Posted on 03/13/2011 7:26:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It's been more than two months since the tragedy in Tucson stunned the nation. It was a moment when we came together as one people to mourn and to pray for those we lost. And in the attack's turbulent wake, Americans by and large rightly refrained from finger-pointing, assigning blame or playing politics with other people's pain.
But one clear and terrible fact remains. A man our Army rejected as unfit for service; a man one of our colleges deemed too unstable for studies; a man apparently bent on violence, was able to walk into a store and buy a gun.
He used it to murder six people and wound 13 others. And if not for the heroism of bystanders and a brilliant surgical team, it would have been far worse.
But since that day, we have lost perhaps another 2,000 members of our American family to gun violence. Thousands more have been wounded. We lose the same number of young people to guns every day and a half as we did at Columbine, and every four days as we did at Virginia Tech.
Every single day, America is robbed of more futures. It has awful consequences for our society. And as a society, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to put a stop to it.
Now, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. And the courts have settled that as the law of the land. In this country, we have a strong tradition of gun ownership that's handed from generation to generation. Hunting and shooting are part of our national heritage. And, in fact, my administration has not curtailed the rights of gun owners - it has expanded them, including allowing people to carry their guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.
The fact is, almost all gun owners in America are highly responsible. They're our friends and neighbors. They buy their guns legally and use them safely, whether for hunting or target shooting, collection or protection. And that's something that gun-safety advocates need to accept. Likewise, advocates for gun owners should accept the awful reality that gun violence affects Americans everywhere, whether on the streets of Chicago or at a supermarket in Tucson.
I know that every time we try to talk about guns, it can reinforce stark divides. People shout at one another, which makes it impossible to listen. We mire ourselves in stalemate, which makes it impossible to get to where we need to go as a country.
However, I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place.
I'm willing to bet that responsible, law-abiding gun owners agree that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few - dangerous criminals and fugitives, for example - from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.
I'm willing to bet they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas - that we should check someone's criminal record before he can check out at a gun seller; that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to buy a gun so easily; that there's room for us to have reasonable laws that uphold liberty, ensure citizen safety and are fully compatible with a robust Second Amendment.
That's why our focus right now should be on sound and effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.
• First, we should begin by enforcing laws that are already on the books. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System is the filter that's supposed to stop the wrong people from getting their hands on a gun. Bipartisan legislation four years ago was supposed to strengthen this system, but it hasn't been properly implemented. It relies on data supplied by states - but that data is often incomplete and inadequate. We must do better.
• Second, we should in fact reward the states that provide the best data - and therefore do the most to protect our citizens.
• Third, we should make the system faster and nimbler. We should provide an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers who want to do the right thing, and make sure that criminals can't escape it.
Porous background checks are bad for police officers, for law-abiding citizens and for the sellers themselves. If we're serious about keeping guns away from someone who's made up his mind to kill, then we can't allow a situation where a responsible seller denies him a weapon at one store, but he effortlessly buys the same gun someplace else.
Clearly, there's more we can do to prevent gun violence. But I want this to at least be the beginning of a new discussion on how we can keep America safe for all our people.
I know some aren't interested in participating. Some will say that anything short of the most sweeping anti-gun legislation is a capitulation to the gun lobby. Others will predictably cast any discussion as the opening salvo in a wild-eyed scheme to take away everybody's guns. And such hyperbole will become the fodder for overheated fundraising letters.
But I have more faith in the American people than that. Most gun-control advocates know that most gun owners are responsible citizens. Most gun owners know that the word "commonsense" isn't a code word for "confiscation." And none of us should be willing to remain passive in the face of violence or resigned to watching helplessly as another rampage unfolds on television.
As long as those whose lives are shattered by gun violence don't get to look away and move on, neither can we.
We owe the victims of the tragedy in Tucson and the countless unheralded tragedies each year nothing less than our best efforts - to seek consensus, to prevent future bloodshed, to forge a nation worthy of our children's futures.
