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I guess there are liberals and then there are liberals.
I'm a liberal, and I can't for the life of me find a way to make anyone responsible for the CT shootings than Lanza himself. I just don't see how we can keep guns out of the hands of those who would do others harm short of completely removing them from the face of the planet - and I just don't see that as a feasible solution.
White House officials remained vague and noncommittal about how President Obama would translate into action his soaring rhetoric Sunday in Newtown, when he appeared to presage an effort to curb access to guns. But many Democrats, including several from conservative states, said Congress should take up the issue next year, and one Senate chairman promised hearings. Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, an advocate of gun rights who drew attention in 2010 by running a commercial that showed him firing a rifle into a piece of legislation serving as a target, said everything should be on the table as gun control is debated in the coming weeks and months.
The receptiveness to new gun laws from figures like Mr. Manchin suggested the National Rifle Association, long one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, would face a strong test of its influence in the coming months if it sought to fend off tougher restrictions. Leaders of the organization have declined interview requests since the shootings, the groups Twitter account has gone silent, and it has deactivated its Facebook page. As the criminal inquiry proceeded, investigators studying a computer taken from the house of the Connecticut gunman, Adam Lanza, said it was so badly damaged that they were not optimistic that they would be able to get any information from it, a law enforcement official said Monday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has more expertise in computer forensics than Connecticuts state forensic laboratory, has been part of the effort to recover data from the computer, the official said. A federal law enforcement official said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had determined that Mr. Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, visited firing ranges together and separately in recent years, with one known occasion of their going together. It was not clear whether they had both fired weapons on that visit.
The White House offered no elaboration on Monday of the presidents thinking or the options he would consider; it tried to tamp down expectations of quick action. In part, that reflected the complicated politics of gun control, as the presidents advisers weighed whether the horror of Newtown had changed the dynamics in Washington enough to make possible measures that were earlier deemed very unlikely to pass.
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Likely they will re-instate the assault weapons ban with a cartridge limit on the number of bullets and possibly a ban on armor-piercing bullets also...
In Shift, Pro-Gun Democrats Signaling Openness to Limits
December 17, 2012 WASHINGTON — Demonstrating rapidly shifting attitudes toward gun control in the aftermath of a massacre in a Connecticut school, many pro-gun Congressional Democrats — including Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader and a longstanding gun rights supporter — signaled an openness Monday to new restrictions on guns.
White House officials remained vague and noncommittal about how President Obama would translate into action his soaring rhetoric Sunday in Newtown, when he appeared to presage an effort to curb access to guns. But many Democrats, including several from conservative states, said Congress should take up the issue next year, and one Senate chairman promised hearings. Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, an advocate of gun rights who drew attention in 2010 by running a commercial that showed him firing a rifle into a piece of legislation serving as a target, said “everything should be on the table” as gun control is debated in the coming weeks and months.
The receptiveness to new gun laws from figures like Mr. Manchin suggested the National Rifle Association, long one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, would face a strong test of its influence in the coming months if it sought to fend off tougher restrictions. Leaders of the organization have declined interview requests since the shootings, the group’s Twitter account has gone silent, and it has deactivated its Facebook page. As the criminal inquiry proceeded, investigators studying a computer taken from the house of the Connecticut gunman, Adam Lanza, said it was so badly damaged that they were not optimistic that they would be able to get any information from it, a law enforcement official said Monday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has more expertise in computer forensics than Connecticut’s state forensic laboratory, has been part of the effort to recover data from the computer, the official said. A federal law enforcement official said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had determined that Mr. Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, visited firing ranges together and separately in recent years, with one known occasion of their going together. It was not clear whether they had both fired weapons on that visit.
The White House offered no elaboration on Monday of the president’s thinking or the options he would consider; it tried to tamp down expectations of quick action. In part, that reflected the complicated politics of gun control, as the president’s advisers weighed whether the horror of Newtown had changed the dynamics in Washington enough to make possible measures that were earlier deemed very unlikely to pass.
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... one needs to keep in mind that in the days of our founding fathers the one shot-musket was the state of the art weapons technology.
Washington DC has the strictest gun laws in the country and is still the murder capital of the US !!
I would never blame the NRA, that would be a true lesson in futility. The NRA is for the most part a decent organization.
Where I would bring the NRA into this is why do they need to be involved with the federal government, they have on of the biggest lobbies in Washington. There is no need for that as the 2nd amendment is very clear as to our gun rights.
