Real News': Is Now the Time to Talk About Gun Control?

Shootings always put the issue of gun control high up on the national political and media agenda for a few weeks, with an upsurge of emotion and public outcry sustaining the issue for some time before falling once again down the do list for our representatives in Washington D.C.

President Obama offered the following question in his address from Newton, Connecticut, Friday night, the site of the horrific shooting at an elementary school that resulted in the deaths of 20 children under 10 years old: "Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"

The tragedy has provided a timely platform for gun control advocates to call greater attention to their cause, but second amendment enthusiasts and gun rights backers are firing back, asking if questions like President Obama's are fair at this time when any legislative proposals are clearly reactionary. Gun control adovates in turn argue "If not now, when?"

California Sen. Diane Feinstein announced Sunday that she plans to introduce a new gun control bill on the first day of the next session of Congress, and the Obama Administration is now openly discussing various options for gun control legislation that the president will push for in his next term.

On 'Real News' Monday the panel discussed if these potential laws will it do anything to prevent tragedies like what happened in Newtown, and whether shortly after such instances take place, is the best time to write legislation that will make the most effective law while respecting the Constitution: