Obama’s executive orders on guns may be more suggestions than policy but we shouldn’t discount the power of executive pressure on state policy making.

President Obama’s recent actions on gun control illustrate just how limited such measures are, despite Republican accusations of ‘executive overreach’. Using the example of gun laws enacted to address domestic violence, Sierra Smucker argues that despite these limitations, the federal attention that such executive directions bring can push states to develop their own legislation to address problems such as gun violence.