#TBT: Obama Takes Action On Gun Violence

     While he was fighting for reelection in 2012, Barack Obama saw the impacts of lackadaisical gun policy when hundreds of people, including countless small children, were massacred in a series of violent shootings by deranged individuals able to get access to guns too easily. Describing common-sense gun control as a fight comparable to that of the civil rights and suffrage movements, he planned to make it a central theme of his second term and, aside from visiting survivors and the families of victims, called on Congress to pass legislation to ban assault rifles, mandate background checks on all gun purchases, increase penalties for weapons trafficking, appoint a BAFTE administrator, and more.

     While the Republican-controlled House refused to protect children, President Obama was able to secure a temporary relief with executive orders. On January 16th, 2013, he signed 23 of them, from encouraging responsible gun ownership to expanding background checks on weapons sales and creating a White House Task Force on Gun Violence.