President Barack Obama announced a new executive order on Tuesday that will expand background checks and, he hopes, gun control across the United States.
The White House released details of the plan on Monday afternoon, detailing how the executive order will make gun sales easier to watch and will help people keep guns away from "the mentally ill and people with criminal records," Quartz reported.
Specifically, the plan will require gun sellers at gun shows and on the Internet to have their own licenses, putting them at risk for five years in prison or a $250,000 fine if they don't, Quartz reported. The order also requires background checks for family and corporate trusts, which used to allow gun owners to pass their gun ownership down to another, Quartz reported.
But the plan isn't perfect, as it leaves out some parts of gun control that had previously been discussed by lawmakers. For example, it doesn't limit the sale of ammunition, nor does it ban automatic weapons.
Whether this sits well with all lawmakers remains to be seen. But it could be that the next president gets rid of the executive order. As Quartz reported, the next U.S. president could repeal the executive order.
"Republicans have already vowed to fight the executive order, but how, exactly they could do so is not clear, although the next president could repeal it," Quartz reported. "One tactic may be to refuse to fund the president's 2017 budget, which includes spending for the ATF and FBI agents."
Repealing the new order seems to be the case for many potential presidential candidates. Here's a breakdown of what some of the 2016 candidates have said about Obama's latest executive order and what they plan to do with it if they are to take office.
Donald Trump
On the eve of the president's executive order announcement, Republican front-runner Donald Trump warned voters about the increased background checks, telling CNN that "pretty soon you won't be able to get guns. It's another step in the way of not getting guns."
Trump added that the key to stopping mass shootings is to increase the focus on mental health, and give people their own weapons to defend themselves.
"If the people in Paris had guns, you know what, you wouldn't have had 134 people and many more to follow get killed," Trump told CNN. "And if people in California had guns, a couple of guns in that room, you wouldn't have had 16 people killed."
Trump said he would repeal the order if elected president.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz told Obama to back off on gun control, The Dallas Morning News reported. He said he isn't surprised by the executive order, but he's upset that the president will expand his powers again with this executive order.
"The word that President Obama is once again going to abuse his power to try to seize our guns sadly surprises nobody," Cruz told The Dallas Morning News. "This is a president who for seven years has abused his constitutional authority."
Cruz said guns, throughout history, have helped Americans defeat their enemies, and that he will personally repeal the executive order if he takes office, The Dallas Morning News reported.
"It's entirely backwards. We don't beat the bad guys by taking away our guns. We beat the bad guys by using our guns. And whatever President Obama attempts to do, abusing his power on the Second Amendment, you can rest assured that on Jan. 20th, 2017, if I am elected president I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive order Barack Obama has entered."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio didn't mince words when asked about Obama's executive order. He plans to repeal it on the first day he's in office, Time magazine reported.
"Don't worry," Rubio said. "On my first day in office, behind that desk, don't worry, those orders are gone."
During a speech Sunday night in New Hampshire, Rubio said Obama "is obsessed with gun control," which is "meant to further erode the Second Amendment."
He also told reporters that the change goes against the U.S. Constitution, Time reported.
"I believe that every single American has a constitutional - and therefore God-given right - to defend themselves and their families," Rubio said.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took a different approach when speaking about Obama's new executive order - he suggested that Obama should have taken the issue straight to Congress, something Bush tried to do in 2012 following the Sandy Hook shootings, Fox News reported.
"The president has a pattern of taking away rights of citizens," Bush told Fox News on Sunday. "The better approach would be to punish people who violate federal gun laws. "¦ If it's such a great idea, let (Obama) go to Congress."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
The New Jersey governor may have had the most rash statement about Obama's executive order. As CBS News reported, Christie called Obama a "petulant child" in regards to gun control.
Christie, who's long dealt with improving current gun control legislation, said he doesn't think the executive order will sit right with the American people, CBS reported. And though he didn't mention whether he would repeal the order if elected, he doesn't think the order will have a long life.
"I'm confident the courts will reject his attempts," Christie told CBS. "If they don't, I'm sure that ultimately the next president will make sure that he abdicates those extra constitutional actions."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Unlike Republicans, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton stood by Obama's call for executive action, saying she'd keep the order if she were to become president, Politicus USA reported. She said she supports the use of more background checks, and the use of an executive order, especially when Congress wouldn't budge on making decisions on gun control.
"I know that a Republican president would delight in the very first day, reversing executive orders that President Obama has made, including this one that we expect him to make," Clinton said, Politicus USA reported.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
Fellow Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders also supported Obama's plan to bypass Congress. He told CNN on Sunday that although he would have prefered both sides of the political spectrum to come together, Obama's actions makes sense if Republicans won't budge on the issue, The Huffington Post reported.
"The vast majority of the American people are horrified by the mass shootings we have seen. They want action," Sanders said. "What the president is trying to do now is to expand the instant background check by closing the gun show loophole. I think he's doing what the American people would like him to do."
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