Arklatex Congressional delegation fires back on Obama gun control

President Obama's executive orders and proposals on gun control are getting blowback from most of the Arklatex Congressional delegation, including Louisiana's John Fleming.

Speaking on Fox Business Channel right after the president unveiled his plan, Fleming said, "If we want to solve the problem instead of passing things that make us feel good politically we need to go where it is. And it's with criminals and with the mentally deranged. And we need to be very pro-active in that. And we're going to have to work through the HIPPA laws to be able to have a goodk robust system of reporting who are the mentally ill who may be a danger to society."

Fellow Republican Louie Gohmert of east Texas says, "When armed intruders break into homes, the women or men relying on a gun to protect their family should not have to worry about the restrictions on how many rounds they can have in a clip. Criminals do not worry about complying with the law."

Newly sworn southwestern Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton says, "Not a single thing proposed by the President today would have saved a single child's life at Sandy Hook. Instead, the President would curtail law-abiding citizens' Constitutional rights with extreme gun-control measures that have proven time and again not to reduce crime in general or mass murder in particular."

But Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana says, "This isn't a Republican or a Democratic issue. It's an American issue. And the American people expect us to come together and act. The safety of our children, our communities and our nation depend on it. I look forward to reviewing the proposals put forth by the administration and will give them my serious consideration."

Experts say the President's proposals stand little chance of passing. KTBS 3 political analyst Trey Gibson explained how the debate on banning assault weapons and limiting ammunition clips to ten rounds may be framed.

"There are those on the left who see it as an assault. There are those on the right who see it as a defensive weapon," GIbson says. "So the battle over language I think is what we're going to see."

As for one of the President's executive orders, both Gohmert and Fleming -- who is a physician -- criticized his call for doctors to ask patients if they have guns in their homes. They say that intrudes on doctor-patient relationships.