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President Barack Obama empaneled a new task force led by Vice President Joe Biden to develop comprehensive proposals to address gun violence no later than next month.
In the wake of last week's shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the president announced a new initiative that would include members of his cabinet and outside organizations to generate proposals to rein in gun violence. He said that any effort should include new restrictions on guns, but also improved access to mental health services and better management of violence in popular culture.
Obama vowed that the new task force would not be just another Washington commission, shorthand for the groups sometimes tasked with studying an issue or event but which often delay or dilute solutions long past the time when the original impetus for such a panel has passed.
President Obama announced Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden will be developing proposals to curb gun violence, some of which may include banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity gun clips or magazines. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Obama said he had asked Biden "to lead an effort that includes members of my cabinet and outside organizations to come up with a set of concrete proposals, no later than January," which the president would then push "without delay."
"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," the president said. "This is a team that has a very specific task: to pull together real reforms, right now."
Obama expressed support -- restating the position of his press secretary, Jay Carney -- for certain gun measures, including the assault weapons ban, limits on ammunition and closing a loophole allowing gun buyers to elude background checks at gun shows. But he stressed that those were only components of a broader effort to address violence.
The president suggested that stakeholders in those deliberations could possibly include the National Rifle Association -- the gun rights group that had gone silent in the wake of the Newtown shooting, but will hold a press conference on Friday. The president argued that mothers and fathers who compose the NRA's membership had also been impacted by the Newtown shooting.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden arrive at an announcement on gun reform in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House December 19, 2012 in Washington, DC.
"Their task is going to be to sift through every good idea that's out there, and even take a look at some bad ideas before disposing of them," Obama said of the task force's efforts.
Already, Democrats on Capitol Hill have started to initiate some gun control efforts in the aftermath of Newtown. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Wednesday for Republicans to bring up a vote on high-capacity ammunition magazines by this weekend. And West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D, introduced legislation to study the impact of violent video games on children.
Additionally, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she'll bring up a bill to reinstate the lapsed ban on assault weapons of the first day of the next Congress.
Few Republicans have stepped forward to embrace any of these gun measures, though, and have focused instead on the need for improved mental health services, or school safety.
Obama said his task force's proposals would make up part of his State of the Union address, and he expressed hope that the searing images from last week's shooting in Connecticut would last in the public conscious and help advance his eventual proposals.
"I would hope that our memories aren't so short that what we saw in Newtown isn't lingering with us -- that we don't remain passionate about it, only a month later," he said.
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Now for the rest of us,you know,with an IQnover 85, time to update the second amendment
Ride to Pretend, Pretend to Ride.
So I have scanned across 76 pages worth of Teabillys pissing their pants because they are are either too damn stupid or too damn young to even realize that what Obama is proposing.
Sensible gun control was even advocated by Reagan. Then again, Reagan could not have won the nomination of Repukes this last cycle because he wasn't far enough right.
NO ONE IS TRYING TO TAKE YOUR LEGAL AND REASONABLE @!$%#ING GUNS!!!
Sane people are trying to stop this country from becoming a war zone. Go hunt. Go target shoot. All good.
But if you take the life of one of my family members in the name of the 2nd amendment, I promise you, I will then hunt you to the ends of Earth and let the buzzards eat your eyeballs.
Having the right to free speech does not allow you to yell "FIRE!!" in a crowded theater. Having the right to bear arms does not allow you own a tank. Common sense is all us "libtards" want.
OneOfTheSane - you really should not threaten law enforcement like that.
Newsweek has reported that law-abiding American citizens using guns in self-defense during 2003 shot and killed two and one-half times as many criminals as police did, and with fewer than one-fifth as many incidents as police where an innocent person mistakenly identified as a criminal (2% versus 11%).
Tanks now OMG Extremes again.
Well yes someone is trying to take our guns. Check with the Brady gun contol bunch. And ask Hillary about it too while your at it. Both have said they want all guns banned. There are more besides them also. I seriously doubt that any of the millions of law abiding gun owners would want to take the life of one of your family members or anyones life for that matter ,in the name of the second amendment (what ever that is suppose to mean) or otherwise. You want common sense yet you don't educate yourself about the facts. And who ever said they want a tank?
Dennis... the only ones I threaten are morons like you. I threaten your slim grasp of reality and am happy to do so.
Why is it you and your ilk cannot logically reason things? Drugs? Mom or dad shook you as a baby? Nope, even folks with those issues will actually debate, but you? Just resort to insults and name calling. A proud product of the NEA aren't you?
@One
You're wrong about tanks. The largest private tank collection in the U.S. is owned by a millionaire. I saw a program about it on the military channel too. It is the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation & was started by Mr. Jacques Littlefield,
Just go to their website if you want. www.mvtf.org (sorry but this site won't allow me to post a link yet).
@Sane,
Me and those who believe as I do have no wish or desire to threaten yoo or your family, nor do we intend to take your life or theirs....UNLESS you cross our thresholds and represent a threat to us or our families.
