Biden brings gun violence talks back to Connecticut

Vice President Joe Biden today is bringing the ongoing national discussion about reducing gun violence back to the place that spurred it, addressing a conference on gun violence at a Connecticut university just 10 miles from the site of December's Newtown shooting.

Biden will deliver remarks this morning at a conference at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Conn. Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut are co-hosting the event with Rep. Elizabeth Etsy, D-Conn., who represents both Danbury and Newtown.

Biden has played a key role in the administration's response to the tragic Newtown shooting, leading a White House task force on reducing gun violence and reaching out to state lawmakers on the issue as well as working with federal politicians. The administration is seeking a whole host of policy measures to bring down gun violence, but it's unclear which, if any, could make it past the high hurdles they face in Congress, especially as opponents like the National Rifle Association continue to push back against them. Furthermore, the political will to pursue gun control legislation could be dampened as Congress focuses on the looming "sequestration" spending cuts.

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In the face of these obstacles, Biden is leading the administration's effort to keep up public support for measures to reduce gun violence.

Prior to the vice president's remarks today, the conference at Western Connecticut State University will feature panel discussions on ways to reduce gun violence, protect children and make communities safer. The panels will include national, state, and local leaders, law enforcement, mental health experts, sportsmen, faith leaders, families and survivors of gun violence.

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Biden: "get a double-barreled shotgun"

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Biden: "No one's taking my shotgun"

Biden has gone to great lengths to convey the idea that the administration fully supports Second Amendment rights, including pointing out that he himself is a gun owner. "No one's taking my shotgun," Biden said Tuesday during a Facebook town hall event with Parents Magazine, reassuring his audience that stricter gun laws won't mean people will have their guns taken away. He went so far to suggest that Americans who want a gun for self-protection should "get a double-barreled shotgun."

The point Biden was trying to make, White House spokesman Jay Carney explained the next day, "is that in his view, you do not need a military-style assault weapon to protect your home. In fact, you would be better off with a shotgun."

Carney noted that Biden owns a 12-gauge and a 20-gauge shotgun, which he keeps in a safe at his Delaware home.

"When we talk about the president's comprehensive package of proposals to address the problem of gun violence in America would not -- if all of them were implemented, the executive actions and the legislation, if it all happened tomorrow, not a single law-abiding American citizen would lose his or her weapon, or his or her firearm," Carney added. "And that's because we believe in Second Amendment rights. But we need to take action, sensible action, common sense action to try to reduce the scourge of gun violence in this country."

Of the measures the White House is backing, an expansion of background checks seems the most likely to pass through Congress. A group of bipartisan senators, including Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., are working on a passage to expand background checks "that I think that most of us will be able to support," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday.

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[CWSMTB]

Welcome to Obama's Amerika - Chicago is Obama's example of his gun-control schemes.
1)Strictest gun-control laws in nation.
2)506 Homicides in 2012.
3)4 out of 5 murders go unsolved.
4)First 6 months of 2012 police seize 3 guns for every 1 gun seized in Los Angeles.
5)In January 2013, some 43 people were gunned down in Chicago, making it the deadliest January in the city in more than a decade
6)Police no longer respond to 911 calls for burglary, robbery, auto theft, "threat" of violence (they won't come unless you are being assaulted at that moment) and many others.
7). Obama continues to mercilessly exploit tragedies like the shooting of Hadiva that girl that performed at the inauguration. But guess what!

The shooter was arrested recently for a weapons violation, and was given "two years probation" ! No jail time!

This is why our citizens are being slaughtered in the streets. The courts and parole boards keep putting these criminals back on the streets to do what they do. Break the law, rape, rob and murder!

Chicago's Motto: "only outlaws can have guns" Passing more laws for law abiding citizens to follow and for the violent criminals to break will solve nothing. Keep these violent people and nut jobs behind bars, Where they belong! Obama!

[cubscout09]

The GOP sequester will cut about $70,000 from 911 services in my city. Still waiting to find out how many first responders will be laid off due to the GOP sequester.

[harv823]

I still think the best way to get assault weapons off the street would be to allow those owning them to be able to trade them in for a case of viagra.

[jgg000010]

something tells me your 4 hour boner isn't going to scare away anybody but your date.

[Donnie_G]

Mental Health Records and the National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS):

All retail sales of firearms currently require a NICS check, no matter where they occur.
It is a federal felony to lie or otherwise make false statements on a NICS.
IT'S THE LAW, AND IT'S A GOOD LAW.

Hear are some words straight from the Vice President's lips to your ears: VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN says that "the U.S. government doesn't have the time or resources to prosecute those people that are caught breaking this long time federal law (NICS)", so the OBAMA government (President = Executive Branch = responsible for Law Enforcement) HAS CHOSEN NOT TO ENFORCE this FEDERAL LAW. So here we have a good law (NICS) already on the books that isn't being enforced at any level. Not by accident, but by PRESIDENTIAL DECISION. Just like he did with immigration laws, budget laws, etc.. DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE?

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT NOBODY'S BETTER AT PLAYING THE BLAME GAME THAN OUR PRESIDENT, RIGHT?
Well, due to some recent high profile mass murders committed by lunatics and criminals, VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN and the OBAMA White House have seized upon a chance to look as though they are actually doing something meaningful, by ASKING THEIR CADRE OF GULLIBLE TV ADDICTED AMERICANS FOR PERMISSION TO place the BLAME for these criminal acts on THEIR NEIGHBORS, who are ORDINARY LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, because it's politically convenient to do so, and it shifts our attention away from this administration's rotting trail of failed policies. Hey, it worked for ADOLPH HITLER in 1934.

So, don't JUST SAY NO, say HELL NO to OLD CARTOON JOE AND HIS WINDY ASSOciateS!

[Dontbeslow]

As a nation we are responsible for the murder, in which they dismember & discard through a vacuum hose, of OVER ONE MILLION innocent babies every year. I hear no one wanting to make vacuums illegal. This wasn't intended to be humorous.

No nation's democracy can survive with such disregard for innocent life. However, we accept it when it's either convenient or political favorable.

We put drug dealers in prison, but financially reward the killing of babies, just because (mostly) irresponsible mothers say so.

[jgg000010]

well, the good news is that he isn't dragging gabby giffords around the track for another lap.

[Just_American]

Joe...Keep this up and you can forget about running for president 3 years from now.

[dj4240]

I'm disgusted by how politicians and gun grabbers will use Newtown,and family members of victims as props and tools to promote their liberal gun ban agenda...None of the proposed bans would have prevented any of those evil mass shootings...and the rifle and magazine bans that ended in 2004 proved without doubt that these bans don't work and that they prevented nothing. What could have prevented the Sandy Hook tragedy would have been a qualified armed security guard...The killer wouldn't have even got through the door...and most likely with an armed guard present wouldn't have even tried.

[RickB2400]

The measure, called the Firearm Protection Act, declares that any new gun-control laws or executive orders that ban semiautomatic weapons or limit ammunition clip sizes are "unenforceable" in Wyoming. Any federal agent who tries to enforce gun-control measures would be guilty of a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It also allows the state's attorney general to defend Wyoming residents prosecuted for violating federal gun laws.

[RickB2400]

I'm seriously thinking about moving to Wyoming. I think I would like to live in a state where the elected officials actually stands up for their citizens rights.

[RickB2400]

ha ha ha ... What's up Trout ?

[RickB2400]

It makes sense to go back to Connecticut and push your gun ban agenda. Nothing like getting up close and personal to exploit the families of the 20 children of a horrible massacre. Way to go Joe .. !!!

[jgg000010]

in case anybody forgot..."nobody messes with Sheriff Joe".