President Barack Obama said on Meet the Press today he plans to put his “full weight” behind enhanced gun control measures this year.
I’m going to be making an argument to the American people about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure that something like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary does not happen again.
Just after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 20 children and six teachers dead, Obama launched a White House task force, with Vice President Joe Biden in charge, to help stem gun violence. He also wants a broad approach to address the role of violence in video games and movies, and measures to improve mental health care.
Meanwhile, Obama wants Congress to move fast to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban and to enact a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines, like the ones Adam Lanza used at Sandy Hook to slaughter so many children in such a short time.
He’s got a big fight ahead, though. The National Rifle Association, the country’s most powerful lobbying group, says it will oppose any new restrictions, and wants armed guards in schools, a proposal Obama is uneasy with.
I am not going to prejudge the recommendations that are given to me. I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.
Obama said he expects that many gun owners will favor further controls, especially in the wake of the shootings.
I think there are a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can’t have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids