Developing: Pakistani Plane Escorted by UK Fighter Jets — 2 Men Arrested

Listen to the Buck Sexton Show Live on TheBlaze Radio

Politics

President Calls for New Assault Weapons Ban, Universal Background Checks

Jan. 16, 2013 11:54am Madeleine Morgenstern

President Barack Obama signs executive actions to curb gun violence as Vice President Joe Biden and invited guests look on at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, on Jan. 16, 2013.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for new bans on “military-style assault weapons” and high-capacity ammunition magazines and for universal background checks for gun buyers.

Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and four schoolchildren who had written the White House in the wake of the Newtown shooting, Obama also signed 23 executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence.

Those executive actions include strengthening existing background checks by requiring federal agencies make more data available, nominating a new director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, mandating better reporting of gun crimes and directing the Centers for Disease Control to study gun violence. He also asked doctors and other medical professionals to help by reporting threats of violence from patients with access to firearms.

Despite fervid speculation before Wednesday’s announcement about the sweeping measures Obama might take, he laid much of the responsibility on Congress to take action on his $500 million plan.

“To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act,” Obama said. “And Congress must act soon.”

The president vowed to “put everything I’ve got into this” but added, “the only way we can change is if the American people demand it.”

Obama said there will be those who call the government’s actions a “tyrannical all-out assault on liberty” but said such claims are unfounded. He said the majority of the American people agree with his proposals.

Obama concluded his remarks Wednesday by acknowledging the parents of 7-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary victim Grace McDonnell, a little girl who loved art. Obama said one of McDonnell’s paintings now hangs in his private office.

“We must act now, for Grace. For the 25 other innocent children and adults,” Obama said. “Let’s do the right thing for them and for this country we love so much.”

Before Wednesday’s announcement, the National Rifle Association vowed to wage “the fight of the century” against Obama.

“I warned you this day was coming and now it’s here,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre wrote in a fundraising letter to members. “It’s not about protecting your children. It’s not about stopping crime. It’s about banning your guns … PERIOD!”

But the organization issued a decidedly dialed-back statement Wednesday afternoon, saying it would “continue to focus on keeping our children safe and securing our schools, fixing our broken mental health system, and prosecuting violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation. Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy,” the NRA said.

This post has been updated. Original minute-by-minute updates below:

12:14 p.m. Obama says he’s hung a painting made by Sandy Hook victim Grace McDonnell in his private office.

“We must act now, for Grace. For the 25 other innocent children and adults,” Obama says. “Let’s do the right thing for them and for this country we love so much.”

12:13 p.m. Obama: We have the right to worship freely was denied to Sikhs in a Wisconsin temple. The right to assemble peaceably was denied in an Oregon shopping mall, an Aurora movie theater. Denied to those at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, on a Chicago street corner.

12:12 p.m. Obama says the most vital changes depend on congressional acting. Asks the American people to pressure their representatives.

12:11 p.m. Obama: “I will put everything I’ve got into this, so will Joe. But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it.”

12:10 p.m. Obama says there will be some who warn of a “tyrannical all-out assault on liberty.”

12:08 p.m. Obama: I believe the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. I respect the rights of sportsmen and hunters and people who own guns for collection and protection.

“We can respect the Second Amendment while preventing an irresponsible and law-breaking few from inflicting harm on a massive scale,” Obama says. He says these are common sense measures that have the support of the American people.

12:06 p.m. Obama: We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to someone else. Says Congress hasn’t confirmed an ATF director in six years.

Also calls for more police on the job and on the streets.

12:05 p.m. Obama: “Congress should restore a ban on military-style assault weapons and a 10-round limit for magazines.”

12:04 p.m. Obama says Congress needs to require a universal background check for anyone who wants to buy a gun.

12:03 p.m. Obama says he’s signing a directive to strengthen the background check system, help schools, better reporting of gun crimes and enable the CDC to study gun violence.

12:01 p.m. Obama says in the month since Sandy Hook, 900 Americans have died from gun violence. “Every day we wait, that number will keep growing,” Obama says.

12:00 p.m. Obama says he started getting a lot of letters from kids after Newtown. Four of them are here today. One wrote: “I think there should be some changes, we should learn from what happened at Sandy Hook, I feel really bad.”

“These are our kids. This is what they’re thinking about. What we should be thinking about is our responsibility to care for them and shield them from harm,” Obama says.

11:57 a.m. Obama: “While reducing gun violence is a complicated challenge, protecting our children from harm shouldn’t be a divisive one.”

11:56 a.m. Vice President Joe Biden says he spoke with 229 organizations of law enforcement agencies, gun advocacy groups, sportsmen’s groups and more to deliver recommendations to Obama.

