In case you missed it, President Obama and Vice President Biden introduced their plan today to help curb gun violence. Watch as the President discussed the legislative and executive actions needed to close background check loopholes, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
His plan included signing an Executive Order on 23 issues relating to guns.
Today, the President has announced that he and the administration will:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper
training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday warned Republicans against refusing to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, calling such talk “irresponsible” and “absurd” and saying it would set off an economic crisis and financial hardship.
“They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy,” Mr. Obama said during his final news conference of his first term in office. “The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip.”
The president repeated his vow to seek what he called a “balanced” approach to reduce the nation’s deficit during the months ahead. But he said he would not negotiate on the debt ceiling, and he said Republicans in Congress would be responsible for the effects of a refusal to raise it.
“It would be a self-inflicted wound on the economy,” Mr. Obama said. “It would slow down our growth and tip us into recession. To even entertain the idea of this happening is irresponsible. It’s absurd.”
He added: “America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they’ve already racked up.”
h/t New York Times
Following his meeting with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama used his weekly address to update the American people on how we will end the war in Afghanistan, and how our goal of ensuring that al Qaeda never again uses Afghanistan to launch attacks against America is within reach. The war will be over by the end of next year, and we must now focus on the task of rebuilding America, strengthening our economy, and supporting our brave troops and veterans, and the President is confident we can meet these challenges by working together as a nation.
James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee company that trains people in weapon and tactical skills, claimed in a video posted on YouTube and Facebook that he would “start killing people” if President Barack Obama decides to take executive action to pass further gun control policies, Raw Story reports.
In a frenetic address to the camera, Yeager puts a call out to other gun rights advocates to “load your damn mags” and “get ready to fight” in what he claims will turn into a “civil war” if gun control measures in the country get any stricter.
President Obama used his weekly address to talk about the bipartisan agreement between Democrats and Republicans that averted the “fiscal cliff.” He thanked both sides for working together and putting the American people first.
The President also warned that not working together on future problems – like the upcoming debt ceiling – could lead to catastrophic outcome not only for the United States economy, but for the worldwide economy as well.
And as I said earlier this week, one thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up. If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic. The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it. Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again.
Despite a bruising fiscal cliff battle that managed to set the stage for an even more heated showdown that will likely take place in a matter of months, President Barack Obama is planning to move full steam ahead with the rest of his domestic policy agenda.
An Obama administration official said the president plans to push for immigration reform this January. The official, who spoke about legislative plans only on condition of anonymity, said that coming standoffs over deficit reduction are unlikely to drain momentum from other priorities. The White House plans to push forward quickly, not just on immigration reform but gun control laws as well.
The timeframe is likely to be cheered by Democrats and immigration reform advocates alike, who have privately expressed fears that Obama’s second term will be drowned out in seemingly unending showdowns between parties. The just-completed fiscal cliff deal is giving way to a two-month deadline to resolve delayed sequestration cuts, an expiring continuing resolution to fund the government and a debt ceiling that will soon be hit.
h/t Huffington Post
President Obama met with reporters today after his much anticipated Fiscal Cliff meeting with Congressional leaders. And based on the President’s tone, a deal is still far from complete. “I still want to get this done,” the President said, signaling that talks were still ongoing between the party leaders. “The hour for immediate action is here. It is now.”
The president showed a tone of frustration rarely seen, and pointed out to those in Congress that the American people are watching. “This is deja vu all over again,” he said. ” America wonders why it is that in this town for some reason, you can’t get stuff done in an organized timetable.”
Watched the video below.
“One of the challenges, of course, is people see this happening; they realize that the president has not been negotiating at all over the past three months,” Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “We learned days and weeks and months afterwards that they had non-meetings where this is going on.”
Imagine that! This is the same Grover Norquist who authored the “No Tax” pledge that just about all Republicans in Congress have signed. The Norquist Pledge, as it’s called, forces Republicans to avoid any negotiations that have to do with raising taxes on anyone, especially those making tons more than they need. This is the same Norquist who is now accusing the President of not negotiating.
He created a pledge guaranteeing that no negotiations are done, then he accuses the President of not negotiating. These Republicans are all jokers. There is no other conclusion one can make.
President Obama met with the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting today, and broke some news during his speech telling the audience that it was time for the nation to come together and do what was necessary to protect our children.
The President hinted that there will be new legislation in the coming months geared towards guns. “This is our first task,” Mr. Obama said, “caring for our children. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how as a society we would be judge.”
The President goes on to say that “we’re not doing enough” to stop gun violence, “and we would have to change.”
And in his most direct sentence signaling change, the president said, “in the coming weeks I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort to prevent more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have?”
Watch the President’s full speech below.
In this week’s presidential address, President Obama spoke about the tragedy in Newtown Connecticut and insist that politicians and the nation must come together to take “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies” in the future.
We have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years. An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia.
Any of these neighborhoods could be our own. So we have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics.
Transcript:
This afternoon I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel (for ?) their families.
We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time I learn the news, I react the not as a president but as anybody would, as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. (Pause.) They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. (Pause.)
Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.
So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.
Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for, as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.
As a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown or a shopping mall in Oregon or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago. These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children, and we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.
This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now.
In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or a loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.
May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.
