Saying Congress is being held hostage by gun rights groups, President Barack Obama has unveiled a 10-point plan he says will help keep guns from those who shouldn’t have them. One goal is to plug loopholes that allow purchases of firearms at gun shows and online without background checks. The effort is being widely condemned by GOP lawmakers and Republican presidential candidates.

GOP lawmakers from Missouri and Kansas, along with congressional leaders, responded with claims that the president had overstepped his constitutional authority and wanted to erode Second Amendment rights.

As you might expect, Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt objects to the Presidents plans.

“There seem to be no limits to how far this president will go to overstep the Constitutional limits of his power,” Blunt said in a statement. “His latest target is the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.”

Blunt says the President should use this opportunity to get to the root cause of many violent incidents and join efforts to improve and expand access to mental health care. Blunt urges the president to reconsider any attempt to roll back Constitutional rights unilaterally.

Obama said on Tuesday that he hoped to add $500 million for the expansion of mental health treatment across the United States.

“For those in Congress who so often rush to blame mental illness for mass shootings as a way of avoiding action on guns, here’s your chance to support these efforts. Put your money where your mouth is,” the president said.

North Missouri Congressman Sam Graves, a Tarkio Republican, criticized the president’s actions in the Congressman’s weekly newsletter.

“Expanding background checks isn’t going to stop radical Islamic terrorism,” Graves said.

“And, as we’ve seen too many times across this country, strengthening gun laws in public spaces only leaves good people vulnerable and unarmed.”

Kansas 2nd District Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins said in a statement Tuesday that the president had used “more unilateral executive actions” to stifle the guarantees of lawful gun owners.

“Growing up in rural Kansas, I understand firsthand that responsibly exercising our Second Amendment rights is an integral part of our history and traditions,” the GOP representative said. “I will continue to fight against any attempts by President Obama to restrict our constitutional rights.”