GOP Rep. Moves To Censure Obama Over Executive Action On Guns

UNITED STATES - MARCH 01: Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., attends a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Rayburn entitled "FY2013 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from U.S. Pacific Command." (Photo B... UNITED STATES - MARCH 01: Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., attends a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Rayburn entitled "FY2013 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from U.S. Pacific Command." (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS

Staunch gun rights advocate Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) introduced a resolution on Wednesday to “censure and condemn” President Barack Obama over his newly announced executive actions on gun control.

“For seven years, the President has gradually expanded his powers through executive overreach,” the Mississippi lawmaker wrote in a statement published on his website. “His actions this week to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is just the latest, if not most egregious, violation of the separation of powers found in the United States Constitution.”

The executive actions announced Tuesday by the president include expanding background checks for gun purchases and investing $500 million in mental health treatment.

While gun reformers see the actions as small but necessary steps towards regulating firearms in the United States, Second Amendment advocates like Palazzo have dismissed the actions as unhelpful overreach by the executive branch.

As the National Constitution Center notes on its blog, censuring a government official amounts to little more than a “public shaming.” But as TPM previously reported, when Republicans in Congress were considering censuring Obama in late 2014 over his executive actions on immigration, censuring a President actually may run afoul of the Constitution.

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  1. I went to college with this idiot, and by calling him an idiot, I’m being kind.

  2. So improving the speed and accuracy of already Constitutionally sound background checks, effectively closing the gun-show loophole, increasing mental healthcare access to make sure we get crazy people help instead of a gun is “taking away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is just the latest, if not most egregious, violation of the separation of powers found in the United States Constitution”…?

    What ever you say you ignorant meatball.

  3. Avatar for caltg caltg says:

    Steve Palazzo clearly has way too much time on his hands. He needs to get his head out of his a$$ start working at solving some real problems.

  4. Please let Nancy Pelosi and a bunch of other democrats call a press conference to announce they will be voting for this, not because they support it but because they just want the American people to see which Republican doofus will actually stand up to make the censure while our kids are getting killed.

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