Obama to reverse Clinton's policy, increase number of licensed gun dealers - Two decades after President Bill Clinton drastically reduced the number of licensed firearms dealers in the US in order to tackle gun control, President Barack Obama is set to reverse Bill's strategy by increasing the number of licensed gun dealers.

The completely different strategies adopted by the two Democratic presidents shows how the politics of firearms has been transformed.

It is notable that Obama's gun agenda got blocked in Congress and it may prompt the president to announce executive actions imposing new gun regulations soon after the holidays. The president might approve a rule that would require dealers who exceed a certain number of gun sales each year to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and also check the background of buyers.

White House's action largely depends on the legal definition of those who are "engaged in the business" of buying and selling guns for profit as their livelihood. Current law doesn't set a total number of annual gun sales to qualify as a business, but Democratic lawmakers and gun control advocacy groups have urged the government to issue the rule as a way to close the "gun show loophole" that allows firearms to be sold without background checks.

Federally licensed gun dealers are required to perform background checks on all gun sales, and only people "engaged in the business" of dealing in guns are required to get ATF licenses.

During the Clinton administration, the laws such as the Brady Law and the Violent Crime Control Act of 1994, changed the licensing procedures for federal firearms licensees by increasing fees and requiring gun dealers to submit photographs and fingerprints as part of their applications.