HONOLULU — President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday to finalize a set of executive actions on guns that he will unveil next week, according to several individuals briefed on the matter.
White House officials declined to comment on Obama's plans beyond releasing his weekly radio address on Friday, a day earlier than usual. But according to those familiar with the proposal, who asked for anonymity because it was not yet public, the president will expand new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers.
The president will also use his executive authority in several other areas, these individuals said, but the overall package has not yet been finalized.
In the radio address, Obama said he was moving unilaterally because Congress had failed to address the growing problem of gun violence.
"A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence," he said in the recorded address. "And on Monday, I'll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options."
"Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing," Obama continued. "I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale."
Obama began examining how he could tighten the nation's gun rules after October's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., but administration lawyers have spent months reviewing any proposals to ensure they can withstand legal scrutiny. The idea of requiring informal gun dealers to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and perform background checks on potential buyers first came up two years ago, but was shelved over legal concerns.
White House officials have conducted their review in relative secrecy, soliciting input from gun safety groups without specifying which policies they will ultimately adopt. In the past month Obama has met with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was gravely injured in a 2011 mass shooting, and her husband Mark Kelly, as well with with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, which Bloomberg helped start.
The administration has shut out congressional Republicans, who joined with some Democrats in helping block legislation to expand background checks after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"The administration has not communicated with us, and we have not been briefed," said Doug Andres, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in an email. "We will consider options once we have information, but what seems apparent is none of these ideas would have prevented the recent atrocities. Our focus should be on the consistent causes of these acts - mental illnesses and terrorism - rather than infringing on law-abiding Americans' constitutional rights."
While a handful of restrictions on gun purchasing, such as expanded background checks, enjoy broad popular support, Obama's move comes as Americans have become more fearful about the prospect of terrorist strikes and have voiced an openness to having ordinary citizens carry a gun.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted last month in the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist shooting, for example, found 53 percent of respondents opposed an assault weapons ban, a record high. When asked which is the better reaction to terrorism, 47 percent said encouraging more people to carry guns legally, while 42 percent preferred enacting stricter gun-control laws.
The current federal statute the administration is eyeing dictates that those who are "engaged in the business" of dealing firearms need to obtain a federal license — and, therefore, conduct background checks — but exempts anyone "who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms."
It is unclear how many possible deals any change in the rule would affect, since these activities are not formally tracked. Also, the guns purchased for several recent mass shootings -- in both Roseburg and San Bernardino -- were done legally, and subject to background checks.
Everytown spokeswoman Erika Soto Lamb said the current interpretation of what it means to be "engaged in the business" of selling firearms is "a hazy definition that allows high-volume sellers to transfer thousands of guns without background checks, no questions asked."
Other proposals the administration has been weighing include requiring federally-licensed gun dealers to report any lost and stolen guns to the National Crime Information Center; publishing aggregate background check denial data for guns sold by unlicensed sellers; clarifying that convicted abusers are prohibited from having guns regardless of their marital status; and instructing federal law enforcement to identify and arrest criminals who attempt to buy illegal guns.
When White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked last month how either expanded background checks or an assault weapons ban would have prevented a mass shooting, Earnest did not directly answer the question. Instead, he said the administration wants Congress to pass legislation barring any suspected terrorist from being allowed to purchase a gun in the United States.
Earnest said, "It is not our view that we should wait until somebody who's on the no-fly list walks into a gun store, legally purchases a gun and kills a bunch of innocent Americans before we pass a law preventing it. That's a common-sense view."
Any action by the president is sure to trigger a major backlash from gun rights activists, as well as Republican lawmakers. On Thursday, the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action launched the first in a video series attacking gun control advocates.
The first ad targets Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who revived the plan to expand background checks in the wake of the Roseburg shooting by proposing it on the campaign trail. The ad is labeled "New Year's Resolutions of the Rich and Anti-Gun (Actually, Just Hillary Clinton)," and it shows a woman outlining her plans on Clinton's campaign stationary beside a photo of the president and his former secretary of state as "Auld Lang Syne" blares in the background.
"Stop trying to ban guns," she writes as her first point, in black marker, followed by, "Read the Constitution."
"Meet an actual gun owner," the Clinton impersonator scribbles, before adding, "In Person!"
At that point the woman crosses out all three points, crumples up the paper and throws it aside, as Clinton's laugh is heard in the background.
Groups such as MoveOn.org, however, have begun to mobilize firearm owners to support expanded background checks and other measures aimed at curbing gun violence. David Mark Williams, a farmer in Halfway, Ore., described guns as "a tool. If you're hunting or living a rural lifestyle, you're going to have a firearm."
But Williams, who came to Washington this fall with MoveOn.org to meet with members of both parties, said he resigned his NRA membership after its president opposed stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook killings.
"I'm also a supporter of rational reasonable gun control measures," he said.
Advocates from groups such as the Metro Industrial Areas Association said the president is not doing enough to curb the nearly 90 gun-related deaths that take place each day in the U.S., by not coming to the aid of gun manufacturers who are being sued for negligence; providing additional funding for the development of "smart gun" technology; and failing to use the federal government's purchasing power to pressure gun manufacturers to take more responsibility for reducing gun violence.
But Arkadi Gerney, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said in an email Thursday it was "extremely encouraging that the president appears poised" to enhance the enforcement of existing gun laws given congressional resistance to such measures.
"Along with progress in state legislatures and actions taken by governors and attorneys general, the steps the White House is considering would make it somewhat less likely that guns will end up in the wrong hands," Gerney said. "And, with gunfire claiming the lives of 33,000 American a year, even incremental steps can have life-saving impact."