If you don't want to own a firearm, that is your right. Those of us who do have such a right, and you nor the government has the power to infringe upon it UNTIL the Constitution is changed (and don't hold your breath, it isn't changing any time soon).
So be a good advisor to your family and teach them to respect other people, other people's property and the sanctity of human life and we won't have any issues.
Good luck in your choices and how you exercise your freedoms. You have NO RIGHT to take away my choices or how I exercise my freedoms.
Obviously, my sarcasm regarding tanks and true point went WAY over your heads. Not surprised... most things go over the heads on the right.
While I believe abortion is murder, I realize that banning it wont and never did stop them, just like pot. I forget how many millions we now have in prison. I think more than China. Also this kid could not have bought a gun, its pretty easy to make home made bomb. However, its not hard and never will be to get most any gun you want. The gangs in nearly all cities are well armed with machine guns and with open borders, gangs are steadily growing in numbers. I know it feels good to think you can restrict guns but it will not take guns from criminals, just like bombing Iraq did nothing about 911
Liberals watch too much of that guy Rachal Maddow or whatever his name is. Boy he need a haircut.
What Madow really needs is a muzzle to stop the falsehoods and half-truths and forced sterilization to prevent her defective genes from corrupting the gene pool!
To both of you... Rachael Maddow scares you because she is about 10 times smarter than you will ever be. And then of course there is that lesbian thing. lmao.
"Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound."
-- L. Neil Smith
Cops on scene BEFORE the shooting = 0
Cops on scene AFTER shooting = 10's if not 100's guns drawn and ready to fire.
Libs, do you want to end gun violence or just impose your agenda of gun control? You do realize these are two different topics right? Or are you just all sick and twisted and using the lives lost to pursue your personal agenda?
Most of you know nothing about firearms from the majority of posts I have read. Try educating yourselves before you jump on the "ban" wagon. Today it may be guns, but what will it be tomorrow? Maybe your abortions or your gay marriage on the table - oh my!
I guess you'll sit around and complain about how bad these nasty guns are while you sit around and smoke dope (illegal btw) and eat well-fare cheese and the rest of us working class go to work to pay your bills while you chip away at our liberties.
BTW - Have you taken the time to look at gun sales today! Obama, Diane and Nancy will be awarded salespeople of the year!!!!!!!
well said!!
You want to take a stand against valiance throw Obama and
the socialist left wing out and put some good conservatives in who will enforce
the laws, and not feel sorry for the crooks.
Hey libs...what was your argument against Voter ID Laws again?? ....I just want to see if you can stumble around your own hypocrisy......
If only we could take our political glasses off. If you net all the statistics of africans killing africans over stupid drugs and money our country would seem relatively safe. Where's the discussion about legalizing drugs and providing our underachieving youth some oppty for counselling toward advancement and oppty. Certainly no one better than our president could send that message but unfortunately it must be more convenient to to ignore then treat.
"When in doubt, whip it out."
-- Deputy Sheriff Theodore Anthony Nugent
Quoting Ted as a sane reference point is like quoting Charles Manson.
And BTW, to those unaware... Ted was made and honorary Deputy Sheriff by who other than my own demented, archaic and racist sheriff, Joe Arpaio.
It ain't easy being sane and living in Arizona. lol
I love how the gun grabbers keep calling pro gunners racist. It was the KKK that actually got the first gun grabbing passed. It was Bob Costas on CNN that said basically that pro athletes shouldnt be allowed to have guns cause they cant control their hormones and urges. and most are (NEWSFLASH) not Caucasian
Hope is gone
Yor,mother was a lib,boy
Did Obama stamp his whittle footsie and cry when he threw his whittle temper tantrum? Now be a good little boy and you can go play basketball with your friends after dinner...
I visited several local gun shops today, my gun hating friends, and let me tell you what those flaming demands for gun control have done. In all six stores the owners had SOLD OUT every AR 15 style weapon they had in stock and the AK style guns were selling as well. Ammunition was being restricted to 5 boxes of 20 each of the most popular types. One owner said he had been on the phone with distributers all day today trying and failing to find more guns. Your ill considered rants have stoked a fire and the gun sales are reaching new levels. Every time Obama, Biden, Feinstein, Bloomberg and the others open their mouths, it sets off panic buying. I am willing to bet by Friday evening the sales of all firearms will top 500,000 pumped into the public domain. Please continue your attacks and by 31 December 2012, sales will top 1 MILLION, congratulations.
Shootings you didn't hear about.
Pearl High School, 1997
Student
kills mother, drives to school and kills two students. Apprehended by armed principal five minutes before police arrived. No further casualties.
Parker Middle School, 1998
Student killed one teacher at graduation dance at nearby restaurant. Apprehended by armed restaurant owner 11 minutes before police arrived. No further casualtie
s.
Appalachian School of Law, 2002
Student kills two teachers and one student. Apprehended by two armed students before police arrived. No further casualties.
New Life Church, 2007
Gunman killed two people. Armed church member shot and wounded gunman, who then fatally shot himself. No further casualties.
Trolley Square Shopping Mall, 2007
Gunman killed five people. Cornered by armed mall patron until police arrived and shot gunman dead. No further casualties.
