Obama Vows Fast Action in New Push for Gun Control
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
Published: December 19, 2012 931 Comments
WASHINGTON — President Obama
declared on Wednesday that he would make gun control a “central issue”
as he opens his second term, promising to submit broad new firearm
proposals to Congress no later than January and to employ the full power
of his office to overcome deep-seated political resistance.
Luke Sharrett for The New York Times
The president tapped the vice president to lead the initiative.
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Leading House Republicans responded to the president’s pledge in the
aftermath of the Connecticut school massacre by restating their firm
opposition to new limits on guns or ammunition, setting up the
possibility of a bitter legislative battle and a philosophical clash
over the Second Amendment soon after Mr. Obama’s inauguration.
Having avoided a politically difficult debate over guns for four years,
Mr. Obama vowed to restart a national conversation about their role in
American society, the need for better access to mental health services
and the impact of exceedingly violent images in the nation’s culture.
He warned that the conversation — which has produced little serious
change after previous mass shootings — will be a short one, followed by
specific legislative proposals that he intends to campaign for, starting
with his State of the Union address next month.
“This time, the words need to lead to action,” Mr. Obama said. “I will
use all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at
preventing more tragedies like this.”
At an appearance in the White House briefing room, the president said
that he had directed Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to lead an
interagency effort to develop what the White House said would be a
multifaceted approach to preventing mass shootings like the one in
Newtown, Conn., last week and the many other gun deaths that occur each
year.
As evidence of the brutal cost of gun violence, Mr. Obama said that
since Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut, guns had led to the
deaths of police officers in Memphis and Topeka, Kan.; a woman in Las
Vegas; three people in Alabama; and a 4-year-old in a drive-by shooting
in Missouri. They are, he said, victims of “violence that we cannot
accept as routine.”
Accompanied by Mr. Biden, the president signaled his support for new
limits on high-capacity clips and assault weapons, as well as a desire
to close regulatory loopholes affecting gun shows. He promised to
confront the broad pro-gun sentiment in Congress that has for years
blocked gun control measures.
That opposition shows little signs of fading away. While the death of 20
children at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday appears to have
persuaded some Democratic lawmakers to support new gun control measures,
there has been little indication that Republicans who control the House
— and are in a standoff with Mr. Obama over taxes — are willing to
accept such restrictions.
House Democrats urged Speaker John A. Boehner
on Wednesday to bring a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines to a
vote by Saturday — a step he is highly unlikely to take.
Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, an influential
conservative leader, said in an e-mail that “it is clear that criminals
will always find ways to acquire weapons and use them to commit acts of
violence.”
“Passing more restrictions on law-abiding citizens will not deter this type of crime,” he said.
Mr. Jordan and other House Republicans declined to be interviewed,
saying through aides that it was time to mourn, not to debate policy.
“There will be plenty of time to have this conversation,” said Brittany
Lesser, a spokeswoman for Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa,
“but it is not amidst the funerals of these brave young children and
adults.”
This week, Mr. King told an Iowa radio station, KSCJ, that “political
opportunists didn’t wait 24 hours before they decided they were going to
go after some kind of a gun ban.” He also expressed doubt about gun
control measures, saying, “We all had our cap pistols when I was growing
up, and that didn’t seem to cause mass murders in the street.”
Representative Howard Coble, Republican of North Carolina, said in an
interview that he thought the talk of gun control was “probably a rush
to judgment” that missed the real issue.
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