This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, January 11th, 2013. I'm Caleb Brown.

The President has hinted at using an executive order to restrict private gun ownership

in the United States, but how far can that go before Congress has to get involved?

Dave Koppel is an associate policy analyst at Cato Institute.

We spoke today.

When these types of events occur, there was typically an initial reaction.

There's a lot of charged rhetoric. things calm down a little bit and then substantive

proposals are put together.

President Obama seems to be at least hinting at the idea of doing something through executive order with respect to guns.

What can the president do through executive order and what does he need Congress to do?

Well, he has broad power on import of firearms granted by the Gun Control Act of 68.

The Gun Control Act does set some boundaries on the president's power over imports.

On the other hand, nothing a president has done in terms of banning a particular type of import

has ever been struck down by a court. The courts are extremely deferential

to presidential decisions on this, even when the decisions perhaps exceed the statutory authority which Congress granted him.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 has a procedure by which many shotguns could be classified as destructive

devices which would bring them into the same regulatory category as

machine guns meaning you pay a $200 tax to possess one,

you have to be fingerprinted, photographed a registration process with the Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco Farms and Explosives

that takes months.

And in addition, you have to get permission

...