Tucson shooting prompts gun safety proposal

Gun owners and supporters show their support during Gun Owners' Lobby Day at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield March 10, 2011. / AP Photo

WASHINGTON - Six months after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, the White House is preparing to propose some new steps on gun safety, though they're likely to fall short of the bold measures activists would like to see.

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Spokesman Jay Carney said that the new steps would be made public "in the near future." He didn't offer details, but people involved in talks at the Justice Department to craft the new measures said they expected to see something in the next several weeks. Whatever is proposed is not expected to involve legislation or take on major issues, like banning assault weapons, but could include executive action to strengthen the background check system or other steps.

"The president directed the attorney general to form working groups with key stakeholders to identify common-sense measures that would improve American safety and security while fully respecting Second Amendment rights," Carney said Thursday. "That process is well under way at the Department of Justice, with stakeholders on all sides working through these complex issues, and we expect to have some more specific announcements in the near future."

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Anti-gun groups have been disappointed to see no action so far from President Obama, who supported tough gun control measures earlier in his career but fell largely silent upon becoming president. Some activists were using the opportunity of the six-month anniversary of the Giffords shooting on Friday to speak up.

The shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., killed six people and wounded more than a dozen others, including Giffords. Two months later, Mr. Obama wrote an opinion piece in Giffords' local paper, the Arizona Daily Star, calling for "sound and effective steps" to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including strengthening background checks. So far the president has done nothing and administration officials have signaled that no major steps should be expected, given the climate in Congress against gun legislation of any kind.

That's not stopping activists from pushing Mr. Obama. The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, headed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sent Mr. Obama a letter calling him to act.

"To prevent the next Tucson, we need a comprehensive background check system, which is what the president called for in April," said the director of the mayors' group, Mark Glaze. "That said, there are many steps the president can take on his own authority, without new laws, that could make a very real difference."

The group's suggestions included enforcing reporting laws that could have stopped the Tucson shooter from getting a weapon.

[OIF_to_USC]

Two U.S. agents are dead because Obama and Holder were allowing guns to walk across the border to the Mexican drug cartels. Holder lied to a U.S. House subcommittee and now the mainstream media thinks he will be allowed to "walk" too? The entire country is furious and up in arms over Obama and his thugs in Washington and elsewhere. Even government rank and file in the DOJ and BATFE who are being again told to "fall on their swords" for the Obama/Holder administration -- like they did for Clinton/Reno -- are saying that enough is enough.


In the meantime, we already have an "instant check" system in place. In the case of Jarred Loughner, it did not work because Liberal Democrat and Pima County Sheriff Dupnik had earlier refused to arrest Jarred Loughner following his "many" incidents of threatening conduct against others. When Sheriff Dupnik heard the report that Loughner was the shooter, he ran -- not walked -- but ran to the media microphones to blame it all on the NRA, talk radio, gun owners, Sarah Palin, and a lot of other garbage accusations that were since disproven.


If Sheriff Dupnik had simply arrested Jarred Loughner long enough to get a mandatory mental assessment that would have "easily" led to a diagnoses of schizophrenia complicated by excessive marijuana use, then Laughner's arrest and diagnoses would have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) data base where it would have been later accessed -- with the necessary red flags -- by the National Instant Check System (NICS) when he tried to purchase a weapon.

Now, just how are Obama and Holder going to improve on that? Just tell Pima County Sheriff Dupnik --- to do his job.

State Law Enforcement Veteran (1988-04)
Iraq War Veteran (2006-07)
Teacher (2010-Present)
NRA Member (Life)
NRA Memeber

[skspls]

Let me get this right&.President Obama has directed Eric Holder, the very person who allowed the unlawful sales of approximately 2,500 guns destined for the criminal element on both sides of the border, to form working groups with key stakeholders to identify common-sense measures that would improve Americans' safety and security while fully respecting Second Amendment rights? That should make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy. It's no wonder that the majority of American citizens don't trust the government.

[skspls]

Let me get this right&.President Obama has directed Eric Holder, the very person who allowed the unlawful sales of approximately 2,500 guns destined for the criminal element on both sides of the border, to form working groups with key stakeholders to identify common-sense measures that would improve Americans' safety and security while fully respecting Second Amendment rights? That should make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy. It's no wonder that the majority of American citizens don't trust the government.

[Gunda3]

Where is the proposal? There isn't one because no one has made a proposal. What you might want to write for story about gun control is Obama's and Eric Holders involvement in the Fast and Furious Gun walking scandal. Watergate is nothing compared to where this is going to go.

[stupidrules3]

Non story. No proposal. Thanks for wasting my time CBS.