WASHINGTON — With gun-control legislation stalled in Congress, President Obama is moving ahead with his own executive actions to tackle gun violence.
At the White House’s behest, the Centers for Disease Control has already awarded a contract to study the influence that video games and social media have on youths.
Gun-rights advocates call the move an illegal power grab because Congress has repeatedly blocked funding for such studies.
“It’s a violation of federal law,” said Richard Feldman, a former National Rifle Association lobbyist and president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association.
“But if the president tells you to violate the law, you violate the law.”
Obama announced 23 executive gun-violence orders in January. Attorney General Eric Holder recently acted on one of them, telling nine federal agencies to report confiscated guns to the Bureaus of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing.Holder also created $20 million grant program to encourage states to submit more mental-health and criminal-history data into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Obama has also ordered a study of trigger lock and firearms standards.