Good morning!
From the NRA’s commercial asking you if Obama’s children are more important than yours, implying that they are if you don’t put armed security in your schools, to repub Steve Stockman and others threatening to try and impeach Obama over gun control, to thoughts of an executive order on gun control sparking a “civil war,” with one gun lover, Buck Yeager touting that he will kill anyone who tries to take away his guns.
Gun control is obviously one of the hot topics, and the crazies are out speaking loud and proud their thoughts on gun control. Thankfully we do have a few sane people talking common sense. Governor Cuomo of NY made a move in the right direction and just passed the toughest gun law in the nation, and…Obama is proposing to take executive action on gun control.
I watched Obama speak this morning – did you see? If not, here’s the write – Obama being bold:
WASHINGTON — In a bold and potentially historic attempt to stem the increase in mass gun violence, President Barack Obama unveiled on Wednesday the most sweeping effort at gun control policy reform in a generation.
The proposal, which comes at the end of a month-long review process spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden, is broken down into four key subsections: law enforcement, the availability of dangerous firearms and ammunition, school safety and mental health.
In an effort to touch on all four of those elements, the president recommended requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales; reinstating the assault weapons ban; restoring a 10-round limit on ammunition magazines; eliminating armor-piercing bullets; providing mental health services in schools; allocating funds to hire more police officers; and instituting a federal gun trafficking statute, among other policies. The cost of the package, senior officials estimated, would be roughly $500 million, some of which could come from already budgeted funds.
Because these recommendations require congressional approval, the administration is supplementing its proposal with 23 executive actions that will be taken immediately, according to the White House. Those actions include requiring federal agencies to hand over relevant data for a background check system; providing law enforcement officials, first responders and school officials with better training for active shooting situations; directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence; and many more.
“I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality,” said the president, speaking about his full set of recommendations. “If there’s even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”
The approach is so sweeping that what would have otherwise been a headline-grabbing announcement received second billing. The president on Wednesday will nominate Byron Todd Jones, the acting director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to take over the post permanently.
In total, the proposal goes beyond what most gun control advocates were hoping for at the start of Biden’s review process, during which he held 22 different meetings with 229 different organizations and 31 elected officials.
“This is a monumental moment. It’s a long time coming and we’re thrilled the president’s putting the full weight of his office behind this,” said Josh Horowitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “We’re ready to push this thing through.”
But putting together ideas is the easy part. Selling them on the Hill will take a bit of legislative craft.
Seasoned political observers have questioned whether it makes more sense to break the package into separate bills or push for one comprehensive proposal. A senior administration official said that the president’s proposal shouldn’t be considered finalized legislative language, but rather a series of recommendations for Congress to consider. The president would be working with lawmakers to move the process forward, the official added, and would be trying to build up public opinion as well.
“I will put everything I’ve got into this and so will Joe [Biden]. But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it,” said Obama. “We are going to need voices in those areas and congressional districts where the tradition of gun ownership is strong.”
“It can’t just be the usual suspects,” he continued. “This will not happen unless the American people demand it.”
The gun-rights lobby has already signaled that it will try to block the administration’s effort. A spokesman for the National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the president’s proposal. But the organization has already harshly criticized the Obama administration for overreach.
“It is unfortunate that this administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems,” the NRA said after meeting with Biden last week. “We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen.”
The group continued its offensive this week, launching an advertising campaignattacking Obama as an “elitist hypocrite” for opposing the NRA’s widely-criticized proposal, made after the Newtown, Conn. shooting, to place armed guards in all of the nation’s schools.
But that attack appeared a bit premature. As part of its policy recommendations, the White House called on Congress to act on an old administration proposal to spend $4 billion to keep 15,000 cops on the streets. In addition, the president is calling for a new initiative that would incentivize police departments to hire more school resource officers and encourage schools to hire more mental health professionals. The president’s plan also calls on Congress to allocate resources to help schools, other educational institutions and houses of worship develop emergency management plans.
The White House proposals, even officials there admit, is not a panacea for mass shootings. Among the suggested recommendations on the gun-policy front, only the ban on high-capacity magazines could have had a tangible impact on the Sandy Hook shooting. And it’s unclear just how much of an impact that would have had.
Moreover, the administration is pointedly not going after those weapons and ammunition clips that are currently and lawfully owned. The proposal would instead affect the future production and sale of military-style weapons or high-capacity magazines.
“We are not going to go after existing stock of weapons or magazines,” said a senior administration official. “We are going to limit it to the manufacturing of assault weapons and clips going forward.”
The White House, nevertheless, insists that its package of proposals has teeth. It would provide law enforcement with the mechanisms needed to go after the illegal transfer of weapons, administration officials stress, and it would help prevent those weapons from falling into the wrong hands. It would stem the use of military-style weapons — the White House says its proposal would improve on the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which was riddled with loopholes — and give resources to schools and communities to deal better with violence when it occurs.
The question, in some respects, is not what’s missing from the set of ideas, but what took the administration so long to get to this point.
“It is not as though we had this whole policy paper sitting on the shelf somewhere,” said a senior administration official. “[We worked] 24/7 for the past month. And we met with a lot of groups and we learned a lot of ideas that came as a result of this process. We tried to be as comprehensive as possible. We are hoping that as the process goes on and as the debate goes on, we might come up with some other ideas.”
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Obama’s ready to move forward. He’s putting everything he’s got into this – Are you? He’s asking for us to demand change. Make your voice heard. Speak to your peeps in your state.
Thoughts? Blog me.
Mattie: I found a smile on my face too when I read your story. I bet you owe your mother on that one big time. I just HOPE she doesn’t enter your mind every time your partner enters you though. :)
Let me be clear if I wasn’t before. I have no judgment on anyone doing whatever they want to their vaginas to make themselves feel better emotionally, physically or for better health. What I do have a problem with is when someone defines how a vagina should look, or what makes a vagina “attractive,” and then encourages women to “fix” theirs convincing them that their partner will then be more attracted to them.
Susan: Bravo.
Zen Lill: I remember when I blogged a few years back about bleaching your butt hole – not your butt hole of course – That was too funny. I HOPE miss Lily had a wonderful Birthday yesterday. What did you two do to celebrate?
Howie: We all know the downside of being in the hospital, so thankfully you are Home Sweet Home. I HOPE that you are feeling better.
That was quite the chronicle and certainly nothing close to what our history reports. I understand Quu’s viewpoint. And I’m not sure our beloved Earth will ever be a member of the Galactic Club if humans keep behaving as they do. What are your personal thoughts about our current and future positions? I look forward to the rest. Be well, Howie.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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