President Obama Moves to Require Further Background Checks on Gun Sales

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF) – President Obama is back from the holiday is focusing his attention on gun control.

Many sources said that he will announce executive action later this week to expand the scope on guns and the way they are purchased.

The president explained why he’s trying to tackle gun control in his final year in office.

"I think everybody here is all too familiar with the statistics. We have tens of thousands of people every single year who are killed by guns. We have suicides that are committed by firearms at a rate that far exceeds other countries. We have a frequency of mass shootings that far exceeds other countries in frequency, and although it is my strong belief that for us to get our complete arms around the problem, congress needs to act."

News 12 spoke with a local gun shop owner, John Martin, on his thoughts on what is being called "the gun show loophole" which he claims is not a loophole at all.

"The gun show loophole only exists because gun show owners and the federal government don’t have enough agents to enforce it."

Under the current law only federally licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on buyers, but those who sell at flea markets or websites don’t register as dealers.

Martin said that he thinks doing further background checks on those who want to acquire a gun is not a bad idea.

"I honestly think a universal background check is not going to be as evil as the NRA wants to imply that it will be or the Republican Party. It’s probably going to do more good than bad."

He also said he expects to see a rise in business once the order is implemented.

"Every time a gun was sold in the state on Tennessee they would have to come to a gun shop to come to a background check and we would charge for that service."

Gun owner, Cody Witherspoon, said he thinks more people will go out and start purchasing guns.

"I think you’ll continue to see a steady rise in people purchasing fire arms. It seems like anytime a situation comes up where a shooting or executive order then you see more people going towards guns."

However, Martin said that he doubts this move will solve gun related deaths.

"Statistically you might see a 2% and if your family is part of that 2% it makes a big deal. I’ll give you that, but no an imperishable percentage."

President Obama plans to hold a one-hour town hall meeting on gun control Thursday at 8 PM Eastern on CNN.