Thanks, however, to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to gun ownership, and the ultra-powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), there are few concrete measures the president can take. PHOTO: FILE
Even these lukewarm measures have stoked the ire of the NRA and the gun lobby. To pre-empt the possibility of any action being taken, the NRA released an advertisement accusing the president of hypocrisy for having armed protection for his daughters while plotting to take away everyone else’s guns. Not only is the ad misleading since President Obama is not about to announce a ban on guns, it can also be interpreted as stoking racial fears in an already divided country.
There are some actions President Obama could have asked Congress to take that would make sense and enjoy popular support. He could also propose closing the gun-show loophole, which allows people to purchase arms at gun shows without going through background checks. The biggest obstacle he faces is that the Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives and they have shown no interest in enacting gun control legislation. For now, the US will have to accept the status quo on this issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2013.
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"One would have thought that the massacre at the Sandy Hook elementary school was the final push the US needed to enact some sensible gun control measures."
If one was utterly brainwashed by liberal socialists maybe. Otherwise, one would think that this latest, shameless bloodancing-for-victimization on the part of the very wicked people among us (Hussein, Fienstien, Schumer, Brady, et al) would be the last straw.
BTW, I wish the NRA was as stalwart a defender of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as you portray. Sadly, that may not be the case: NRA supports gun-control. When was the last time NRA pushed for REPEAL of past federal laws like the GCA68?
Too bad you didn't actually see the NRA TV ad you refer to. In the TV ad, the NRA compares the White House "skepticism" of placing armed guards in schools to the fact that President Obama's own children have the luxury of armed guards in their school! That is not how you "misleadingly" portray the TV ad in question!
"President Obama could have asked Congress to take that would make sense and enjoy popular support. "
This has been the criticism of his presidency and rightfully so. The present federal measures on gun control will likely fail, but at state levels there may be some improvements.
All laws are only good for law abiding citizens and law abiding citizens do not commit crime.
The responsibility of gun ownership and safe guarding the guns also rest with gun owners, and this is where NRA also fails.
The right to bear arms is not a sole regulatory provision of any state. The states that assume the sole authority of arms ownership are a dictatorial state.
There are enough laws in the books of any state to curb violence perpetrated by guns, knives, rape, acid, stick or stone. Those have not prevented the crimes from happening, however..
Since stone age, all crimes are the same -murder, rape, thievery, and cheating and the human society have not prevented them from happening again and again.
Until the US congress can assure the public that the new laws will prevent gun related death from happening again, it is an exercise in futility.