BABY STEPS: Obama’s announcement broken down

Barack Obama’s plans to tighten gun control are only a baby step towards meaningful change, a US politics expert told 3AW Drive.

The US president wiped away tears during a passionate speech in which he laid out executive action he is taking to require more gun sellers to get licenses and more gun buyers to undergo background checks.

But David Smith, a lecturer in American politics and foreign policy at the University of Sydney, told Nick McCallum it was ‘a really a small advance’.

‘It’s a very watered down legislation they tried to get through a couple of years ago,’ he said.

‘Obama would like to do more than this, but he can’t … so he’s just doing what he can.’

Click play to hear David Smith break it down on 3AW Drive