A few days ago, word surfaced that President Obama was considering executive actions on gun control. There was nothing concrete, but the rumors were alive and well. Now, on the first day of 2016, the president himself is making it known that he will act on what he calls, “unfinished business,” more specifically, enforcing real background checks on gun purchases.
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People close to the President Obama’s administration say that in the coming days, the president will take Executive Actions on guns, more specifically, on a proposal that is extremely popular with the American people – better background checks on gun purchases.
Described as “imminent,” the set of executive actions would fulfill a promise by the President to take further unilateral steps the White House says could help curb gun deaths.
Planning for the action are not yet complete, and those familiar with the process warn that unforeseen circumstances could delay an announcement. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama’s annual State of the Union address, set for January 12.
The White House wouldn’t comment directly on the exact timing or content of Obama’s executive orders. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that the President expected a set of recommendations on unilateral action to arrive at the beginning of the year.
He said Obama was “expressing urgency” for a list of steps he can take on his own after high-profile incidents of gun violence at the end of this year.
“It is complicated. That’s why it’s taken some time for our policy folks, our lawyers, and our expects to work through this and see what’s possible,” Schultz said.
On the eve of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords is challenging Washington leaders not to ignore gun violence.
The former Democratic congresswoman is featured in a new television ad set to air immediately before and after the president’s speech. In the ad, Giffords faces the camera and says, “Congress is afraid of the gun lobby.”
“Tell Washington it’s too dangerous to wait,” she says in a slightly slurred voice.
Giffords, 43, is still recovering from a brain injury suffered in 2011 when a mentally ill man shot her in the head as she met with constituents outside an Arizona shopping center. Six people were killed in the attack.
On the last leg of their Gun Control Tour and getting the message out for stricter gun regulations, Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband, former Astronaut, Mark Kelly were in Raleigh, NC Sunday.
After the couple had visited a shooting range, they sat down for lunch at The Pit Authentic Barbecue in downtown Raleigh with 14 hand-picked members of the organization she and her husband founded that promotes gun violence prevention called, “Americans for Responsible Solutions”. All are gun owners and are lobbying for expanded background checks. The group is attempting to drum up support at the ‘combat boot’ level by visiting key states that had voted Against background check legislation.
“Gabby and I are both gun owners. I’ve served in the military for 25 years,” Kelly said. “We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment.”
But Second Amendment protections shouldn’t stand in the way of common-sense gun controls, he said.
Kelly stated that they’re not fighting for stricter regulations because His wife was shot, but because of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Ct. which took the lives of 20 children and 6 staff members.
“In six months since Newtown, our national response has been to do nothing,” Kelly said. “It’s unacceptable.”
“We need to do a better job keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, the dangerously mentally ill, the way we do that is we expand background checks to gun shows, private sales and internet sales,” he said.
Of course, pro-gun rights critics were quick to oppose the visit. A group known as, “Grass Roots North Carolina”, criticized the couple for sitting down only with members of their organization rather than reaching out to All gun owners as a whole.
“They own guns, but I don’t believe they represent the majority of gun owners,” said Rick Foster. “I sympathize with (Giffords), but I believe her efforts are misdirected. She’s the victim of someone mentally deranged. Her efforts ought to be focused on helping to improve the mental health system.”
“Why are they hiding from the gun owners they claim to represent?” the group said in a statement Friday.
It should be added as a footnote that the group offered 100 rounds of free ammo to the first person to track down where Giffords would be. Yes, you read it correctly. “Track Down” is how it was reported. (And they wonder why Gabby and Mark didn’t divulge their meeting location).
I Pray for Success to the Gifford-Kelly campaign of Awareness and Change for this Serious and Important regulation to bring about stricter Gun Laws with a No-Brainer approach to background checks.
Too Much Gun Violence. Too Many Deaths. Too Much Talk. “Fight, fight, fight, be bold, be courageous, the nation is counting on you,” Giffords told the crowd. The Time Is NOW Washington!
The NRA is at it again. After Kelly Ayotte voted against background checks, her poll numbers plummeted by 15 points. But have no fear, the NRA is here. Doing what they do best, the NRA made an ad that straight out lie, telling voters that Kelly is for background checks.
Talking Points made this observation:
The ad’s core claim is that “Kelly Ayotte voted for a bipartisan plan to make background checks more effective.” In reality, Ayotte opposed the bipartisan background checks plan co-sponsored by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). What she voted for instead was a plan by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would actually weaken gun laws by making it easier to buy and transport guns across state lines. Gun sales in states with lax gun laws are a common method of evading strict state and local laws, and are a major driver of gun violence in cities such as Chicago. So the proposal Ayotte supported could make gun violence worse.
Here’s the Ad.
