President Obama's Bold, Perhaps Historic Gun Control Proposals Spur Fury & Support
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Anne is reading …
Obama to ‘Put Everything I’ve Got’ Into Gun ControlNew York Times
Acknowledging that legislative passage of his proposals to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, expand background checks, and toughen gun-trafficking laws, President Obama is taking immediate steps to curb gun violence in America with a series of executive orders.
Speaking on an issue that wasn’t on his to-do-list on Election Day when President Obama was elected to a second term, a reflective Obama surrounded by children and family members of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. said “I will put everything I’ve got into this and so will Joe.”
Out of the gate, even the NRA is saying it might consider strengthening background check laws.
The 23 executive actions Mr. Obama signed on Wednesday were largely modest initiatives to toughen enforcement of existing laws and to encourage federal agencies and state governments to share more information. Mr. Obama lifted a ban on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from conducting research on gun violence and directed that a letter be sent to health care providers saying doctors may ask patients about guns in their homes.
How Gun Culture Won Over LiberalsBuzzFeed
The current political battle over gun laws comes at a moment when American gun culture is more expansive than ever. Guns have gained a foothold among coastal elites that, just a couple decades ago, would have “dismissed the very idea of holding a rifle as obscene and offensive.”
Christie Blasts NRA Ad
Christie: NRA ad with Obama daughters ‘represensible’USA Today
New Jersey governor Christie chasticized the NRA for suggesting that President Obama cares about protecting his own daughters but not those of the nation’s parents’.
Saying that his four children had no choice about whether he intended to become governor of New Jersey, thereby subjecting them to a public status with security details, similarly the Obama daughters had no choice.
Poll: Republicans Believe Obama’s Hiding SomethingPolitico
64 percent of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama might be hiding something, according to a new poll out of Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey. 33 percent of independents agree, with 14 percent of Democrats pushing the tally to one-third of Americans.
Higher levels of education and awareness of current events, however, are linked to a reduction in belief in such theories, the study reported. Democrats and independents with more political knowledge were found to be more likely to dismiss conspiracy theories, while Republicans with more political knowledge were more likely to believe the theories.
NRA Says No Records/Research
NRA, Congress stymied CDC gun research budgetCBS
In 1996, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation preventing the Centers for Disease Control from investigating gun violence and its prevention in America.
Specifically, this restriction was placed on the CDC budget: “None of the funds made available … may be used to advocate or promote gun control”.
“These were shots fired across the bow,” said Dr. Mark Rosenberg, who formerly oversaw research into gun violence at the nation’s health research center, “and they the terrorized people at the CDC. And they terrorized researchers who said, ‘Whoa, this is scary. I don’t want my funding jeopardized.’”
The NRA was furious, writes CBS, with a 1993 study that concluded that having a gun at home didn’t minimize danger or offer protection. Instead, having a gun in the house increased almost three-fold the risk of one family member shooting another.
Michael Mukasey, Former Bush Attorney General: Obama’s Executive Orders Are ConstitutionalHuffington Post
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under President George W. Bush, said he finds Obama’s executive orders“distasteful,” but not unconstitutional.
“I don’t think it’s unconstitutional in the sense that I don’t think it’s something you could get a court to find unconstitutional,” Mukasey told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
