Politico

Executive actions expected next week will be part of the president’s new year push to make progress on long-stalled problems before the 2016 presidential election heats up.

President Barack Obama’s bid to assert himself in his final year will begin with long-awaited executive actions on gun control, expected to be released next week, shortly after he returns to Washington ….

According to gun industry insiders and others familiar with the proposals, the changes include requiring an expanded number of small-scale gun sellers to be licensed — and therefore conduct background checks — whenever selling a weapon. This wouldn’t close the so-called gun show loophole, though it has the potential to narrow it.

The administration is also expected to impose tighter rules for reporting guns that get lost or stolen on their way to a buyer ….

Gun-control activists acknowledged that changing the rules for licenses might have limited impact on what sellers actually do in the short term. But in this political environment, they’ll take whatever measures they can, no matter how incremental.

“Setting cultural norms,” said Everytown research director Ted Alcorn, “is something that laws do.”

Read more at Politico.

I’m inclined to believe that this is merely a first step towards restrictions on citizens owning firearms. This is one reason why the 2016 elections are so important – not just for the Presidential election, but to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate and the House.