President Barack Obama, moving swiftly after the Senate rejected a measure to expand background checks for gun buyers, acted on Friday to patch holes in the existing database dealers use to ensure they are not selling weapons to criminals or the mentally ill.
The Health and Human Services Department will issue a formal proposal on Friday to make sure one of its privacy laws does not prevent states from reporting information to the background check system.
“While this background check system is the most efficient and effective way to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, it is only as effective as the information that is available to it,” an administration official said.
Obama was visibly frustrated after the Senate on Wednesday defeated a bill that would have expanded background checks for guns bought at gun shows and on the Internet.
“Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities,” Obama said on Wednesday.
“We’re going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system,” he said. The idea was part of a series of executive actions Obama first announced in January.
h/t Reuters
Yes, 90% of Americans wanted at least a background check done whenever someone buys a gun. No, Americans did not get what they wanted today, as Republicans joined hand in hand and voted against that most basic idea.
And, these so-called Democrats joined the Republicans in defeating background checks.
Moments after Republicans succeeded in thwarting the will of 90% of Americans by defeating background checks, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and his team couldn’t contain themselves. As Democratic leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats consoled members of Newtown families that lost a loved one in Sandy Hook, this caption and picture appeared on McConnell’s Facebook page.
Got’cha again!
While the nation was busy mourning the devastation that happened in Boston on Monday, Republicans in the Senate, supported by a few Democrats managed to slowly and willfully kill background checks. Apparently what happened in Newtown Connecticut was not enough for these heartless Senators to support a bill that will guarantee making sure gun purchasers are sane enough to buy a gun.
The vote on the amendment was 54 to 46. Sixty votes were needed for the amendment to be adopted.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein pushes for an assault weapons ban in the U.S. while speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday.
The deal was the result of a deal struck between Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
As the bill was defeated, a voice in the Senate gallery could be heard yelling “Shame on you!”
The Manchin-Toomey amendment would have extended existing background check rules to gun sales made online and at gun shows. It was vehemently opposed by the National Rifle Association, who said it infringed on the rights of gun owners.
Thursday, 16 Republican senators voted to move forward with debate on gun control legislation. Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman’s response: hang them.
Smitherman, a Republican who oversees the state’s oil and gas industry (the name is a bit of an anachronism) retweeted an image listing all 16 GOP senators, along with an image of a noose with “treason” on top of it.
Smitherman still has a long way to go if he wants to claim the biggest overreaction to gun control legislation. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) alleged that national firearms databases could lead to “evil consequences”—such as genocide.
Update: The image has been taken down, but here it is:
h/t Mother Jones
Larry Pratt, an advocate for the Gun Industry and Director of Gun Owners of America went on Fox News Sunday today and shot down the idea that background checks would result in less mass murders. Pratt also embraced the NRA’s suggestion that everyone should have a gun, when he said that gun-free zones are not the solution because it tells people with bad intent where to attack.
“I think it’s false security that somehow we’re going to stop problems, when there’s really no way to spot these problems,” Pratt said. “Some of the most horrendous mass murders that have happened recently — including the one in Newtown — would not have been stopped by a background check.”
“We’re wasting our time going in that direction when we should be talking about doing away with the gun-free zones, which have been so convenient and such a magnate to those who would come and slaughter lots of people knowing that there’s going to be nobody that’s legally able to defend themselves in these zones.”
“In fact, background checks wouldn’t have stopped most of these mass murders that have occurred… We got to face the reality that we’ve got to empower average people, including teachers and other people in schools to be able to defend themselves.”
This is not the first time Pratt has made these claims. He embraced the NRA’s favorite Congressman Rep Steve Stockman, who introduced a bill to repeal the gun free zone around schools. Stockman, representing Houston, is considered one of the most vocal gun advocates in Congress. In promoting his Safe School Act to end gun free zones, Stockman said;
“Not only have so-called ‘gun-free school zones’ proven to be anything but that, they appear to have placed our children in even greater danger. Co-sponsoring the Safe School Act is the first step toward protecting our children.”
“The time has come to end the deadly experiment of disarming peaceable, law-abiding citizens near schools.”
Yes, you cannot completely stop mass shootings but sensible gun laws including background checks and regulations on the size of a clip can make a difference. New York has some of the strongest gun control laws in the nation, but the last mass shooting in this state occurred in 1993, twenty years ago, when 35 year old Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island Commuter train and opened fire. He fired 30 rounds, six people died and nineteen were injured.
Gun lovers would say if everyone on that train had a gun, Ferguson would not have killed so many people. That argument in itself makes no sense. One man fired 30 times in a crowded commuter train and killed six people. Imagine how many more would have died if everyone in that car had a gun and started shooting.
