Obama gun control push finds little support among Mississippi leaders

President Barack Obama's latest gun-control push is getting little traction in Mississippi, where the state's congressional delegation has vowed to fight the executive actions Obama laid out Tuesday. Coast legislators on both sides of the aisle saw a very low likelihood of making any state-level changes.

Obama on Tuesday unveiled a four-part plan to reduce gun violence through a series of executive actions, the centerpiece of which will be expanding the number of background checks by clarifying that anyone "in the business" of dealing guns -- whether in stores, online or at gun shows -- must obtain a federal license and conduct background checks.

Other measures include a stronger enforcement of existing gun laws -- and 200 more agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to assist with that -- as well as encouraging the development of more-advanced technology that could help prevent accidental shootings and find lost or stolen weapons.

Obama proposed both expanding and improving mental-health treatment and making mental-health records more accessible during background checks.

For Mississippi leaders, any executive action on gun control is a non-starter.

"Like many Mississippians, I am concerned with President Obama's proposed executive action restricting gun owner rights," said Gov. Phil Bryant in a statement. "As governor, I will continue to strongly defend and protect their right to keep and bear arms."

Mississippi Republicans in Congress also objected to the president's unilateral move.

"The president has never respected the Second Amendment and is attempting to circumvent the elected Congress and the American people through unilateral action on gun control," U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-4, said in a statement. "It is pure executive overreach to try and take away one of our fundamental rights as American citizens."

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said, "No president of the United States has the power to infringe on the rights granted by the Second Amendment. Congress and the courts should promptly step in to reverse this executive overreach."

And U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said Obama's actions "push the limits of his constitutional authority," adding he expected the move to be challenged in Congress and in the courts.

Obama, for his part, made it no secret in his speech that he was circumventing Congress. But he framed it as going around a gridlocked legislative branch to impose policies supported by the majority of Americans.

An August study from the Pew Research Center found 85 percent of Americans -- 88 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans -- supported expanding background checks and 79 percent favored laws to prevent people with mental illness from buying guns.

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Obama said, "We need to feel the fierce urgency of now.

"Because people are dying and constant excuses for inaction no longer do, no longer suffice."

Democratic candidates for president Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders praised the remarks, but several Republican presidential candidates, as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have come out against the new policies.

Though Obama's remarks Tuesday focused on the executive actions he will take, his team had indicated Monday he would also spend the next year urging states, counties and cities to tighten their own gun laws, absent congressional action.

That, unsurprisingly, is unlikely to happen in Mississippi.

"If anything, we will do more to try to protect the Second Amendment right of Mississippians, the right to keep and bear arms," said state Sen. Sean Tindell, R-49, of Gulfport. "That's been our push and will continue to be our push here."

Tindell said he was particularly concerned about the executive action requiring more gun sellers to obtain a federal license or risk criminal penalties.

Sen. Philip Moran, R-46, of Kiln, said the issue could always be discussed but said he supported the current gun laws.

"Bad guys, people who can harm someone, don't buy guns from a show or a reputable dealer, they buy off the street," he said. "Folks buying from gun shows are like you and I, law-abiding citizens."

Even Coast Democrats who said they would like to see changes held out little hope.

Sen. Deborah Dawkins, D-48, of Pass Christian, a former surgical technician, said she would be willing to support just about anything that could improve the situation -- even minor measures.

"I worked in the operating room for 20 years and a large part of that time I worked in charity hospitals where most of what we did was trauma," she said. "And if people could see the results of those kinds of events, it's just really more than you can describe."

She added, "So as a legislator and former surgical person, to me it's so obvious something needs to be done but Mississippi is not the most progressive state and these would be progressive measures. I don't see anything happening that's not mandated."

Mississippi had the nation's third-highest gun-death rate in 2014, with 18.27 deaths per 100,000 residents. About 54 percent of Mississippi households own guns.

Local action to tighten gun laws would prove difficult as well. Mississippi, along with most states, has a measure that preempts local jurisdictions' rights to enforce gun-control restrictions that run counter to state law.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Obama gun control push finds little support among Mississippi leaders ."