“We should do as much as we can, as quickly as we can….some will happen immediately, some will take some time,” Biden says.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (500)

jmeister8
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:34pm
I agree with the president’s idea and principle that we have to protect the youngest and most vulnerable among us. We must elliminate all the violence against them. It’s time to stop all the sensless deaths from California to New York. We must enact laws to stop those that would take young innocent life. We must protect the most inocent and defensless among us. I applaud the president for taking the forfront on this most important issue. Take the weapons of mass killings away from them. Only a sane and civilized society can defeat and stop these murdurous people. STOP ABORTIONS NOW!!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- hypnos
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 1:41pm
  Nothing about hollywoods split personality on gun violence or video game manufacturers. It seems their freedoms remain intact as it should too bad the same cant be said for legal gun owners and manufactures. Remember don’t let a go crisis go to waste.
  
  Report this comment
- jmeister8
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 2:09pm
  Hold it you mean he’s talking about taking guns away from ordinary legal citizens and thus making our communities more dangerous for CHILDREN? This has nothing to do with protecting defensless innocent life. You mean on one hand he is saying that we must destroy the 2nd amendment for THE CHILDREN? Yet he is in favor of slaughtering defenseless inocent unborn babies? Your saying he is making it more expensive and more difficult for children to get quality healthcare?. You mean he is making their lives less secure because their daddys are falling out of the workplace and loosing their jobs in record numbers because of his stupid arogant handeling of the economy? And how about those kids that are alittle older and are comming out of college without jobs and huge college debt? You mean he gives guns to Mexican drug cartels that kill innocent CHILDREN on both sides of our border. You mean he is destroying americas nuclear deterant to the point that Russia or China or maybe soon Iran can drop a nuclear device into little Sallys back yard and send her and her parents to fools heaven because they voted this self righteous monster idiot to power. You have to ask yourself if someone would do all this and more to hurt children and their families and the country they live in, DOES HE REALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN’S SAFETY OR HIS OWN POWER. “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds!” These words find their fullest expression in president Obama and his enablers.
  
  Report this comment
- Rosemary Woodhouse
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 2:18pm
  Wake up, you dumb pawn!
  
  Report this comment
COREZONE
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:34pm
All I heard was more government is needed to control your a$$. More money from you the working tax payers to give to them for redistribution. It will never will go to enforce the laws already on the books. Using children to push your point is pathetic.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
nocalifornia
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:32pm
Time for a 4.25 million armed man march on OUR capital.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Robert999
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:32pm
Ban executive orders.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
JoeE71
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:32pm
Here are my thoughts on the gun control thing: The statist politicians have been looking for some crisis for some time to implement their disarming of Americans. In fact, Obama & Holder even created a crisis when they sold guns to druglords in Mexico; this resulted in dozens of deaths, including a Federal Agent (why aren’t Holder and Obama in jail?). They are now using the Sandy Hook shootings as a way to get their way.

However, our rights come from God, not government. Therefore, the government has no right to give or take away those rights. That is what makes America unique and powerful.

It is by nature we have desires to protect ourselves. Prophets have said, and it is just common sense, that if we fail to protect our families we are cowards and faithless. That is our job and duty.

Obama & other statist politicians will follow past tyrants if they seek to disarm Americans. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, & others all implemented gun control. If you were a tyrant, wouldn’t you want to disarm the populace too? And implementing gun control in degrees is no less innocuous. It always starts by banning assault weapons, then it goes to high capacity guns. Before long, you can only own a BB gun.

It is the duty of all Americans to make sure their elected representatives, including the President, follow the Constitution & not even dare to think about taking away our God-given rights.

I pray we maintain our rights & that Americans of all backgrounds stand up to the tyrants i

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
DougHuffman
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:31pm
Protect the right of people to exercise their Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights during non-consensual contact with physicians.

Protect the rights of health care providers to talk to their patients about gun safety: Doctors and other health care providers also need to be able to ask about firearms in their patients’ homes and safe storage of those firearms, especially if their patients show signs of certain mental illnesses or if they have a young child or mentally ill family member at home. Some have incorrectly claimed that language in the Affordable Care Act prohibits doctors from asking their patients about guns and gun safety. Medical groups also continue to fight against state laws attempting to ban doctors from asking these questions. The Administration will issue guidance clarifying that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit or otherwise regulate communication between doctors and patients, including about firearms.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Really2012
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:30pm
Can we prosecute Eric Holder now for “Fast and Furious” ???

