Reich: Obama Could Use An Executive Order To Enact Some Gun Control
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CURRENT TV HOST: After Gabby Giffords was shot in 2011, the Department of Justice actually came up with a list of steps -- this was reported in the New York Times this weekend -- a list of steps that the administration could take to improve the system of background checks. Like pooling information from other agencies to help identify people who are not mentally competent. I, as a former person in the executive branch, used to love stuff that I could without having to go to the state legislature. The president, presumably, has an opportunity here to pick up those regulatory measures. Do you think not?
ROBERT REICH, FORMER SECRETARY OF LABOR: Yes, some can be done by executive order. And he will, I think, try to do that. If it's an executive order, by definition, Congress can't stop him. There may be efforts to say that he has exceeded his authority under executive order. I think the big factor here, though, for the President, the White House, for Democrats, is that the election is over. And I don't want to appear too cynical about this, Jennifer, but one reason why the president may not have taken up what the Department of Justice had tentatively come up with, before the election, was the fear that there would be a backlash.
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