Biden's meetings spotlight gun control divide
Assault-style weapons / CBS News
WASHINGTON Seeking to spur fresh action on gun legislation, Vice President Biden is scheduled to meet Wednesday with victims groups and gun-safety organizations.
The meeting is to be part of a series of gatherings Biden is conducting this week at the White House aimed at building a consensus around proposals to curb gun violence following the horrific elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The vice president will meet Thursday with the National Rifle Association and other gun-owner groups.
Conn. state senate takes on gun control at start of term
Meetings with representatives of the video-game and entertainment industries are also planned.
President Obama wants Biden to report back to him with policy proposals by the end of the month. Mr. Obama has vowed to move swiftly on the recommendations, a package expected to include both legislative proposals and executive action.
"He is mindful of the need to act," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday.
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But as the shock and sorrow over the Newtown, Conn., shooting fade, the tough fight facing the White House and gun-control backers is growing clearer.
Gun-rights advocates, including the powerful NRA, are digging in against tighter gun restrictions, conservative groups are launching pro-gun initiatives, and the Senate's top Republican has warned it could be spring before Congress begins considering any gun legislation.
"The biggest problem we have at the moment is spending and debt," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, said Sunday. "That's going to dominate the Congress between now and the end of March. None of these issues will have the kind of priority as spending and debt over the next two or three months."
The killing of 6- and 7-year-olds at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 appeared to stir a deep reaction from the White House and Capitol Hill. The president pushed gun control to the top of his domestic agenda for the first time and pledged to put the full weight of his presidency behind the issue. And some Republican and conservative lawmakers with strong gun-rights records also took the extraordinary step of calling for a discussion on new measures.
But other gun-rights advocates have shown less flexibility. The NRA has rejected stricter gun legislation and suggested instead that the government put armed guards in every school in America as a way to curb violence. A coalition of conservative groups is also organizing a "Gun Appreciation Day" later this month, to coincide with Mr. Obama's second inauguration.
The president hopes to announce his administration's next steps to tackle gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a second term on Jan. 21.
Connecticut's legislature was to return to work Wednesday, nearly four weeks after the Sandy Hook school shootings. Its first order of business, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Plante - debating strict new gun laws.
Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the rampage that wounded now former Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, took the occasion to announce they had formed a political action committee to prevent gun violence and bring changes to laws, such as requiring comprehensive background check for firearms sales. They wrote in USA Today that they intend tol raise funds to fight the influence of the gun lobby.
Giffords' announcement about her foray into the gun control debate brought back memories from the 1980s, when Jim and Sarah Brady formed the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Brady, then-President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, was wounded in the 1981 presidential assassination attempt by a mentally ill gunman.
Brady's organization has been among the most vocal champions of gun control since then, but it remains to be seen whether Giffords' group can better compete against the National Rifle Association and its huge fundraising and political clout.
The NRA spent at least $24 million in the 2012 election cycle, including $16.8 million through its political action committee and $7.5 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action. By comparison, the Brady Campaign spent around $5,800.
And when it comes to direct lobbying of lawmakers, the NRA was also dominant. Through July 1, the NRA spent $4.4 million to lobby Congress, compared with the Brady Campaign's $60,000.
Mr. Obama wants Congress to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons, close loopholes that enable gun buyers to skirt background checks and restrict high-capacity magazines.
Other recommendations to the Biden group include making gun-trafficking a felony, getting the Justice Department to prosecute people caught lying on gun background-check forms, and ordering federal agencies to send data to the National Gun Background Check Database.
Some of those steps could be taken through executive action, without the approval of Congress. White House officials say Mr. Obama will not finalize any actions until receiving Biden's recommendations.
Gun-rights lawmakers and outside groups have insisted that any policy response to the Newtown shooting also include an examination of mental health policies and the impact of violent movies and video games. To those people, the White House has pledged a comprehensive response.
"It is not a problem that can be solved by any specific action or single action that the government might take," Carney said. "It's a problem that encompasses issues of mental health, of education, as well as access to guns."
In addition to Biden's meetings this week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan will meet with parent and teacher groups, while Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will meet with mental health and disability advocates.
The White House said other meetings are also scheduled with community organizations, business owners and religious leaders.
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Every single proposal that's leaked from the Whitehouse so far fails to address the issues exposed by Newtown and will certainly fail any test of constitutionality.
Moreover, why are we taking things away from law abiding citizens? We don't ban cars, swimming pools, or hammers, yet these things are used to murder vastly more often.
Those that would ban firearms rely on emotionally driven deceptive rhetoric, it's less about the well being of the populace and more about a politically motivated agenda.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-1
Violent Crime and Murder have Decreased 50% in the last 20 years, how has this trend not made it into the media, why are the politicians not willing to praise the progress.
As the population steadily increases the Violent Crime and Murder rates Drop, this trend is because we have access to the firearms we do, not in spite of them.
Talk about an ignorant moronic thought process, disarm the public while Violent Crime and Murder Drops.
The latest push truly is less about the safety of the populace and driven solely by agenda.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-1
?
Seems not to be as all powerful as advertised...
As powerful as nra board member and money launderer/hostage taker norquist...
Not so much...
So if the "leaders" of the nra, the self appointed "kings" of guns & whites only freedom, were truly kings, would they have "power"...
Probably, but they ain't kings
The Pro Gun says "gun control = communism"
The Anti Gun say "all guns are evil"
When are we going to stop throwing crap at each other like a bunch of howler monkeys?
Nothing will ever get solved by missing the issue: What is causing these individuals to believe it's OK to conduct these types of attacks?
It's like saying I want to get rid of all knives because I cut myself...utterly ridiculous to blame the tool...look to the operator. Or do we hold the big three responsible for drunk driver fatalities?
Went by one of the gun buy backs. Alot of those guns was not worth what they was being purchased for. So meny of them was damaged or could not be sold. There was a few guys there that was going around buying cheap guns for les say a 100 dollars and selling them back to the gun recovery for double and tripple the price. I hope it works well but think they are buying meny weapons that really would not be on the streets in the first place. But i guess you can turn a good profit in doing it.
211 children a year age 14 and under die, 117 of then were in the car of the drunk driver.
People drive impaired on average 80 times before their first arrest.
112 million people admit to driving impaired a year without being caught.
These seem like poor statistics, considering it is illegal to drink and drive. The stakes are high, yet many choose to disobey the law.
So, what is your view of the USA after gun control and your Socialist revolution [proletariat defeats "Kapitalists" and the State owns everything]?
So now some control of lethal weapons is socialism? Or communism? Seriously?
State owning everything is communism. Unlike socialism where the means of production are owned by the people. And actually I am more in favor of what is called democratic socialism that is the system in many European countries. Seriously gun control = communism? ROFLMAO
What did they all have in common? They first disarmed their populations.
BTW, if learning from past history is not your forte...there may be some Aesop fable that covers the consequences of laughing in public as a result of ones own ignorance.
Two, mental illness is a biological disease, it's not a choice, or poor parenting. I wouldn't want to to be sarcastic about something that sad and serious.