Obama Announces Gun Violence Task Force, Presses For Policy Changes After Shooting

[spookyturtle 9,465]

WASHINGTON -- Spurred by a horrific elementary school shooting, President Barack Obama vowed to send Congress new policy proposals for reducing gun violence by January.

"This time, the words need to lead to action," Obama said Wednesday. He tasked Vice President Joe Biden with leading an administration-wide effort to create the new recommendations and pledged to push for their implementation without delay.

The president, who exerted little political capital on gun control despite a series of mass shootings in his first term, bristled at suggestions that he had been silent on the issue during his first four years in office. But he acknowledged that Friday's deadly shooting had been "a wake-up call for all of us."

Twenty children and six adults were killed when a man carrying a military-style rifle stormed Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Friday morning.

The president also called on Congress Wednesday to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 and to pass legislation that would close the gun show "loophole," which allows people to purchase firearms from private dealers without a background check. Obama also said he wanted Congress to pursue the possibility of limiting high-capacity ammunition clips.

"The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing," Obama said. "The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence."

The president's announcement Wednesday underscores the urgency the White House sees in formulating a response to the Newtown shooting. The massacre has prompted several congressional gun rights supporters to consider new legislation to control firearms, and there is some concern that their willingness to engage could fade as the shock and sorrow over the Newtown shooting eases.

Obama said it was "encouraging" to see people of different backgrounds and political affiliations coming to an understanding that the country has an obligation to prevent such violence.

Appealing to gun owners, Obama said he believes in the Second Amendment and the country's strong tradition of gun ownership. And he said "the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible."

"I am also betting that the majority, the vast majority, of responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war," Obama said.

Obama also tasked the Biden-led team with considering ways to improve mental health resources and address ways to create a culture that doesn't promote violence. The departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, along with outside groups and lawmakers, will all be part of the process.

Biden's prominent role in the process could be an asset for the White House in getting gun legislation through Congress. The vice president spent decades in the Senate and has been called on by Obama before to use his long-standing relationships with lawmakers to build support for White House measures.

The president challenged the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun lobby and key backer of many Republican politicians, to join the broader effort to reduce gun violence as well.

"Hopefully they'll do some self-reflection," Obama said of the NRA.

The NRA made its first comments since the shooting on Tuesday, promising to offer "meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

Obama said that while taking the necessary steps to reduce gun violence would take commitment and compromise, he said it could be achieved if Washington summons "even one tiny iota of the courage of those teachers, that principal in Newtown summoned on Friday."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/obama-gun-violence-task-force_n_2331238.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing7%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D247755

Also NBC News: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/19/16020864-obama-demands-concrete-proposals-on-gun-violence-by-january

Edited December 19, 2012 by spookyturtle

[slim 1,514]

Can Obama show proof of the success of the last AWB?

[Darnell 8,478]

Obama also tasked the Biden-led team with considering ways to improve mental health resources and address ways to create a culture that doesn't promote violence. The departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, along with outside groups and lawmakers, will all be part of the process.

Oh my - will Biden's team be passing out xanax-laden gummy bears? That'll be sweet !

[Harsh_77 716]

Can Obama show proof of the success of the last AWB?

Nope and he does not care about it, his family is protected by armed guards and he is surrounded by armed guards.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Gun nuts are starting to panic. Good.

[himher 634]

Panic? LOL...

http://www.policymic.com/articles/21023/adam-lanza-shooting-causes-gun-sales-to-skyrocket

I think they are just cracking open their wallets. It was reported a couple of years ago that Obama was the best thing the gun industry has ever seen in terms of gun sales.

I think that the number of hunters in Texas alone now outnumber the world's largest standing army. 2.6 million. Do you know how many hunting fatalities were reported in 2011 from this number larger than the largest standing army in the world? (2). Only 2

Extrapolated across the country: Do you really believe that 43,000,000 people will panic over the idle words of a couple of washington pu$$ies and their limp wristed pu$$y supporters? If so, then you are deluded

Edited December 20, 2012 by himher

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-promises-gun-control-action-early-next-001304772--finance.html

Obama promises gun control action early next year

By Mark Felsenthal | Reuters – 16 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed to press for tighter gun laws early next year, as he sought to turn national outrage over the Connecticut school massacre into action to ban assault weapons and ensure better background checks on gun buyers.

Obama held a White House news conference on Wednesday to announce that Vice President Joe Biden will lead an interagency effort to craft new gun policies. The group is expected to offer its proposals in January.

"We know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides," Obama said. "But the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing."

Biden and other cabinet members planned to meet with law enforcement leaders from across the country to discuss policy ideas on Thursday, a White House official said.

Obama said he believed most Americans support the reinstatement of a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, barring the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips and a law requiring background checks on buyers before all gun purchases, to stop sales at gun shows without such checks.

Saying gun control cannot be the only solution to the problem, Obama also expressed support for making it easier for Americans to get access to mental health care - "at least as easy as access to a gun."

Obama urged Congress to quickly pass new measures next year.

The killing of 20 young children and six adults at a elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, last Friday has even shifted pro-gun advocates away from long-held views in a way that previous mass shootings have not.

Friday's massacre by a 20-year-old man was the fourth shooting rampage to claim multiple lives in the United States this year.

Under pressure from fellow Democrats, Obama insisted the guns issue would not be ignored this time.

But changing the rules will be difficult.

Most Republicans remain staunchly opposed to tighter gun laws, particularly in the House of Representatives, where the party holds a majority. Robert Goodlatte, a Virginia congressman who will be chairman of the House Judiciary committee next year, said flatly in Roll Call this week he opposed gun control.

With Biden at his side, Obama said the group would give him proposals he could outline in his State of the Union speech in late January. Cabinet members involved include Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

"This is not some Washington commission. This is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now," Obama said.

