Posted on 01/05/2013 10:00:43 AM PST by pabianice
President Obama announces he is appointing Vice President Joe Biden to craft new policies within the next month to curb gun violence.President Obama announces he is appointing Vice President Joe Biden to craft new policies within the next month to curb gun violence. 0
The White House and gun control supporters are gearing up for a whirlwind month, with plans to pass reform legislation before outrage over the Sandy Hook massacre has a chance to fade.
While the fiscal cliff has dominated Washington’s attention in recent weeks, lawmakers and activists are laying the groundwork for their big push. Vice President Joe Biden, tasked with heading a commission to investigate gun violence, has been quietly meeting with experts, interest groups, and public officials and is expected to release a set of recommendations within weeks. Boston mayor Thomas Menino, co-chair of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told the Boston Herald this week that an optimistic Biden had assured him that Obama would sign legislation “by the end of January.”
“We had been led to believe their report would come by end of January, but we’re hearing they may want to have something out by January 15, even quicker than expected,” Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told TPM.
House Democrats are moving ahead with their own plans as well. On Friday, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), chair of the newly created Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, announced the appointment of 12 vice chairs, including Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), the body’s leading voice on gun control. According to a Democratic aide, the group plans to release its recommendations in early February and is already organizing public hearings on the issue.
Obama has personally identified an assault weapons ban and limits on ammunition magazine size as top priorities. Other possible reforms could include background check requirements for purchases at gun shows, a loophole that’s helped create a huge market of off-record arms purchases.
Pro-gun groups have dominated Congress in recent years and, while lawmakers approved by the National Rifle Association have mostly kept their heads down in recent weeks, any legislation could face an difficult path to passage, or even a vote, especially in the Republican-led House.
Glaze said his group would work hard to build public support, hosting local events with various mayors, dozens of whom will descend on Washington later this month for The United States Conference of Mayors winter gathering.
Gun violence survivors are also planning trips to lobby lawmakers to support legislation. Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived a mass shooting in 2011, could play a prominent role in that regard: on Wednesday she met with Bloomberg in New York and on Friday traveled to Newtown to comfort families who lost loved ones in the attack there.
But Glaze acknowledged the NRA has long held an advantage not only in its cash resources, but in its large and active grassroots membership, which has rallied in the past to whip members of Congress against gun control bills. For gun control advocates, they’ll have to offer a compelling case that lawmakers who squelch reforms will pay a price in the midterm elections and that means building their own active network of supporters. Glaze is confident they can do so, citing recent polls showing restrictions on extended ammunition clips and an expansion of background checks to be popular nationally.
“The broad solutions are there and if Congress doesn’t act I think theyre going to be digging themselves further into a big hole,” he said.
The Brady Campaign, the gun control group founded by former Ronald Reagan press secretary Jim Brady, is also expected to play a role in promoting legislation, but it’s an open question whether they can compete with the NRA’s experienced leadership. TPM reached out to the group’s staff in recent days for information on its plans, but received no response.
I remember him mentioning on the streaming show, several times. I wonder if he plans on getting his Landmark Legal involved in a suit against 0bummer&Co on 2nd Amendment?
Supposedly that was a Saiga semi-auto 12ga that was in the trunk.
Frankly, if you wanted to do the most damage to unarmed combatants huddling in small clusters, the Saiga shotgun would be a definite first choice over the .223.
The reporting on this shooting has been rife with errors. I don’t know what he used. If he really used the AR-15, then my post was wrong. I really don’t care, though.
The fact that the guns didn’t do the shooting, but young person with mental issues did, is what bothers me.
According tot he FBI, more people died from Knives and Bats than they did from rifles... for several years running.
Agreed, 100%, on all points.
I’m a 1974 robbery/shooting victim - still carry the .32cal near my spine - and would like to get firearms out of criminals’ and mentally-ill peoples’ hands.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s362/carriage_hill/DCP_1319_zps47adbae9.jpg
Sorta like Sandra Fluke’s “testimony to the House of Representatives” that was entirely staged in an off site setting.
Exactly. The MSM is pedal to the metal to trash the Constitution and make the U.S. a Socialist State while Obama is in power. They elected him, they reelected him, and they run as much propaganda as they can to support a socialist/fascist/progressive agenda, while doing everything they can to prevent the conservative message from getting out. They are the major problem in this country.
Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. And that's not what democrats and the GOP-E are trying to do. They are trying to get firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.
/johnny
Yeah, I know what their agenda is. This isn’t going to end well, for America.
Hmmm...More likely:
if Congress doesn’t act acts I think theyre going end up to be digging themselves further into a big hole to end up in...
I saw a movie once where only the police and military had guns. It was called Schindler’s List.
The real Oskar Schindler armed his Jewish workers as the war was coming to an end, a fact that Steven Spielberg, a long time Democrat, conveniently ommited from his film as his party pursued gun control efforts at home.
In another twist of irony, Spielberg himself is reputed to possess a very impressive collection of military firearms.
and these 
and " and also 13,000 rounds of ammunition, pistols, assault rifles, bulletproof vests and... (see examiner.com)....and give them to...these guys and their 'colleagues.' 
. Wait, wait. We did that already. Now, we just have to make sure to take those same types of things from an 'typical White people' 
Regarding 1. I saw that early (he used two handguns), but haven’t seen anything on that lately. Do you have source I can use?
“He’s going to do this by executive order.....No way Dems in the House will give it to him.”
He can try.
One of the local alphabet affiliates here in CT had a report on gun show of antique firearms in the Stamford area. Of curse they reported on the MAYBE dozen protesters out front. Despite the “honk if you support gun control” sign, only one or two were heard during the segment.
Funny how no mass shooting occurred.
I prefer to believe that it isn’t going to end well...for the media.
Yes, learn where your local congress reps live and publicize it wherever possible. It’s public info after all.....
Any 0bama E.O. subverting the 2nd Amendment should be met with OVERWHELMING calls for impeachment.
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