US President Barack Obama has said that he would outline the gun control measures by the end of this week.
In his last press conference of his first term, Obama told reporters yesterday that from the Vice President Joe Biden he has received a list of “sensible, common steps” that could be taken through executive or legislative action, but did not give the details of it.
His second term begins January 20.
Obama, who had entrusted Biden to come up with such a proposal after the last month’s tragic school shooting that killed 20 students, said that he plans to give the public a fuller presentation later this week.
“I’m grateful to Vice President Biden for his work on this issue of gun violence and for his proposals, which I’m going to be reviewing today and I will address in the next few days and I intend to vigorously pursue,” Obama said.
In a response to a question Obama said,” I expect to have a fuller presentation later in the week to give people some specifics about what I think we need to do.”
Refraining from giving any details of the proposed legislative and executive actions, Obama said one thing could be gathering data on guns that fall into the hands of criminals, and how they can be tracked more effectively.
“But I think that those of us who look at this problem have repeatedly said that responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship, they don’t have anything to worry about. The issue here is not whether or not we believe in the Second Amendment,” he said.
Obama said, “The issue is, are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can’t walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a shockingly rapid fashion. And surely, we can do something about that.”
“But part of the challenge that we confront is, that even the slightest hint of some sensible, responsible legislation in this area fans this notion that somehow, here it comes and everybody’s guns are going to be taken away. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the case,” he added.