I guess there are liberals and then there are liberals.
I'm a liberal, and I can't for the life of me find a way to make anyone responsible for the CT shootings than Lanza himself. I just don't see how we can keep guns out of the hands of those who would do others harm short of completely removing them from the face of the planet - and I just don't see that as a feasible solution.
Honestly, I would love a world in which there were no guns, but that is not the world we live in. In the US, there are around 300 million guns owned by I don't know how many people. There is no realistic way to even confiscate them if the government wanted to.
In March 1996, a 43-year-old man named Thomas Hamilton walked into a primary school in this central Scotland town of 8,000 people and shot to death 16 kindergarten-age children and their teacher with four legally held handguns. In the weeks that followed, people in the town formed the Snowdrop campaign - named for the first flower of spring - to press for a ban on handguns. Within weeks, it had collected 750,000 signatures. By the next year, the ban had become law. It is a familiar pattern around the world - from Britain to Australia, grief at mass shootings has been followed by swift political action to tighten gun laws.
Many in the United States are calling for that to happen there, too, after the shooting of 20 children as young as six at a school in Newtown, Connecticut. Many other Americans are adamant the laws should not change. In Dunblane, residents have been gathering at the town's massacre memorial to sign a book of condolence - but are loath to advise grieving Americans what to do. "It is not for us to tell the U.S. about gun control. That is for the people there," said Terence O'Brien, a member of the Dunblane community council. "What happened here was similar in many respects, but the wider culture is different."
When it comes to guns, the United States is exceptional. The U.S. has the highest civilian gun ownership rate in the world, with 89 guns per 100 people, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. Gun advocates, including the powerful lobby group the National Rifle Association, have blocked attempts to toughen American gun laws in the wake of previous mass shootings. Gun supporters say that the right to bear arms, enshrined in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, makes firearms ownership a civil rights issue, rather than simply an issue of public safety.
Supporters of gun control often cite Australia's dramatic response to a 1996 shooting spree in the southern state of Tasmania that killed 35 people. The slaughter sparked outrage across the country and within 12 days federal and state governments had agreed to impose strict new gun laws, including a ban on semi-automatic rifles like the Colt AR-15 used by the Tasmania killer. The Connecticut killer used a similar, rapid-firing weapon.
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US President Barack Obama wants to reinstate an assault weapons ban in the wake of the mass killings in Newtown, Connecticut, his spokesman says. Jay Carney said the president was "actively supportive" of a Democratic senator's plan to introduce a bill on the first day of the next Congress. There could also be moves on ammunition and gun-sale loopholes, Mr Carney said.
In its first statement since Friday, the National Rifle Association said it was "heartbroken" by the attack. The gun lobby group said it was "made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters - and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown. "The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again," the statement said, announcing a "major news conference" on 21 December. Gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults in last Friday's attack. Students in the rest of the Newtown district returned to school on Tuesday, but Sandy Hook Elementary, where the shooting took place, is still designated a crime scene.
Closing loopholes
The US president has previously stated his support for the reintroduction of an assault weapons ban, which lapsed in 2004. But he has not backed a specific move to do so before now. "He is actively supportive of, for example, Senator [Dianne] Feinstein's stated intent to revive a piece of legislation that would reinstate the assault weapons ban," Mr Carney said on Tuesday. The White House press secretary added that Mr Obama was also supportive of other gun legislation, including on high-capacity ammunition clips and against a loophole that allows for gun purchases at gun shows without a background check. Senator Feinstein told reporters she would introduce the legislation when the new Congress met for the first time in January. On Monday, the White House spokesman said that tighter gun control laws were only part of the answer to violence in the US, and that "no single action will fully address the problem".
But correspondents say that Democrats are now less reluctant to pursue gun control legislation than before, after two pro-gun senators said they supported action in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. Mr Carney said the president had spoken on Tuesday to West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat and avid hunter who made comments the day before about preventing gun violence. During the presidential campaign, Mr Obama expressed support for the ban on assault weapons during one of three televised debates against Republican candidate Mitt Romney. "I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theatres don't belong on our streets," Mr Obama said in the second debate on 16 October. "And so what I'm trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced."
Return to school
surprise,surprise,the left is blaming conservative organisations like the NRA for the NEWTOWN shootings !!! Martin Bashir and other left wing commys are blaming the right for the killings !! a dispicable, shameless ,attempt by the left to attack the second amendment !!
