President Obama Announces New Task Force For Gun Violence

     There's been some skepticism on the part of liberals wether the President is going to do something now with the time clearly being right about gun violence-Newtown was the 4th mass shooting since he came to office in 2009.

      I tend to think this skepticism is wrong just as I think it's wrong regarding the fiscal cliff and other matters. He made it very clear in his speech at Newton on Sunday that something legislatively must be done-not simply going through the motions yet again. Other Democrats have also signaled that the time for going through the motions is over. Greg Sargent sees reason for "cautious optimism."

    "I continue to be cautiously — or perhaps foolishly — optimistic that we may really see Democrats attempt gun law reform in the wake of the Newtown carnage, and today brings fresh reasons for that optimism."
At the White House briefing today, press secretary Jay Carney confirmed that President Obama supports Senator Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to renew the assault weapons ban, which she intends to introduce on the first day of the new Congress.

Here’s more: A top member of the Senate Democratic leadership tells me Dems are very likely to introduce a whole package of reforms — not just the assault weapons ban; that plus a host of other initiatives — during the first half of 2013.

“This is likely to be part of a package of proposals,” Senator Dick Durbin told me, in a reference to the assault weapons ban, adding that Dems would consider including other ideas like limiting high capacity magazine clips, beefing up background checks, expanding mental health services, and looking at violence in movies and video games. He said action was likely “early next year.”

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/18/dems-showing-real-movement-on-gun-control/

    What gun control advocates like Mayor Mike Bloomberg is urged if for the President to put forward specific proposals. While he hasn't done this yet, this task force, to be run by Vice President Biden will do just that by early January:

    "President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday to act to combat gun violence, as he launched a panel led by Vice President Joe Biden that will quickly offer recommendations to him in the aftermath of Friday’s mass shooting in Newtown, Conn."

     “The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing,” Obama said at the White House. “The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence and prevent the very worst violence.”

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/barack-obama-to-announce-guns-task-force-85293.html#ixzz2FWc94uEb

     Absolutely. The "complexity" argument has got to go. We still have Republicans who are simply living in a dream world regarding guns. Bill Bennett actually said on Meet the Press this last Sunday that arming the principal-or at least someone who works for the school-might have helped.

     Would one more gun in the hands of the school principal helped or would one less gun-the killer's gun helped more? In Denmark-or some European country like that (LOL)-in the 90s responded to a killer's rampage that left over 20 dead kindergartners by banning guns altogether. I don't advocate that but surely we need to act. Joe Scarborough who had a 100% rating with the NRA in the 90s now admits that it's a new world we're living in now.

    Jim Demint's replacement doesn't augur well for the Republican response to Netown either. He thinks doing something about this "won't necessarily" solve it.  So let's give up before we start.

    http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/12/tim-scott-on-gun-control-and-why-gop-is.html

    What is a good sign is that even pro-gun Democrats like Joe Manchin from West Virginia have signalled their support for some sensible gun control. The question is about the GOP House.

     "Unless something changes — and it might, given the tenor of things after Newtown — the House could be the place where the gun control momentum comes to a grinding halt. Conservatives in the House majority Republican caucus are already telling gun control advocates to hold their horses.
Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA), incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee — which gives him “jurisdiction over firearms regulations,” according to Roll Call — told the publication he’s not moving from his opposition to new gun regulations."

     “We’re going to take a look at what happened there and what can be done to help avoid it in the future,” Goodlatte said, “but gun control is not going to be something that I would support.”
The NRA plans to weigh into the situation for the first time Friday, potentially giving backup to the Goodlatte school of thought."

      "Other House Republican leaders are more equivocal when it comes to gun control than he is, however."

      “If the president has specific ideas in mind, we will listen,” a spokesperson for Speaker John Boehner told Roll Call. “But right now our focus should be on the victims, their families and their friends.”

       "It’s not yet clear if the majority of the House GOP will sound more like Goodlatte or more like Boehner if and when actual gun control legislation comes up. Openness to the discussion of gun control would be a shift. Blanket rejection of it would not."

       "The potential for new gun laws following the Newtown shooting probably depends on that difference."

    "The Biden-led task force will produce “concrete proposals” by January that Obama said he “intend[s] to push without delay” and will include in his State of the Union Address. Biden joined Obama at the announcement but did not speak."

     “There’s already a growing consensus for us to build from,” Obama said. “A majority of Americans support banning the sale of military-style assault weapons. A majority of Americans support banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips. A majority of American support laws requires background checks before all gun purchases.” The new Congress, he said, should vote on all these measures and prioritize confirming a new leader for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


     Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/barack-obama-to-announce-guns-task-force-85293.html#ixzz2FWfHKFNs

     I see that at White House reporter pressed the President on his own record on gun control during his first term-obviously he didn't get anything done on gun control over the last 4 years:

     "But pressed by a reporter to explain his own inaction during his first term in a question, Obama got testy, listing the other issues he had to tackle over the last four years. “Here’s where I’ve been … I’ve been president of the United States dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse, two wars. I don’t think I’ve been on vacation,” he said. “I think all of us have to do some reflection on how we prioritize what we do here in Washington.”
      I don't see why it's necessary to belabor that. It is true that he had a lot of other issues to fight and that you can't fight all battles at once. He didn't have the political capital then. No doubt Netown is a game changer. What difference does this matter though? Are we supposed to reject gun control now because we didn't do it before?