--- title: Barack Obama: Gun Control Executive Actions Mulled description: Under the proposed executive action anyone who sells 50 to 100 guns every year would have to adhere to laws that apply to gun dealers. canonical: https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-09T15:51:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:31.447Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Mulls Executive Actions on Gun Control og:description: Anyone who sells 50 to 100 guns in a year would be treated like a gun dealer. og:url: https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd32b172091eb6f6a/698867a6cf40a8b407c40211/obama8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4854 og:image:height: 2730 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Mulls Executive Actions on Gun Control twitter:description: Anyone who sells 50 to 100 guns in a year would be treated like a gun dealer. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd32b172091eb6f6a/698867a6cf40a8b407c40211/obama8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Mulls Executive Actions on Gun Control > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5d29cf52-4cb8-4d99-b2ce-0dfa242f77cc&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama's Speech on Oregon Shooting [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama's Speech on Oregon Shooting](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Hj2CwH6d.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2015-10-02. "Somehow this has become routine"_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 9, 2015 3:51 PM UTC  President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac as he prepares to board Air Force One before his departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Oct. 9, 2015. President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac as he prepares to board Air Force One before his departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Oct. 9, 2015. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 9, 2015 3:51 PM UTC As he travels to Roseburg, Ore., to console grieving families, President Obama is mulling further executive actions to limit access to guns. Among the options being reviewed is a proposal to redefine who is considered a licensed gun dealer, which would also change requirements for conducting gun background checks. According to [NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-weighs-white-house-moves-gun-control-n441186), under the proposed executive action anyone who sells 50 to 100 guns every year would be considered “in the business” of selling guns and have to adhere to laws that apply to gun dealers such as conducting background checks on buyers. The action would reportedly not apply to people who occasionally sell, exchange, or purchase guns for their personal collection or anyone who sells off all or parts of their personal firearm collection. The proposal was first drafted in 2013 in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to the [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-weighs-expanding-background-checks-through-executive-authority/2015/10/08/6bd45e56-6b63-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92%5Fstory.html), but it has resurfaced as the President and his team consider ways to take action against gun violence. Timing on this proposal is still up in the air, according to an administration official. The news of its consideration comes shortly after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed her own executive action that would address the federal background check system if Congress does not. Gun control has been one of the areas where Obama has had some of the least success, despite a bevy of national tragedies that have kept the issue at the forefront of national conversations. Since the shooting at Umpqua Community College that left nine dead and several others injured, Obama has been visibly angry over the fact that mass killings have become “routine” in America. “Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough,” Obama said hours after the shooting. “It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple of months from now.” **Read Next:** [_President Obama Calls for Reflection on Gun Control After Charleston Shooting_](http://time.com/3926543/president-obama-charleston-shooting/) ## Transcript Somehow, this has become routine. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The reporting is routine, my response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation, in the aftermath of it, we've become Numb to this. We talked about this after Columbine, and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict Ham on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. As I said just a few months ago and I said a few months before that and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. [ SOUND ] It's not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America. We are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses, or want to do harm to people. We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months. Each time this happens, I am going to say that we can actually do something about it, but we're gonna have to change our laws. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] And this is not something I can do by myself. I've got to have a Congress and I've gotta have state legislatures And governors who are willing to work with me on this. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/"},"headline":"President Obama Mulls Executive Actions on Gun Control","datePublished":"2015-10-09T15:51:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:31.447Z","description":"Anyone who sells 50 to 100 guns in a year would be treated like a gun dealer","url":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/","keywords":["White House","Gun Control","Guns"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd32b172091eb6f6a/698867a6cf40a8b407c40211/obama8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd32b172091eb6f6a/698867a6cf40a8b407c40211/obama8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/","name":"President Obama Mulls Executive Actions on Gun Control"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama's Speech on Oregon Shooting","description":"\"Somehow this has become routine\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Hj2CwH6d/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-02T12:59:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Hj2CwH6d.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/","duration":"PT2M6S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```