Reagan AG Ed Meese says Obama could be impeached over guns

Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese has joined the growing chorus of right-wing voices calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama if his administration takes any steps toward increasing gun control. According to Talking Points Memo, the former Reagan official said in an interview with Newsmax on Monday night that if Obama were "to try to override the Second Amendment in any way," Congress would be forced to consider impeachment.

“It would be up to the Congress to take action, such as looking in to it to see if, in fact, he has really tried to override the Constitution itself,” he said. "In which case, it would be up to them to determine what action they should take — and perhaps even to the point of impeachment.”

Meese said that under the separation of powers, the president can only take executive action on those areas of the government that are under direct control of the executive branch. He conceded, however, that Obama could take action through certain government agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

“But to impose burdens or regulations that affect society generally, he would have to have Congressional authorization,” he said.

Meese resigned abruptly in 1988 when Reagan aides were implicated in the Wedtech scandal, an influence-peddling probe that exposed corruption at the highest levels of the Reagan administration. Although he was cleared of specific wrongdoing, Meese tendered his resignation only hours after the grand jury delivered its report on the investigation, ending what an editorial in the Tampa Sun-Sentinel called "one of the least distinguished chapters in Justice Department history."

Other conservatives who have called for Obama's impeachment over possible federal gun safety measures include freshman congressman Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), who said that the White House's promise to stem gun violence smacks of "tyranny" and risks turning the U.S. into "a dictatorship."

Watch video of the NewsMax interview, embedded below, via TPM: