We do need more criminal control.
That would naturally include foreigners breaking the law by sneaking across the border or overstaying their visas.
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.
you’d have thought this turd had stirred up enough pooh up til NOW.
Wow. The rookie Hussein will be ALL OVER illegal immigration, voter intimidation, repeal of Commiecare™ and drilling in the gulf. I look forward to it.
Hey Barack!
When are you going to express similar sentiments regarding Major Nassan, and the Ft. Hood shooting?
It was YOUR refusal to acknowledge the nation’s problems with radical Islam the created an environment where none of his RED FLAG behavior was allowed to be addressed.
If you want to address this countries refusal to institutionalize the mentally ill, go ahead.
Just leave the 2d Amendment alone!
A good time to disarm and defund politicians.
How about trying to follow the U.S. Constitution and ENFORCING THE LAWS that are already in place? Over 6 million registered gun owners DID NOT commit a crime today. GET OVER IT.
Molon Labe you Nazi sophist bastard.
Hey Skippy! How ‘bout we worry about REAL PROBLEMS like jobs and the economy and knock off the screwing around with the Bill or Rights?!
Hey Barack!
When are you going to express similar sentiments regarding Major Nidal Hassan, and the Ft. Hood shooting?
It was YOUR refusal to acknowledge the nation’s problems with radical Islam that created an environment where none of his RED FLAG behavior was allowed to be addressed.
If you want to address this countries refusal to institutionalize the mentally ill, go ahead.
Just leave the 2d Amendment alone!
Most gun-control advocates are liars that aren't worth the sack of excrement of which they are made.
So is he saying that his supporters aren't Americans, or he just exhibiting willful amnesia again?
Give me an Author. Without that it is nothing,
It won't work this time, either, Obama.
It keeps your nearly-perfect record of failure alive.
We do need more criminal control.
That would naturally include foreigners breaking the law by sneaking across the border or overstaying their visas.
The author is Barack Obama. Follow the link for confirmation.
Um, clueless idiot in chief:
How about drilling for some oil?
OK, Secret Service first. Put Dear Leader’s safety where his trash talking mouth is.
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.
Stop Abortion NOW!
Oh, that’s right he doesn’t care about that.
What do you mean “we” pinko man?
It is already against the law for the mentally incompetent to buy a firearm. The only new law that might help is to make it easier to adjudicate people mentally incompetent. That’s a new mental health law not a new gun law. Is that what you’re proposing 0bummer?
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