Don’t Expect Transparency on Gun Policy from the White House

I love going back to look at some of President Obama’s promises about transparency in government. We gun owners and Second Amendment supporters shouldn’t be shocked that the administration’s dedication to keep public policy secrets is likely to be used against us. I mean the guy violated a key transparency promise to share all non-emergency bills with the public for five days before acting on them only nine days into his term. Nine days for the first transparency lie, is it any wonder that we still can’t get his administration to turn over documents about Fast & Furious? They’ve had three years now to perfect the ways they will violate the transparency pledges.

Remember last year when the White House promised to work on gun control secretly so that voters won’t know what he’s doing?

[Sarah] Brady, for whom the law requiring background checks on handgun purchasers is named, then met with White House press secretary Jay Carney. During the meeting, President Obama dropped in and, according to Sarah Brady, brought up the issue of gun control, “to fill us in that it was very much on his agenda,” she said.

“I just want you to know that we are working on it,” Brady recalled the president telling them. “We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”

Obama’s buddy Mike Bloomberg already made sure that the White House has a blueprint for how he can enact more gun control without the oversight of Congress. Certainly, it sounds like the White House could be dusting off those plans from Bloomberg.

A day after President Obama vowed in a speech to “leave no stone unturned” in his quest to reduce gun violence, his spokesman said the president’s efforts won’t include any new gun-control proposals.

“There are things that we can do, short of legislation and short of gun laws, as the president said, that can reduce violence in our society,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

And another report:

President Obama suggested Thursday that he isn’t backing away from talking about gun policy.

“I’m sure we’ll have more opportunity to talk about this,” he said to a reporter’s question after he made brief remarks pressuring the House of Representatives to pass the middle class tax cut extension that cleared the Senate on Wednesday. …

Earlier Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president was focused on gun control measures “short of legislation.”

Even the DC political press is outlining ways for Obama to enact more gun control while skirting the accountability to the people that typically comes with pushing it through Congress first. They note that we probably shouldn’t expect to hear much on what actions Obama might take:

Obama is no stranger to dipping deep into the murky waters of executive powers and finding ways to achieve policy goals that Congress has thwarted. Proponents of gun control say that the president has crystal clear and uncontested powers—some used by an NRA card-carrying GOP president (Bush resigned from the group in 1995)—to deal with assault weapons.

Yet the White House remains stonily silent on Obama’s intentions even to reevaluate whether to exercise these powers.

I would not be surprised if shortly after election day – regardless of the outcome – we start learning about all sorts of actions by various agencies to more tightly regulate guns in a way that circumvents the legislative process. You cannot expect transparency from this administration, so it’s probably best to prepare for the worst given the resources Bloomberg has provided and the promises the White House made to Brady in a closed meeting.