Leave it to a private institution like the NY times to have the gonads to do what Obama will not.<p>Should we start a countdown, or an over&#x2F;under pool, on when Obama will actually do something about this &quot;gun epidemic&quot;?  Obviously gun control is a matter for Congress, but there is plenty of precedent where a President has galvanized public opinion to drive political change.  One instance (albeit trivial) is when Pres. Ford in the 70s asked the nation to cut down on energy use.  By commanding the airwaves and print media (a unilateral option still available to any sitting president), the next week citizens across the nation wore these stupid buttons in response.<p>There are phenomenal tools available to the president to completely by-pass conventional political process.  It is merely up to him to risk his own political capital and legacy to pull the trigger.  Some may call it an abuse of power but if our society believes supremely in following one&#x27;s conscience than surely history will vindicate him.<p>This could be one of Obama&#x27;s biggest miscalculations. If Obama is not careful, his few paragraphs in high school textbooks will include a sentence that reads, &quot;Obama&#x27;s presidency is marked by his lack of response to the American Gun Epidemic of the early 21st century, which during his tenure saw [1,000] lives lost, including 22 schoolchildren in Sandy Hook, leaving it to his successor to enact substantive gun control policy...&quot;