They announced a moratorium in building new nuke plants this morning.
“Be reasonable,” is what the exalted Won is saying. Yeah, let’s tighten up the law so it’s foolproof.
If only we’d tightened up the process of electing a president. Required a background check and some ID on the candidate, and ID on the voters.
Then we wouldn’t have a fool roaming around with the nuclear codes AND the surrender-America attitude, that could get us all killed.
When the hell did Congress become part of the current administration?
Such twisting isn't going to help the grabbers.
Devious bastards.
Agreed. We must repeal all anti-Second Amendment laws, regulations and policies immediately.
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Now we read Article 6, Paragraph 2.
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
Now we get to the tricky bit... Go through all US and State laws and remove ALL of them that infringe on that Right.
"in·fringe/inˈfrinj/Verb
1. Actively break the terms of (a law, agreement, etc.): "infringe a copyright".
2. Act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on: "infringe on his privacy".
We already have laws dealing with armed robbery, assault with various weapons, and damage to others property. All "laws" regarding limits on individual carry, ammo types, number of guns owned, arbitrary restrictions and checks on ownership like NICs and "may issue permits", not to mention the idiotic NFA... All must go.
After we've done that, then we can talk about reparations for all of those lives lost or disrupted from illegal prosecutions like David Olfson, Randy Weaver, and even the Branch Davidians.
Talk, talk, talk. Stop dancing, Barry. Go ahead and come after the guns of bitter clingers like me. Just remember, that Americans are well aware of what happened at Waco and Ruby Ridge when Clinton took it even further. I’m pretty sure things will be quite different this time.
A little background info on Illinois politicians, when the Democratic version gets in trouble the first they reach for is the gun control issue. This is standard operating procedure for the whacky left in Illinois, Dem in trouble, comes out against guns, lefties in the lamestream media pile on, and morons in Chicago area distracted.
Obama seems to be clueless. Bush would have been all over Japan and Libya crisis, Obama seems completely unaware of the outer world, it’s like he has a checklist of how to tick off conversatives and is going down the list devil may care about the rest of the world.
He is not capable of being president and should never have been elected. What a shame.
He has partied, golfed and is trying to pass gun laws because of Az. yet does not peep a word about the death threats to republicans in WI. Also: bullies in school and nanny lunches.
NOTHING in his radio address about Japan.Nothing in the news but that he is keeping a low profile. WTF? Now that I say this...his people will write a speech for his teleprompter today and we will all have to get ill watching him mumble...so let him shut up but I want a competent POTUS!
After the Tucson shooting Obama knew he would push his anti-gun agenda. He just wanted to wait until there was another crisis that beneifited another agenda of his. Now he feels it has come. Now he will push anti-gun laws while hoping for the complete nuclear meltdown in Japan. The next crisis that benefits him (whatever and wherever it will be) will be the time to close nuclear facilities in the USA... that’s how he’s been working this Obama guy.
sorry for the spelling. I accidentally hit post before spell checking
Since you said it, Hussein, "commensense" from you about guns means government control. And then there's "control creep."
No controls needed. The Phoenix shooter had a record and police had chosen not to deal with him.
No controls. No confiscation. EVER
Barack Obama channeling Sarah Brady.
But with even less credibility.
This is one of the brain-trusts that wants access to my medical records. He thinks a national database, and Obama Care will give him more control.
Aren’t you thrilled with the idea this political slut will have access to your records? Aren’t you thrilled he and people like him will come up with more and more reasons to access that record, ‘for our safety’.
This guy isn’t fooling me for a second.
If OBAMA wants to Seek Agreement, the process is called Amending the Constitution. HE is a dope.
This guy can read a good speech. However,looking at his record for truth and his enablers intentions, I would much prefer Ted Nuggent to be the gun czar without Obama’s presence.
This guy can read a good speech. However,looking at his record for truth and his enablers intentions, I would much prefer Ted Nuggent to be the gun czar without Obama’s presence.
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