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
KangarooJack
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:30pm
I’m throwing this out there people-when you can review what Obama said {Actually when we can VISUALLY READ what he signed-all 23 Executive Orders} I’d REALLY like to see what Executive Sanctioned Powers he just enabled to the CDC.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Phreqguru
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:29pm
Even if they started impeachment proceedings this week, he would have served his entire term before it actually went through the process.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Deadbang
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:29pm
Hey Obammy the second amendment you supposedly support has absolutely NOTHING at all to do with hunting or personal protection (unless you are protecting yourself from commies like you). No I don’t think they are gonna come take all our guns, yet. No sensible member of the NRA is against backround checks of any kind. The whole problem is the people who commit these heinous act are not law abiding so it makes no sense. No matter what laws you pass unless you do confiscate every weapon in the world you cannot stop this from happening again. That’s where people come off the rails they can see that that’s the next solution when this measure fails as we all know it will.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Long Live Dixie
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:29pm
Did the guns given to Mexican cartells have more than 10 round mags?If they did,i am really pi$$ed now

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
coyote1hell
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:28pm
Buh’rack…hey, little girl..I’ll give you $1000.00 and a free trip to D.C…if you repeat what I tell you, and send this letter, that I wrote, back to me…thanks for your support…yeppp…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
mikefromaltoona
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:28pm
I am not a gun owner. I don’t have a family history of gun ownership, and I just don’t have a desire to own a gun. Having said that, I don’t have a problem with law abiding citizens owning guns. I believe it’s a constitutionally protected right. And I believe the primary purpose of the second amendment is to allow citizens to protect themselves against a tyrannical government.
But I’m curious. In a what if scenario, if the constitution were amended — approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-fourths of the states — to ban the private ownership of guns, or some less drastic restriction on gun ownership, would Blazers accept that as the supreme law of the land?
Not be ok with it but accept that the proper procedures had been followed.
Again this is just a hypothetical question. I don’t see such an amendment ever garnering enough support to even be proposed, much less passed. At least not in my lifetime.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
MrMark
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:26pm
And so Liberty dies a little more today…to the sound of applause.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:25pm
I missed the ‘executive order against TERRORISM!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- kat747
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 1:52pm
  A moslim will NEVER go against another muslim.
  Therefore,
  there will not be an executive order against terrorism in THIS administration.
  
  Report this comment
Xiccarph
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:25pm
Obama: I believe the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. I respect the rights of sportsmen and hunters and people who own guns for collection and protection.

Yes, I remember seeing that now in the 2nd…right next to ‘keep and bear arms like single shot muskets (or as defined by the Government)’. Dang me that I didn’t notice this clarification sooner.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Too_Far_Gone
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:24pm
Blutschultig

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
SIGNOFTHETIMES
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:23pm
ALERT!!!! Buy your guns and ammo now. This is the road to tyranny. 10,000 rounds of calibers that you have weapons for is a good start. May GOD watch over us and defend AMERICA.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Xiccarph
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:32pm
  Its pretty much too late..firearm and ammo supplies have pretty much been stripped from dealers shelves and gunshows. Everything else is now backordered a year+ and 2-4 times as expensive. 1994 all over again. Heck, I just saw 2 8-round Saiga 12 ga mags go for $250 on ebay…and these wont even be on the ban list! There is super paranoia running rampant out here, people.
  
  Report this comment
702TruthSeeker
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:23pm
mag limits are idiotic, don’t they realize that a 10 round mag of 50BMG in a barrett 50cal is slightly different than a 10 mag 22? or let’s compare a 10 round 9mm to 10 round 45ACP?? These people know nothing about firearms and should not be trying to come up with “solutions” to a problem without really understanding where it comes from

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
ginger100
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:23pm
so will he put cops in schools or a teacher trained in a firearm in schools?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
TheGrtDcptn
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:22pm
Gun Control on a FALSE narrative…

Why was this posted FOUR DAYS prior to the so-called incident…?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPKNLk-sdUg

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- DougHuffman
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:35pm
  All narratives are unfalsifiable, that’s why they are the witch doctors tool. They require suspension of skeptical disbelief – else would YOU sit through an extended lie?
  
  Report this comment
1stzookid
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:21pm
I heard this: Which sign would deter criminals better?

SCHOOL ZONE – NO GUNS BEYOND THIS POINT

OR

SCHOOL ZONE – ARMED STAFF AND SECURITY HERE

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
The_Veteran
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:21pm
” I believe the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. I respect the rights of sportsmen and hunters and people who own guns for collection and protection.”
No mention of what the 2nd Amendment really means. Our defense from a tyrannical government.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- TheTram
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:32pm
  It is upsetting when he purposely left that part of the amendment out of his speech.
  
  Report this comment
- Animalaura
  Posted on January 16, 2013 at 3:06pm
  Exactly. THAT slaps our military in the face. Those freedoms are what they are fighting for!
  
  Report this comment
1SFG
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:21pm
“Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!” Capt. John Parker Lexington Militia, Aril 19, 1775.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
1FreeVoice
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:21pm
Gun control is not the problem, human control is. laws tell law abiding people what they should not do. Law abiding people already know not to murder people with guns or anything else. Institute the death penalty for anyone convicted of 4+ murders whether committed all at once, or on separate occasions, and count attempted murder in there too… the fact that we have great Dr.’s does not chance the fact that they failed to kill because of someone else’s intervention.

Institute life sentences for people guilty of 5 or more aggravated assaults, and/or assaults with a deadly weapon.

People will control themselves or be placed where they cannot harm others. Continued violence inside prison against guards/staff or other prisoners can result in the death penalty.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.