Obama faces 'limited' options on executive action on gun violence

Obama faces 'limited' options on executive action on gun violence - The Hill
"His options are limited," Adam Winkler, constitutional scholar at the UCLA School of Law, said by phone Friday.
"He can seek to better enforce existing federal law, but he can't act contrary to existing federal law."
Winkler and others say Obama can install changes like new importation limits on weapons, tougher law-enforcement policies and greater cooperation between federal agencies sharing criminal and mental-health records – all without Congress's blessing.
.....Much of the focus seems to be on efforts to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), an FBI database through which licensed gun dealers are required to screen potential buyers before selling weapons.
Under federal law, felons, illegal immigrants, drug abusers, spousal abusers and the severely mentally ill may not buy or own firearms.
But the system is riddled with holes, as many states – and even federal agencies – have declined to share records with NICS.
Indeed, an examination of 60 federal agencies in October 2011 revealed that only eight had shared mental-health records with NICS, while only three had submitted drug-abuse records, according to FBI data provided to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an advocacy group.
Among the agencies that had not shared any records on substance abusers was the Drug Enforcement Administration.