On guns, President Obama needs a "Plan B." The president himself recognizes that the votes probably aren't there to pass any significant gun legislation through Congress. In his State of the Union address, he was reduced to pleading with Congress to allow a vote at all, never mind actually enact anything. Even if Congress were seized by a sudden change of heart, the measures the president has proposed seem unlikely to achieve much. Universal background checks would be a baby step forward. But until state governments join background checks to some effective system of gun licensing, the checks are very easily evaded. A felon or domestic batterer or disturbed person need only find a person with a clean background to buy a weapon for him.
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David Frum: Obama may not have votes for gun legislation to pass
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He says president's "Plan B" could be a surgeon general's report on hazards of guns
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Senate could hold hearings to ask gun manufacturers about actions they could take
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Frum: Why isn't the most dangerous consumer product in America being regulated?
If Congress stalls on the president's ambitious legislative schemes, the president should fall back on this @placeholder to publicize what guns really do to those who carry them -- and what gunmakers do to their customers.