Obama unveils biggest gun-control push
2013-01-16 19:18
Washington - President Barack Obama proposed a new
assault weapons ban and mandatory background checks for all gun buyers on Wednesday
in a bid to channel national outrage over the Newtown school massacre into the
biggest US gun-control push in generations.
Rolling out a wide-ranging plan for executive and
legislative action to curb gun violence, Obama set up a fierce clash with the
powerful US gun lobby and its supporters in Congress, who are expected to
resist what they see as an encroachment on constitutionally protected gun
rights.
Obama presented his agenda at a White House event in
front of an audience that included children from around the country, a poignant
reminder of the 20 first-graders who were killed along with six adults by a
lone gunman on 14 December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,
Connecticut.
"While reducing gun violence is a complicated
challenge, protecting our children from harm shouldn't be a divisive one,"
Obama said.
Until now, Obama had done little to rein in America's
weapons culture during his first four years in office.
But just days before his second inauguration, he appears
determined to champion gun control in his next term with a concerted drive for
tighter laws and other steps aimed at preventing further tragedies like the one
at Newtown.
The proposals stem from a month-long review led by Vice
President Joe Biden, who on orders from Obama met with advocates on both sides,
including representatives from the weapons and entertainment industries.
Obama's plan calls on Congress for a renewed prohibition
on assault weapons sales that expired in 2004, a requirement for criminal
background checks on all gun purchases, including closing a loophole for gun
show sales, and a new federal gun trafficking law - long sought by big-city
mayors to keep out-of-state guns off their streets.
He also announced 23 steps he intends to take immediately
without congressional approval. These include improvements in the existing
system for background checks, lifting the ban on federal research into gun
violence, putting more counsellors and "resource officers" in schools
and improved access to mental health services.
Ban on assault weapons
The most politically contentious piece of the package is
Obama's call for a renewed ban on military-style assault weapons, a move that
Republicans who control the House of Representatives are expected to oppose.
The Newtown gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, used a
Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle to shoot his victims, many of them 6- and
7-year-olds, before killing himself.
Underscoring the tough political fight ahead, the
National Rifle Association (NRA), launching a scathing advertising campaign
against Obama's gun control effort and deployed its representatives in force on
Capitol Hill.
The NRA, which says it has about 4 million members, took
aim at Obama in a stinging TV and internet spot, accusing him of being
"just another elitist hypocrite" for accepting Secret Service
protection for his two daughters but turning down the lobby group's proposal to
put armed guards in all schools.
Obama's plan appears to tread cautiously on the question
of whether violent movies and video games contribute to the gun violence, which
would open up issues of freedom of expression.
A senior administration official said, however, that
Obama would be asking for $10m for the federal Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention to study the root causes of gun violence, including any relationship
to video games and media images.
