Obama: Stronger gun regs would lower homicide rate
By Ben Kamisar
Increased gun control measures would go a long way toward cutting down on America’s homicide rate, President Obama said during a town-hall event on Friday.
“Our homicide rates are so much larger than other industrialized countries, by like a mile,” he said during a speech at Benedict College in South Carolina.
“Most of that is attributable to the easy, ready availability of firearms, particularly handguns.”
“Our homicide rates are so much larger than other industrialized countries, by like a mile,” he said during a speech at Benedict College in South Carolina.
“Most of that is attributable to the easy, ready availability of firearms, particularly handguns.”
Obama’s made a hard push for increasing gun control measures during his presidency, specifically toughening background checks and banning certain assault weapons. He tried to gin up congressional support for those policies after a man killed 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
But those measures stalled in the Senate.
"We couldn’t get it done at the congressional level, so what we’ve done is we’ve tried to do as much as we can administratively to implement background checks," he said.
Obama said that there are “a lot of law abiding, responsible gun owners” that use guns for protection, sport or as part of a tradition. But he added that upping background check requirements on gun purchasers is a policy that everyone should endorse.
“It is not violating anybody’s rights that if you want to purchase a gun, it should be at least your responsibility to get a background check so we know you were not a violent felon or that you don’t currently have a restraining order on you because committed domestic abuse.”
“Right now, we don’t know a lot of that, it’s just not available.”
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in 2011 during a constituent event, joined current lawmakers this week to announce a bill that would specifically strengthen background check requirements to prevent domestic abusers, felons and the mentally ill from purchasing a gun.
But those measures stalled in the Senate.
"We couldn’t get it done at the congressional level, so what we’ve done is we’ve tried to do as much as we can administratively to implement background checks," he said.
Obama said that there are “a lot of law abiding, responsible gun owners” that use guns for protection, sport or as part of a tradition. But he added that upping background check requirements on gun purchasers is a policy that everyone should endorse.
“It is not violating anybody’s rights that if you want to purchase a gun, it should be at least your responsibility to get a background check so we know you were not a violent felon or that you don’t currently have a restraining order on you because committed domestic abuse.”
“Right now, we don’t know a lot of that, it’s just not available.”
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in 2011 during a constituent event, joined current lawmakers this week to announce a bill that would specifically strengthen background check requirements to prevent domestic abusers, felons and the mentally ill from purchasing a gun.
Progressive Liars – yeah, I know, it’s an oxymoron….. But there is no doubt when it comes to espousing an ideology a progressive will do anything, say anything and avoid anything that does not reconcile with their ideological view of the world. They are notorious fibbers.
Such is the case with former Congresscritter Gabby Giffords as she claims, falsely, that Jared Loughner evaded a background check. He didn’t, he passed one. But progs cannot let a pesky thing like truth get in the way of their pontifications, an all too familiar mantra.
(Via New York Post) We’re all used to hearing people say that patience is a virtue.
I think about patience every day as I continue to regain my speech and the mobility I lost after I was shot in the head two years ago, while meeting with my constituents in the parking lot of grocery store in my district.
I think about patience and determination, because I still wake up every day wanting to make the world a better place.
But lately I’m not feeling too patient toward senators and representatives who are listening to the misinformation that’s out there about universal background checks instead of to their constituents, and saying they may not support common sense solutions to ending gun violence. […]
What they will do is create one fair system for all gun buyers, instead of the giant loophole we have now. Right now, we have one system where responsible gun owners take a background check — my husband, Mark, took one just last month, and it took 5 minutes and 36 seconds. I remember waiting a lot longer than that for the subway to take me to my office when I lived in New York City! And then we have a second system for those who don’t want to take a background check. Those people — criminals, or people suffering from mental illness, like the young man who shot me — can buy as many guns as they want on the Internet or at a gun show, no questions asked.
That doesn’t make sense. We know how to fix it — by establishing a universal background check system. And yet some of our elected officials are not listening. Some even say this legislation shouldn’t get a vote in the United States Congress. (more)
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