House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday slammed President Obama’s new executive actions on guns, which will expand background checks needed to purchase firearms.
“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,” Ryan said in a statement. “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.”
Ryan promised that the Republican Congress would work to challenge Obama’s orders.
“No matter what President Obama says, his word does not trump the Second Amendment. We will conduct vigilant oversight,” he said in the statement. “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.”
The speaker also dinged the President for “offering distractions from his failed record” in his last year in office.
