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Obama intentionally did not mention gun control in his State of the Union, but aides say that in the next two weeks the administration will unveil a campaign to get Congress to toughen existing laws. At the beginning of his State of the Union address, President Obama tipped his hat to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who’s now recuperating in a Houston medical facility. But throughout the hourlong speech, he never addressed the issue at the core of the Giffords tragedy—gun control—and what lawmakers would, or should, do to reform American firearm-access laws. That was intentional, according to the White House. An...

During MSNBC's State of the Union coverage, Chris Matthews reveals he has learned that President Obama will address gun control in the near future.

Three federal gun-control bills introduced Tuesday would help prevent such violence as the Tucson attack that left six dead and 14 injured, according to the New Jersey Democratic senators sponsoring the package.

President Obama’s advisers were still discussing late Monday how to deal with calls by Democrats for him to embrace some kind of gun control legislation. There was at least some possibility that Obama would express support for something concrete in his State of the Union address, perhaps safeguards for keeping weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The intern credited with helping Rep. Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head in Arizona is speaking out in favor of changes to the nation's background check system.

Washington, D.C. January 22, 2011 – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today announced that next week she will introduce the Common-Sense Concealed Firearms Act of 2011, which would require all states that allow residents to carry concealed weapons in public to have minimum standards for granting permits. Senator Boxer said, "The tragic events in Tucson earlier this month are a reminder of why we need common-sense gun laws. This measure will establish reasonable permitting standards for Americans who wish to carry concealed firearms. According to a recent poll, more than 60 percent of respondents believe there should be a reasonable...

The recent Arizona tragedy has, of course, brought the entire issue of firearms control to the front of our national consciousness, along with the usual assortment of bloviators, pundits and podium thumpers. At the risk of being considered one of them, I would like to offer several alternatives to address the problem. n Repeal the Second Amendment. At the time of its writing and through the early 1900s, The United States was a nation of largely isolated communities that depended on their own initiative for mutual security. That time is clearly passed...

Tension was high in Congress in the months before the Civil War when an observer wryly noted that the only members not carrying a pistol were carrying two pistols. Perhaps high tension explains why Montana State Sen. Verdell Jackson, R- Kalispell, has introduced legislation to allow Montana lawmakers to carry concealed weapons on the floors of the state House and Senate. Especially because now is an angry time, is any useful purpose served by our lawmakers packing heat? As a way of punctuating a point of logic in spirited debate, couldn't they get by with just a good old-fashioned punch...

Once again, we hear the old refrain that making it harder for law abiding citizens to purchase guns will make us safer. Following the January 8th shooting in Tucson, an understandable discomfort swept through the American populace. Jared Loughner had killed six people in cold blood, which means six families were irreversibly changed in an instant. Yet while the discomfort is understandable, many of the suggestions for how to prevent the re-occurrence of such a crime have not been.This is mainly because the majority of suggestions have included some mention of new gun control measures, whether they are tied to...

The tragic shootings in Tucson have sparked new cries from gun control advocates for more restrictive gun laws. The gun control lobby is hoping the emotions stirred up over the senseless killings will generate a wave of support and favorable Congressional treatment since the most high-profile victim was a member of Congress. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.Y. are proposing banning gun clips that hold more than 10 rounds. Loughner’s gun held 30 rounds. But this bill would not prohibit the sale of used clips with more than a 10-round capacity, and a killer could simply carry...

In the aftermath of the attempted murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this month, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have proposed a cluster of gun control measures ranging from a ban to knowingly carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of certain high-profile government officials to a proposal to allow members of Congress to carry firearms in the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy formally introduced her own bill on the House floor Tuesday that would ban high-capacity ammunition clips like the one Jared Loughner used to gun down 19 individuals in the Tucson shooting Jan. 8. McCarthy, who is regarded as one...

