By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, January 5 U.S. Representatives Gary Palmer (R from Hoover), Robert Aderholt (R from Haleyville) and Bradley Byrne (R from Montrose) all issued statement critical of President Barack H. Obama’s effort to subvert Congress and the Constitution to restrict Americans right to purchase, possess and sell guns.
Representative Palmer condemned President Obama’s executive orders concerning firearms as being both beyond the scope of his Constitutional power and ineffective at stopping gun violence.
Congressman Palmer said, “The President’s Executive Actions are beyond the scope of his Constitutional powers,” Palmer said. “This President has developed a pattern over the past seven years of ignoring the Constitution whenever it suits him. This is wrong. Nothing in the President’s Executive Actions would have done anything to stop the most recent incidents of gun violence.”
Congressman Robert Aderholt released his own statement after learning from news reports that President Obama planned to use an Executive Order this week to implement new gun control measures.
Representative Aderholt said, “It is unbelievable and I’m at a loss of words at the news President Obama plans to sidestep the Constitution once again in order to circumvent Congress in his efforts to diminish gun owner’s rights in America. This is just another example of President Obama’s attempts to impose his failed agenda on the American people in the waning months of his Presidency.”
Congressman Bradley Byrne told the Fox Business Channel’s Deirdre Bolton, “He wants to make a new criminal law on his own without passing a bill through Congress. The Constitution does not allow him to do that. Now he can talk big when he has a big media event like this, but at the end of the day, under the Constitution, he cannot do this.”
Rep. Palmer said, “I have always been and will continue to be a strong defender of our Second Amendment rights, and will fight any attempt to infringe upon them. Executive actions are not law and, on January 20, 2017, can be rescinded by the next President.”
Rep. Aderholt said, “There is not proof that the new restrictions President Obama proposes would have prevented any of the recent cases of gun violence in our country. I’m also confident that these new proposed restrictions on the Second Amendment will not stop any future incidents. As we know our problem in America is not a gun problem. It is a cultural problem and a problem of the heart by these criminals. No new gun laws can change the attitude of someone who is so lost in this world that they are bent on killing others.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R from Wisconsin) released his own statement in response to President Obama’s announcement of his executive order to restrict American gun ownership.
Congressman Ryan said, ‘From day one, the president has never respected the right to safe and legal gun ownership that our nation has valued since its founding. He knows full well that the law already says that people who make their living selling firearms must be licensed, regardless of venue. Still, rather than focus on criminals and terrorists, he goes after the most law-abiding of citizens. His words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty.”
Speaker Ryan continued, “No matter what President Obama says, his word does not trump the Second Amendment. We will conduct vigilant oversight. His executive order will no doubt be challenged in the courts. Ultimately, everything the president has done can be overturned by a Republican president, which is another reason we must win in November. We know that the president wants to spend this year offering distractions from his failed record. We will not allow this strategy to take us off course from giving the American people a clear choice with a bold policy agenda.”
Gun Owners of America condemned the, “Absolutely lawless actions by the President of the United States. He has come up with a laundry list of proposals, the most egregious of which will target private, individual gun owners.”
Despite this and similar executive actions in defiance of Congress and the Constitution on immigration and the expansion powers of the EPA without congressional authorization, no one anticipates that Congress will begin impeachment proceedings against President Obama.
Congressman Bradley Byrne represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. Congressman Robert Aderholt represents Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District. Congressman Gary Palmer represents Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District.
