W.H.: Obama’s Legal Team Working on Exec. Action on Gun Control in ‘Short Order’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

CORKE: “Let me through a few of those, because when you say common sense other people say, if it’s common sense why not let — either let Congress have a hand in [indecipherable]  in the face of the constitutional right to obviously bear arms. We ought not to do it. So can you walk me through a few common sense ideas of the president would have that might make sense in an executive action on guns?”
EARNEST: “Well you, know the first idea is this idea, that there should be a law in the books that prevents individuals who are deemed too dangerous by the government from boarding an airplane, from being able to buy a gun. That’s common sense. That’s [indecipherable] with our national security interests and at least 85 percent of New Hampshire Republicans agree with that notion according to that poll that I read at the top. About half of those households have gun owners [indecipherable]. So, there — I think that’s an indication that there’s certainly strong bipartisan support for a common sense measure like that. Another example would be closing the gun show loophole. This is essentially a loophole that allows some individuals who purchase firearms at a gun show being able to purchase that firearm without submitting to a background check. Again this is the kind of proposal that would make it harder for criminals, for those who are the subject of a restraining order or those with mental problems, from being able to buy a gun. And again it would not undermine the basic constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. I know that there’s a similar proposal that applies to individuals who seek to purchase firearms over the Internet, as a similar loophole there and — again I — according of this latest poll of New Hampshire Republicans, about half of whom were gun owners, 75 percent of them support closing that gun show loophole. So I think that’s an indication that — again these are consistent with common sense, they’re consistent with protecting constitutional rights, they’re consistent with national security, they’re strong by bipartisan support — we just need — we just need to get Congress to act.”
 CORKE: “Will the president then — propose that, or he’ll do that in an executive order?”
EARNEST: “Well —“
CORKE: “Because, if you’re saying one hand, listen we think this is all legal, we think [indecipherable] what within our right. Why not just haven’t do it?”
EARNEST: “Well that — the question about whether or not the president has the authority to do it is a different one. And the president has asked his attorneys both here at the White House and in the Department of Justice to look carefully at the law to determine what kinds of authorities the president does have to pass executive actions that would implement some of these common sense steps. And this is something that is currently under consideration by the president’s legal team.”
CORKE: “Any timetable on when he might get a review from his legal team on that?”
EARNEST: “I don’t have an updated timetable for you at this point. You know, obviously this is something they’ve been working on for quite some time, and hopefully that’s something that we could see in relatively short order.”