By Rachel Stoltzfoos

President Barack Obama’s aides are still working out a politically palatable way to implement a new gun control measure by executive order.

President Barack Obama’s aides are still working out a politically palatable way to implement a new gun control measure by executive order.

Plans to target private gun sales have been in the works for some time, but the administration is wary of political and potentially legal consequences of implementing the changes via executive order. Officials are analyzing state and local gun control efforts to find what they consider awinning strategy that will prevent mass shootings, reports the Los Angeles Times.

“That work includes looking at the gun show loophole,” a White House official involved in the work tells the LA Times. “But taking administrative action in this space is enormously complicated, with complex and intertwined policy, legal and operational considerations to take into account.”

“That process is very much underway,” he adds.

The proposed rule change will require anyone who sells more than 50 guns a year to obtain a federal license and conduct background checks on potential buyers. Congress rejected legislation to implement the checks in 2013.

Obama is still considering the idea, but opted against it, apparently for legal and political reasons. Some federal lawyers worry it won’t hold up under a legal challenge and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials worry it will be hard to enforce and might affect too many sellers.

In the wake of the Oregon shooting, Obama is “seriously considering” using his executive power to change that rule and implement other restrictions on gun rights, and discussed the matter with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

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