Crosstalk: January 6, 2016

President Obama returned from his holiday vacation to announce what he called, 'common sense gun reform'. This includes universal background check registration along with restrictions on seniors. Is this really common sense? Has the president overstepped his executive authority? Is this what the public is calling for? Joining Jim to look at this issue was Erich Pratt. Erich is the executive director for Gun Owners of America. Erich believes President Obama does not have constitutional authority to set forth gun control reforms via executive order. Why? The Second Amendment says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. This means that everything the president laid out is an infringement on law abiding gun owners and citizens. Erich also referred to the president's analogy that you can't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater. He noted how the president sank his own argument by saying this because obviously movie goers are free to enter a theater and when that freedom is abused, then they're held liable. What theaters don't do is put customers through a background check to make sure they don't have a history of yelling 'fire' while attending a movie. In the case of gun control, President Obama is placing prior restraint and restrictions on law abiding citizens and their God-given right to self-defense. This means the president's theater analogy is a failure and coming from someone who taught constitutional law, he should know better. Jim then brought up an interesting question. If the actions of the president are unconstitutional and are an assault on the Second Amendment and the Separation of Powers, why are they advancing and who's going to stop them? The other side doesn't have the facts or figures to back them up. Over the last 25 years we've seen 150 million new guns manufactured and imported into the U.S yet during that time our murder rate was cut in half. So Erich believes it's all about the agenda, so Gun Owners of America will be pursuing legal action in this area and also working with congressmen on defunding gun restrictions.