Posted on 12/21/2012 9:40:04 AM PST by pabianice
A Message from President Obama about Your Petition on Reducing Gun Violence
In the days since the tragedy in Newtown, Americans from all over the country have called for action to deter mass shootings and reduce gun violence. Hundreds of thousands of you have signed petitions on We the People.
I'm writing you today to thank you for speaking up, to update you on an important development, and to encourage you to continue engaging with the White House on this critical issue.
First, you should know that President Obama is paying close to attention to the public response to this tragedy. In fact, he sat down to record a message specifically for those of you who have joined the conversation using We the People. Watch it now:
On Wednesday, the President outlined a series of first steps we can take to begin the work of ending this cycle of violence. This is what he said:
"We know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides. And as I said on Sunday night, there's no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. We're going to need to work on making access to mental health care at least as easy as access to a gun. We're going to need to look more closely at a culture that all too often glorifies guns and violence. And any actions we must take must begin inside the home and inside our hearts.
But the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence, and prevent the very worst violence."
Vice President Biden has been asked to work with members of the Administration, Congress, and the general public to come up with a set of concrete policy proposals by next month -- proposals the President intends to push swiftly. The President asked the Vice President to lead this effort in part because he wrote and passed the 1994 Crime Bill that helped law enforcement bring down the rate of violent crime in America. That bill included the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
As the Vice President's Chief of Staff, I'm going to do everything I can to ensure we run a process that includes perspectives from all sides of the issue, which is why I wanted to respond to your petition myself. Two decades ago, as domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House, I first worked with Joe Biden as he fought to enact the Crime Bill, the assault weapons ban, and the Brady Bill. I will never forget what a key role the voices of concerned citizens like you played in that vital process.
The President called on Congress to pass important legislation "banning the sale of military-style assault weapons," "banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips," and "requiring background checks before all gun purchases, so that criminals cant take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who wont take the responsibility of doing a background check at all."
An issue this serious and complex isn't going to be resolved with a single legislative proposal or policy prescription. And let's be clear, any action we take will respect the Second Amendment. As the President said:
"Look, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. This country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that's been handed down from generation to generation. Obviously across the country there are regional differences. There are differences between how people feel in urban areas and rural areas. And the fact is the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible -- they buy their guns legally and they use them safely, whether for hunting or sport shooting, collection or protection.
But you know what, I am also betting that the majority -- the vast majority -- of responsible, law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war. I'm willing to bet that they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas -- that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle so easily; that in this age of technology, we should be able to check someone's criminal records before he or she can check out at a gun show; that if we work harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in Newtown -- or any of the lesser-known tragedies that visit small towns and big cities all across America every day."
The President said it best: "Ultimately if this effort is to succeed it's going to require the help of the American people -- it's going to require all of you. If we're going to change things, it's going to take a wave of Americans -- mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, pastors, law enforcement, mental health professionals -- and, yes, gun owners -- standing up and saying 'enough' on behalf of our kids."
So let's continue this conversation and get something meaningful done. If you have additional ideas and are interested in further engagement with the White House on this issue, please let us know and share your thoughts here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/share-your-thoughts-reducing-gun-violence
Thank you for speaking out and staying involved. Stay Connected
Tell us what you think about this response and We the People.
Stay connected to the White House by signing up for periodic email updates from President Obama and other senior administration officials.
Nah, No Obama.
FUBO!
Get Rahm to fix Chicago using the Theories of Zer0 and then get back to us.
To Obama, The Democrats, the useful idiots who did not study history.
Our rights are not yours to take.
1. We will see things like prior prescriptions of Ritalin, void one's rights to own a weapon. Same thing for NSAID prescriptions, etc.
2. I'm sure we'll see people like that nutball Quentin Tarantino thrown in jail for incitement to violence with his movies. Nor will we see the computer geeks who write and sell violent video games be sanctioned.
3. Scariest of all. You'd think on the surface he's talking about attitudes. Far from it. It means they will try at some point to go through each recalcitrant's homes searching for violent weapons.
Of course he means government doing nothing. But what if the problem is too complex for government (i.e. moral problem)? Or what if the proposed government action (gun bans) increase the problem? What if less government would actually improve the situation (i.e. eliminate gun-free zones)?
Democrats want to empower government and to take away our individual rights and freedom.
Democrats including the media, democrat politicians, and the Obama piece of crap want to make us slaves of the government. They are enraged that we can even own any thing like land or guns or have any rights at all. They want to control everything and thats why they want the government to own everything so then the government has absolute power.
The individual is small and powerless. The government is huge with trillions of $ at its disposal. The government has guns, armies etc. But a democrat thinks the government is not powerful enough and a democrat always wants to give more power to government and to take away power and rights from the individual. Doesnt a stupid liberal realize that it too is an individual and are fostering their own enslavement and dis-empowerment, giving up its own rights?
liberals/democrats trust government bureaucrats ,politicians and government with their lives. Government is their God and so they are socialists/statists.
government spent trillions funding decades of fake research for the global warming hoax . this shows government/socialism never works. also around only 7% of 8th graders CAn read , 93% can't read( again proves government schools don't work so gov doesn't work).Yet even here many are calling for arming the school idiots instead of abolishing the government schools completely. How about we educuate and protect our children in our homes or a private school instead of in government schools?
NO
Let’s ban guns in Chicago and see how that works.
Maybe someone needs to send him a copy of “Unintended Consequences”.
First ban giving them away to drug cartels and then call me back a$$hole!
These people are idiots. The cretin in CT (I will not acknowledge his name)DID NOT BUY the firearms he used. HE STOLE THEM.
There are already laws on the books against this and they didn’t stop him, what makes these idiots think more laws will?
This is a situation where you $hit in one hand and wish in the other to see which one fills the fastest.
Yes, yes, yes.
I've started to post similar several times.
Mostly boys, drugged out in school. An entire class of 'not eligible to own a firearm' men. I'll bet that's exactly what is in the works.
Just listened to LaPierre on Rush. Awesome, spot on and damning to the loony left and their enablers. They created the culture of Kill...and more and more you have to wonder if its deliberate, focused just to disarm the people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.