Destiny Christian Center, 2012
Gunman killed one person. Armed church member shot and killed gunman. No further casualties.
Average number of people killed in mass shootings when stopped by police: 14.3 Average number of people killed in mass shootings when stopped by a civilian: 2.3.
http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2012/12/concealed-carry-people-stopping-crime.html
Try some concealed carry stopping crime you did not hear about.
Post a credible link... and you might be taken seriously...
Has Barack Hussein blamed President Bush for this yet?
I believe he is cutting some slack due to senior being ill and all !
It was Bush, who let assault weapons ban expire. I guess he was too busy wasting lives of US soldiers attacking Iraq for no good reason. You are right, Bush had his dirty hands in this one too...
While we are busy stripping away the countries rights. Perhaps we should ban media from reporting on mass killings for 96 hours so they can get the facts straight. Let us also mandate huge fines on any news media that mixes opinion of any kind as news. Unless the public is warned that it is an opinion not actual news the public might get confused. We should also mandate 2 year prison sentences for any reporter that while on air or exposed to the public in any way lies or fabricates one's story.
You've got my vote!
Lets ban media from reporting all shootings for good, this way nobody will know it happened and your guns would be safe.
Harley guy you must ride a bicycle! Next thing they will want your loud pipes LOL! You don't even get it. You can make rules all you want the the BAD guys will NOT follow them. They won't pay the taxes on the bullets they will steal them and they won't be without the drugs, the GUNS they will have them.
I will not turn mine in you can count on that. Oh, and that ID thing for voting you libs think about giving up that "right".....
Idiots.
I love these types, they would call the Station and complain about the speeders on the street, Then when they got stopped they complained. As soon as the Liberals feel they rights are trampled they whine like little babies.
Here's a concrete proposal. Why don't all the liberals resign from their positions in DC and lets replace them with someone who cares about the debt and deficit in stead of grandstanding on a tragedy.
I have better idea, how about all gopers move from DC to texas and have live competition shooting each other with AR-15's. This way country would be left in sane hands.
Maybe we should do more to secure our schools, gun control is not the answer. This was be bad thing but a new law on gun control will do nothing. We have a bigger problem with drunk drivers, how many childern are killed every day and we do nothing!! And our health care programs for the mental ill do nothing to help them.
yeah, great idea, lets turn our country into war zone. How about tanks on each intersection?
LMAOF!! Myth Romney, the multimillionaire is charging reporters $812 prtr meal? WTF No wonder he is fifthy rich
Seems like I remember PEBO dinners costing upwards of $45,000 per plate
The year 2012 was defined by the calculated re-emergence of Obama worship, no matter how obvious his failures in office. After his reelection, the actor Jamie Foxx let it all hang out in a tribute at the BET Awards on November 25: “First of all, give an honor to God and our lord and savior, Barack Obama!”
Read more: #ixzz2FYivQHqH
Did you notice that most of Obama's support has left ! Freeloaders are most likely gone to bed by now !
No, mom just made them turn off the computer.
nah, it is NRA paying trolls overtime to make impression majority of americans are crazy...
Most if not all in law enforcement would support an assault weapon ban. They are the experts on weapons with the best training. Of course Jethro NRA gun nut thinks he knows more then law enforcement and can handle a weapon better then law enforcement. He really needs that AK-47 for hunting possums of course. These NRA hicks lack common sense,reasoning and are truly paranoid scared little children. Many view their arsenal as their children. Reasoning with them is impossible. These paranoid freaks always think someones going to take away their guns. Keep believing that Jethro I know you will.
The police would support an "assault" weapons ban? LOL!
Of course they would...the police would love a Police State.
And apparently, so would you.
Well all of my coworkers don't feel that way, They know that even they had to turn their own guns in when the last ban took effect. They were pissed when the directive came down turn it in or get fired.
Seriously?
Here watch this as an FBI agent shoots himself in the foot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ain2by4Fums
@ Tony the military cook
The NRA only has 4 - 5 million members. There are 85+ million gun owners in this country. So most don't belong to/support the NRA.
Sorry FBI. Correction he's/was? a DEA agent. The only one in the room professional enough that he knows of to carry a Glock 40.
Wrong again..most law enforcement officers agree with private ownership of guns. Alot of them are NRA members. And once again, assult weapons are legal only for military, law enforcment and a very few people with lots of money in select states. In other words 99.99% of us law abiding gun owners.
Ever hear of these guys Tony? How about these? Yes? No?
You are so wrong Tony, I am a law enforcement officer, have been for 15 years now. None of my fellow officers want any kind of gun control. It will do just the opposite of what you think it it will.
The R.I.P. Victoria Soto Facebook page was posted on 12/10/2012 - yes, four days prior to her death. It has now been corrected to 12/16/2012. Google it, and see the evidence for yourself. What does this mean?
THINK!
This event was an "engineered" event, a public sacrifice of kids and adults for political purposes. Just like 9/11 was engineered to give us the beginnings of a Police State and endless war.
One more lunatic
K Martin
You,would be poor target practice,,,loser