In the aftermath of the attempted murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this month, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have proposed a cluster of gun control measures ranging from a ban to knowingly carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of certain high-profile government officials to a proposal to allow members of Congress to carry firearms in the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy formally introduced her own bill on the House floor Tuesday that would ban high-capacity ammunition clips like the one Jared Loughner used to gun down 19 individuals in the Tucson shooting Jan. 8. McCarthy, who is regarded as one...

In the aftermath of the shootings in Arizona, liberals were quick to accuse conservatives of "starting" hatred, claiming that the left-wing was peace-loving and civil. Soon after that, people began to hurl death threats at Palin and continued to spread disgusting lies. And now there is this: This video is filled with nothing but hatred; someone whose ilk call themselves non-violent and smarter than the average person. But before someone can delete this video and say it was a conservative hoax, let me take a couple of screen shots:

AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON -- A longtime Senate gun control advocate announced plans Monday to introduce legislation banning high-capacity ammunition clips like the one linked to a weekend shooting that left six dead and an Arizona congresswoman gravely wounded. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said he would introduce the measure to re-establish a prohibition that lapsed in 2004 on clips that feed more than 10 rounds at a time. "The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market," Lautenberg said...

From the times news coverage of the Tucson shooting began streaming across television screens till now, there has been a concerted effort to affix blame for the shooting on conservatives like Sarah Palin and bodies of conservatism, like the Tea Party. And while these efforts have been carried out by seeming equal numbers of Democrat officeholders and media talking heads like the always embarrassing Keith Olbermann, three people who have predominated in these efforts are Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, and Kathy Griffin: a trio I’ve personally dubbed “The Shameless Trifecta.”

“On Tuesday, January 18, I will introduce legislation to restore the prohibition on large capacity ammunition feeding devices in the United States,” Rep. Carolyn McCarthy writes to her Congressional colleagues. Shall we examine the congresswoman’s “reasoning”? The United States Constitution guarantees to our citizens the right to keep and bear arms. At the same time that we can all acknowledge this basic right, I believe that we should also be able to come together to develop reasonable laws designed to ensure that the right to bear arms is exercised safely and responsibly. Just as we all celebrate and defend the...

The tragedy in Tucson, Arizona shows that America is becoming a dangerously polarized and divided country. As a result of the policies pursued by the extreme rightists and populists, America is a politically, ideologically, racially, and intellectually polarized country. The congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others have been critically wounded and six people, including a federal judge and a member of the congresswoman’s staff have died. The casualty figures could have been much higher, if the gunman, a 22 years old white man, was not overpowered by the people who were attending an informal meeting with the congresswoman outside a...

The NYPD's reluctance to take the lead in seeking to ban sales of high- capacity gun magazines to civilians is a disappointment. As is Mayor Bloomberg's ambivalence to the notion. As we noted yesterday, the 30-round magazine that Jared Lee Loughner employed to create so much carnage last Saturday has no civilian utility. And Glock simply shouldn't be selling them. Period. Thus it makes perfect sense for the NYPD and other urban police departments to simply stop buying Glock sidearms until the company pulls them off the market.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman should spark a renewed gun control debate, calling accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner “a disgrace to democracy” as he advocated changes in federal gun policy. “This case is fundamentally about a mentally ill drug abuser who had access to guns and shouldn’t have,” Bloomberg said at a news conference Tuesday with members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The political fallout from the attack on Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has overwhelmingly focused on the heated state of political discourse, with debates on gun policy largely absent. But Bloomberg, a...

Andrea Michell is discussing Sarah Palin (what a surprise) with Democrat David Bonier and Republican strategist Vin Weber, here's the video of Weber. ------- MITCHELL: "She had the choice of when to speak and the tone. and one has to wonder why doesn't she have a wider circling of advisers. i don't know any political strategist of a national campaign, republican or democrat who thinks that was a smart thing to do. VIN WEBER: "Well, we really don't know who advises her. She's quite isolated from what you might think of as the Republican establishment. No one is quite sure...