Police chiefs from Newtown, Aurora to meet with Obama

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet today with law enforcement groups and police chiefs from several communities impacted by mass shootings to discuss the administration's intensifying push to reduce gun violence.

The meeting will include representatives from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Major County Sheriffs Association, as well as police chiefs from Aurora, Colo., Oak Creek, Wis., and Newtown, Conn. Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will also attend.

The meeting marks the latest sign of action from the administration, which unveiled a raft of legislation and executive orders earlier this month and is pushing Congress to act swiftly to reduce gun violence.

The proposals, which include a nationwide background-check requirement for gun purchases, a ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons and a limit on the size of ammunition magazines, have drawn strong words from supporters and opponents alike.

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Feinstein: NRA as powerful as in the 1990s when assault weapons ban passed

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., unveiled an assault weapons ban last week, and while she admitted it'll be "an uphill climb" to get the ban passed, she declared Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that "I think I can get it passed because the American people are very much for it," citing a new poll that showed "68 percent supportive of a ban on assault weapons."

Asked whether the ban would infringe on gun owners' Second Amendment rights, Feinstein, who successfully shepherded the original assault weapons ban through Congress in 1994, embraced the question: "Well, let me talk about rights for a moment. Does a child have a right to be safe in school? ...Do people going to movies have a right to be safe? You want to talk about rights, talk about the rights of the majority too."

Also on "Face the Nation," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly praised Feinstein's bill as a step "in the right direction," but noted that handguns account for much more violence in his city than do assault rifles.

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NYC Police Commissioner: Handguns are main problem

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, however, disagreed strongly with proposals to strengthen gun laws, disputing the effectiveness of many of the president's proposed solutions.

"As the New York commissioner said, the overwhelming problem for him is handguns," he said. "The person who killed the most people at Virginia Tech used two pistols. The fact is every political attack from John F. Kennedy to the present has involved a weapon which would be legal under Senator Feinstein's law."

"There is a perennial desire," he argued, "to make the innocent have a more complicated life because of a handful who are the guilty, rather than focusing on the guilty."

Gingrich said that gun control proponents "ought to have the courage to look at facts, not create propaganda."

• Feinstein: Assault weapons ban "an uphill climb"
• Obama: Gun control supporters must listen more

The former speaker was joined on "Face the Nation" by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who urged people not to "focus on whatever is the weapon," but to "get to the root cause. Look at some of these mental health issues. Look at some of these drugs that are involved in this. Look at some of the violence that is permeating this society...drill down on this a little deeper. Be a little more thoughtful on it."

[rodzzzzz]

I can't see why anyone would oppose banning semi-automatic weapons. Have a read of http://rationalexaminer.com for why gun control should be supported.

[rpmuldoon]

(1) By his logic re the Constitution, the government could ban 60% of news media and regulate the rest without infringing on a free press. I don't buy that logic applied to the first *or* second amendment.
(2) Tossing out increases in assault rates after gun bans in Australia and the U.K. as irrelevant is similarly nonsensical; only a fool would assert that rising assault rates following imposition of strict gun control are a coincidence not worth investigating and only a cold-hearted sadist would contend that assault has no impact on quality of life.
(3) The author's ignorance of the technical definition of "semiautomatic" and the role this technology has played in the firearms industry for more than half a century is laughable; using the author's level of rigor, you could call a revolver a semiautomatic.
(4) His refusal to engage with John Lott's work in the very area this man claims is unstudied is unpardonable and the single clearest signal that this "rational" examiner is anything but.
(5) Finally, the idea that before you can teach your kids that violence against others is unacceptable you need to ban guns is a base insult to the millions of parents in the U.S. who have done just that.

[dj4240]

There are 10's of thousands of law enforcement officers and officials including many sheriffs all across the country who are not in favor of these worthless bans, why isn't.Washington listening to some of these officials ??.Feinstein proposed bans are a bogus scam...even the use of the term "assault rifles" is bogus...this is an invented political propaganda term...And what is proposed to be banned on these semi automatic rifles, are cosmetic features that have nothing to do with the way these rifles function, or with their mechanism. The last ban that ended in 2004 proved without a doubt that these bans don't work and did NOTHING in the prevention of anything,and the last ban was a total dismal failure.It is also contemptible how Feinstein,Blumenthal and the rest continue to use the sandy Hill tragedy as a "tool" for their gun grabbing scheme along with their phony trumped up poll results. Feinstein and Blumenthal and others have went on network talk shows and lied to the people by saying these bans would have prevented the sandy Hill shooting...This is a bold face lie...these bans would have not prevented any of the mass shootings,and they know it. What would help to prevent future tragedies is qualified armed security in our schools, and a upgrade of the nations mental health system...These worthless gun grabbing schemes will do nothing in the prevention of future shootings, and are only for liberal ideology and nothing else.

[rpmuldoon]

If you were looking for ideas on how to prevent gun violence, why would you ask advice from the people responsible for the country's most dramatic *failures* to prevent gun violence?

[Cpl_B]

Senator Feinstein stated on Face the Nation that 68% of the population favor her bill and restrictions on so called "Assault Rifles." Not sure what poll she is looking at, but here is Gallop. It appear she embellished some By a 15% embellishment of folks wanted "stricter laws on firearm sales." If you consider a band on guns, that would be a 46% embellishment. An all out ban on so call "Assault Rifles", a 24% embellishment. Poll Link: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

[Pope_AlGore]

You can count on Obama to do the incompetent thing while trying to look like he's "taking action". Unfortunately, shredding the US Constitution always tends to be the default action for Obama.

And while Obama continues to try and exploit the children of Newtown and the Aurora tragedy, there were seven gun-related deaths in Chicago this weekend. Plus there were another FIVE gun-related deaths in Washington DC this weekend.

Note that Chicago and Wash DC have the STRONGEST gun control laws in the country... but apparently criminals don't obey the law? And yet Obama wants to copy those ridiculous Democrat cities and turn the entire USA into a big Chicago.