From the January 4 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Fox Guest Suggests Obama's Impending Anti-Gun Violence Executive Actions Are Dictatorial
J. Christian Adams: “That Isn't The Way This Country Works. It's Not A Dictatorship. He Can't Issue Edicts”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): President Obama having that meeting today to discuss his options to go alone -- go it alone on gun control. But is that indeed constitutional? Former Justice Department official, J. Christian Adams joins us right now to go into what the president's actually going to change. Christian first, thanks so much for joining us, but first off, the president's going to focus on what area where he indicated -- what area is he going to focus on when it comes to background checks?
J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: Well, what he's going to focus on is what Congress has refused to do for a long time, and that is require background checks on private gun transactions between people. If I want to sell you my gun, Brian, then I don't have to do a background check on you. I have the right to sell a piece of property to somebody else. And that's been the law for a long time, but the president doesn't like it, and I'm sure he's going to get Attorney General Lynch and her team of Ivy League lawyers to find a way around the law because that's what they're very good at.
[...]
KILMEADE: However, in San Bernardino, you had that clown give -- buy a gun for the terrorists, and now he's in trouble. How would that have prevented that from happening?
ADAMS: It wouldn't have. And that shows the president's misplaced priorities. He seems to be more interested in eroding constitutional rights than he does about jihadists on American soil. None of the things he's proposing or could propose would have stopped San Bernardino or the other shootings because background checks were already being done. This is about something bigger than background checks. He also wants to stop people on the no-fly list from getting a gun. Well I was on the no-fly list. The no-fly list is a mess. I was on the fly list -- no-fly list because of the name John Christian Adams apparently tripped something and put me on the no-fly list. You can't rely on that but that's what Obama's set to do, is, through edict, stop people from exercising their constitutional rights.
KILMEADE: So in these two things, even if they're at a pass and he was to do it, they're symbolic -- number one. And number two, you don't think it's going to stand the constitutional test.
ADAMS: The problem is that this is a constitutional republic. The president doesn't seem to like that. He doesn't seem to like the fact that Congress has the authority to decide what to do, and Congress for years has rejected requiring private transactions to be subject to a background check or using the no-fly list to stop people from getting guns. That isn't the way this country works. It's not a dictatorship. He can't issue edicts, no matter how smart the lawyers are at the Justice Department who justify it. It's simply unconstitutional to stop people from buying guns if the government puts you on a list.
KILMEADE: Yep, first it's going to be guns, it's going to be this week, he's going to pretend to have this meeting, then he's going to have an open forum then he's going to have this conclusion, and then the next is going to be Gitmo, and we'll have you back for that.
Previously:
What 2016 Holds In Store For Guns, The NRA, And The Presidential Election
What Conservative Media Get Wrong About The Link Between Gun Safety And Terrorism Prevention
Fox Business Displays On-Air Graphic Saying “Dear Santa: Bring Guns”