I think Obama was smart in this presentation. I think he realized he would not be able to win a direct fight on this, or didn't want the collateral damage that would result in a fight on this. So he came up with a bunch of relatively useless talking points (the 23 points) that the citizenry will hopefully accept as him "doing his job" while at the same time pushing the burden of passage (and perhaps the responsibility of failure) on to Congress. This may have been Presidential, but it was in no way the actions of a Leader.
Comrade Obama has more cards to play. This is just something to throw out and see how it's received. When the killings continue, and we all know they will because they're not addressing the real problems, he'll be coming back saying we must do more to control the weapons people can own.
guns don't kill people, gangbangers kill people.. maybe he'll provide grief counseling for the people that live in the neighborhoods where his support is concentrated.. if it's free, they will come..
I agree. Maybe he got the message and will say this is all he could do, but I doubt it. I also agree with pspr about bullet 4. i don't think anyone is gonna end up in 'fema camps' (i know u were being sarcastic), but there are already laws that ban people convicted, even of certain misdemeanors, from owing a gun permanently. I'm not making a prediction or anything as i don't do silly shit like that.. but when i put on my commie thinking cap, this is the kind of idea I come up with. ban citizens from owning weapons for even the most minor infractions. One other thing, I really don't think America has a violence problem, there are certain areas that do, but overall this is not a violent country.
Excellent. Short and accurate. Obama had to do something but he seemed to sense where the line is and didn't want to pick a fight that he was bound to lose. If he had issued an Executive Order banning semi-automatic weapons it would have been quickly overturned in court and he would be significantly weakened by that outcome.
Yes, I agree. I never thought Obama had much interest in this. There's no money in it, at least not since congress outlawed lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Plus, it serves no one's interests to force Members to take a suicidal vote on something that isn't going to pass anyway. Great political theater to exploit a bunch of kids too. Message, Obama=good, NRA=bad, just in case some of you didn't get it. Reid has already taken the assault rifle ban off the table. The high cap mag ban is troubling though, as plenty of idiots on the republican side will feel their instinctive urge to surrender. Sen. Grassley has already said he might go along. Now we also have the spectacle of that dolt Boehner backstabbing his caucus by putting the Sandy pork bill up for a vote and getting it passed with democrats and a few republicans. Too bad they can't redo the Speaker vote. He is so weak, ican see him knuckling under to pressure and allowing a vote on some gun control measures. There may be enough RINOs to pass something.
Maybe they'll address one of the issues I think is the cause of so much gang violence and other crime....prohibition. After all, they want to get to the bottom of the violence. I'd start there. Lot more death from that than lone killers.