Republican proposes defunding the Department of Justice to block Obama's executive order on guns

President Barack Obama
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) has a plan to block President Obama's executive order on guns: Defund the Department of Justice.

"I have formally notified Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch that I will aggressively protect our Second Amendment rights using Congress' power of the purse," Culberson wrote in a letter to Lynch. He explained that "if the Department of Justice attempted to create new restrictions on our Constitutional rights," he would "use every tool at [his] disposal to immediately restrict their access to federal funding." Culberson serves as the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee, overseeing the Justice Department.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.