US President Barack Obama is expected to come out with a series of gun control measures including background checks and gun trafficking law, with the hope that these would bring an end to deadly incidents like the Wisconsin Gurdwara shooting and Connecticut school firing.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden would unveil a package of concrete proposals to reduce gun violence and prevent future tragedies like the one in Newtown, Connecticut.
Without going into details ahead of the announcement, he said these would include ban on assault weapons; ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines and expanded background checks.
Obama had entrusted Biden with the task of coming with a set of such proposals. Biden submitted those proposals.
“The President, as he has said often and said yesterday, believes that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. He believes and knows that most all gun owners are highly responsible; they buy their guns legally and they use them safely. He has seen and believes that most gun owners support the idea of common-sense measures to prevent people who shouldn’t have guns from getting them. And that includes closing loopholes in our background check system,” Carney said.
“It is a simple fact that there are limits on what can be done within existing law. And Congress has to act on the kinds of measures that we’ve already mentioned because the power to do that is reserved by Congress and to Congress,” he said.
Gun violence
He said Obama hopes that out of the tragedy of Newtown he can achieve progress towards reducing gun violence in the US.
“He believes that we can no longer stand by without taking action, even, as he acknowledges that no single thing that we can do will eliminate this problem,” Carney said.
Obama believes the Congress should pass legislation that closes loopholes in the background check system, he said.
“That’s something that I think we’ve all seen has broad support across the country, among gun owners and non-gun owners, among people in red states and blue states, Democrats and Republicans. And that’s something we should act on because it’s very important. There are a host of measures that we can take that can address this problem, and he believes we should take them as a nation,” he added.
Gun trafficking law
According to Politico, the White House told gun control advocates that Obama’s wide-ranging proposals will include a new federal gun trafficking law — long sought by big-city mayors as a way to keep out-of-state guns off their streets.
“The proposal, which has not been discussed in detail by the White House up until now, will be unveiled, along with Obama’s call for universal background checks for all new gun purchases, as well as new bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, according to a person who was in the room for the presentation to gun control advocates,” Politico said.
Bruce Reed, chief of staff to guns task force leader Vice-President Joe Biden, told a meeting that the proposals to be unveiled at a White House event on Wednesday will come with three prongs: legislation to reduce gun availability and executive actions to address education and mental health.
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