we're asking Congress to help protect law enforcement by make it illegal for members of the public to possess armor-piercing bullets.

We're going to give law enforcement more tools and resources to prevent and prosecute gun crimes, and we're going to end the freeze on gun violence research that prevents the Center from Disease Control from looking at the causes of gun violence.

We're calling on Congress to help make schools safer by putting up to 1,000 school resource officers and mental health professionals in schools and ensuring they have comprehensive emergency management plans in place.

And we're going to increase coverage so that students and young adults can get access to the mental health treatment they may need.

We know that no policy we enact or law we enforce can prevent every senseless act of violence in our country. But if we can save the life of even one child, we have a deep responsibility to act.

Now is the time to come together to protect our kids. Learn about the plan, then add your name alongside mine:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/now-is-the-time

Thanks,

Vice President Joe Biden

Fly

[XDHusker]

4. "Direct the attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks."

This one bothers me, but the devil will surely be in the details.  I have an old misdemeanor conviction, so I could easily see them adding a whole slew of misdemeanor convictions that now ban people from owning guns.  Kind of like the domestic violence dis qualifier now.

The mental health piece makes me VERY nervous as well because there are so many "mental health" issues that people get treatment for.  I've gone to a Dr. for ADHD and I went to marriage counseling several years ago.  Both are considered "mental health" visits and a diagnosis of ADHD is a mental illness.

As they say every law has unintended consequences.  Think about it.  If you are having voices in your head but own a gun are you going to be more likely or less likely to go see a Doctor with these laws in effect.  Hey, if I go to the Doctor Obama will ban me for life from owning guns.  Umm, I'll just deal with the voices myself. 

[RobertH]

who would you pick as #11 (ATF director)?.  where do i send my resume?

[CitizenClark]

This one bothers me, but the devil will surely be in the details.  I have an old misdemeanor conviction, so I could easily see them adding a whole slew of misdemeanor convictions that now ban people from owning guns.  Kind of like the domestic violence dis qualifier now.

I am wary of this sort of change, too, but for what it is worth the domestic violence disqualifier was added via a legislative change, not unilateral action by the executive. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_Violence_Offender_Gun_Ban

[Chris C]

I didn’t see anything in either of those links like in Feinstein’s proposed bill that states you are not able to hand down these banned weapons to your children and they must be turned over to the authorities upon your death.  Was that taken out? 

[JimP]

No Jim, HIPPA applies to care providers and medical information, not to the average Joe or Jim.

I guess that makes me an above average Joe or Jim ..... I'm an EMT, and if I share  let slip anything about one of my patients, then I'm in trouble.  What he's talking about doing is trashing the entire reason for HIPPA:  Keeping Confidential Health Care Info ....... CONFIDENTIAL.  .... and because the .gov is now in the health care insurance biz .....all the more reason for them to be bound by it!

Lex bovis, non Jovis, Indeed!