Mitch McConnell: “King” Obama out to grab yer guns!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who faces re-election in 2014, is doing his part to model the new spirit of moderation and bipartisan compromise that the GOP hopes to demonstrate to voters in the days ahead.

Here’s how he begins a new email message sent out to supporters:

Dear Patriot,

You and I are literally surrounded.

The gun-grabbers in the Senate are about to launch an all-out-assault on the Second Amendment. On your rights.

On your freedom.

Just the other night, President Obama urged them to act. And then he went one step further, spelling out the 23 different Executive Orders he will take to get your guns.

My friend, our freedom is under direct assault.

From those who want take your guns. From those who want to shred our Constitution, and as our good friend Rand Paul from Kentucky says, from those who want to be King.

Let me tell you, Mitch McConnell is ready to lead the fight to protect your rights.

Will you stand with Mitch today? …

Below I’ve included the full list of 23 executive actions issued by the gun-grabbing “King Obama” regarding firearms. I confess to being curious: When McConnell describes these actions as steps that “(Obama) will take to get your guns,” which specific actions does he mean?

Is it the effort to keep identify people who are too crazy to buy guns? Is it the “national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign”? Or the order to trace all weapons recovered in the commission of a crime? The initiative to train first-responders on how to respond to a school shooting?

Every American voter ought to read McConnell’s letter (full text here), read the list of executive actions issued by Obama, and then decide for himself or herself which party represents the sane, rational way forward for the people of this nation.

1.) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

2.) Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

3.) Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

4.) Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

5.) Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

6.) Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

7.) Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

8.) Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

9.) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

10.) Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

11.) Nominate an ATF director.

12.) Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.

13.) Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

14.) Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15.) Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

16.) Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

17.) Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.

18.) Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

19.) Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

20.) Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

21.) Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

22.) Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.

23.) Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

– Jay Bookman