Obama has tapped Biden to lead other high-profile initiatives, including efforts on a deficit-reduction compromise with congressional Republicans in 2011.

WAKE-UP CALL

There have been loud public calls for the president and Congress to act. Nearly 200,000 people signed an online petition demanding that Obama address gun violence. Members of Congress said they had been besieged with messages from constituents.

Obama has done little to rein in America's gun culture in his four years in office. His administration has expanded gun rights by permitting the carrying of firearms in national parks.

Asked why he has been a no-show on the subject until now, Obama defended himself, saying he has been dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I don't think I've been on vacation," he said. The Newtown massacre, he said, "should be a wake-up call for all of us."

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence had given Obama a failing "F" grade for his record, but praised him on Wednesday. "The urgency with which the president is taking this issue on is a tremendous step forward," Dan Gross, the group's president, said in a statement.

Obama nodded toward Americans who see the Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms as sacrosanct.

"What we're looking for here is a thoughtful approach that says we can preserve our Second Amendment, we can make sure that responsible gun owners are able to carry out their activities, but that we're gonna actually be serious about the safety side of this," Obama said.

Some previously adamant opponents of increased gun control have expressed a willingness to discuss reforms.

Even the powerful National Rifle Association, the lobby that has sought time and again to stymie gun legislation, said this week it would be prepared to offer meaningful contributions to ensure there is no repeat of Newtown.

The NRA is holding a press conference on Friday on the issue.

WEAPONS VS MENTAL HEALTH

Democrats have been pushing to take advantage of what some called a tipping point on the gun debate. They promised to introduce a ban on assault weapons early next year and called on House Republican leaders to vote this week on a bill to ban the high-capacity clips.

Republicans have talked more about the mental health of the Connecticut shooter. Some Congressional Republicans said it is a time for a serious discussion of gun violence, but only one, U.S. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who lost his re-election bid, has come out in favor of an assault weapons ban.

Brown told The Republican/Masslive.com website in an interview he now supports a federal assault weapons ban, saying the Newtown shootings had changed his position. The moderate Republican had previously said he felt banning such weapons was an issue best left to states.

U.S. Representative Ron Barber, who was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that targeted his predecessor, Gabrielle Giffords, welcomed the legislative effort and echoed other Democratic lawmakers' calls to ban military-grade guns.

"We cannot go on blithely believing that we can solve this problem in other ways. We have to look at the weaponry used and we have to look at the people who use it and we have to do something about both," Barber said at a news conference at the Capitol.

[Captain Oates 910]

[Harsh_77 716]

Gun nuts are starting to panic. Good.

If you are not panicking you are one more to the stats who do not care about the rights and liberties.

Lot of your liberties have already been taken away under one or another pretext and now under the pretext of mass shooting your right to own a gun would be impacted.

Eventually even your right to express yourself against the ruling govt would be taken away too.

I knw your standard response but go and look at world history and history repeats itself.

[Harsh_77 716]

checkout wiki US is #10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

Heres another link which shows US is not the top even with high number of guns and gun owners.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list

Edited December 20, 2012 by Harsh_77

[JohnR! 5,495]

Do you really believe that 43,000,000 people will panic over the idle words of a couple of washington pu$ies and their limp wristed pu$y supporters? If so, then you are deluded

You should have been here the day after the election... The pu$ies of whom you speak were going crazy stocking up on guns - as pu$ies do, for they can only be brave with a weapon on their hands - and ammo and promoting ideas of secession and guerrilla warfare and floating the idea of overthrowing a democratic elected government.

I would not underestimate the power of the RWNJ pu$ies, of whom you speak. They panic easily....

Edited December 20, 2012 by Gegel

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

You should have been here the day after the election... The pu$ies of whom you speak were going crazy stocking up on guns - as pu$ies do, for they can only be brave with a weapon on their hands - and ammo and promoting ideas of secession and guerrilla warfare and floating the idea of overthrowing a democratic elected government.

I would not underestimate the power of the RWNJ pu$ies, of whom you speak. They panic easily....

Funny that seeing how a large amount of those people you choose to call puss*es are the same people who served this country so others could enjoy the freedoms and democracy they have now.

That post of yours is just one more example of foot in mouth.

[Captain Oates 910]

Funny that seeing how a large amount of those people you choose to call puss*es are the same people who served this country so others could enjoy the freedoms and democracy they have now.

That post of yours is just one more example of foot in mouth.

From those imperialistic Vietnamese ! We conquered them so we could be free. oh wait...they won ?

This older generation of gun nuts are the ones who set dogs on black people and beat them with sticks

Saints they were not

It is a twisted culture and needs to be pushed towards modernity

It happened when gays were no longer jailed or thrown out of the army

It happened when drink drive became unacceptable

Cultures can be changed

The gun culture can be changed

Edited December 20, 2012 by Captain Oates

[JohnR! 5,495]

those people you choose to call puss*es ...

Alas, I was only responding to another post, not calling anyone anything. You need to address your grievance to the poster to whom I was responding.

[Teddy B 17,251]

Funny that seeing how a large amount of those people you choose to call puss*es are the same people who served this country so others could enjoy the freedoms and democracy they have now.

That post of yours is just one more example of foot in mouth.

Funny how some believe that serving in the military gives them the right to special treatment. Serving in the military is a job, if you weren't drafted, then you chose that career path. I come from a long line of military veterans, some were drafted, some volunteered, and I also have a large amount of family members who are police veterans or currently active on the force, not once has anyone of them ever touted their service. They would be ashamed as men to do so.

A good amount of people I know chose the military career path because they were complete ** ups in civilian life and no one else would take them. Whatever your choice was, be a man about it and stop waving the US flag around as if you're the first one to ever hoist it.