Posts

Biden Pledges Unilateral Obama Action on Gun Control, Executive Orders Considered (+video)

By Erica Werner. Vice President Joe Biden vowed urgent action against gun violence in America Wednesday, pledging steps by the Obama administration that he said could “take thousands of people out of harm’s way” and improve the safety of millions more.

But a day ahead of a meeting with the National Rifle Association, which has sunk past gun control efforts and is opposing any new ones, Biden signaled that the administration is mindful of political realities that could imperil sweeping gun control legislation, and is willing to settle for something less. He said the administration is considering its own executive action as well as measures by Congress, but he didn’t offer specifics.

“I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion that unless we can do everything, we’re going to do nothing,” Biden told an array of gun control advocates, crime victims and others at the White House. “It’s critically important we act.”

Shortly after last month’s slaughter of schoolchildren at Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama tasked Biden with heading a commission to come up with recommendations on gun policy by the end of this month. Obama supports steps including reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and closing loopholes that allow many gun buyers to avoid background checks.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says that some 40 percent of gun sales are made without background checks, such as at gun shows and over the Internet. Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Why Americans Need to Own Assault Weapons

As has been widely reported, the Obama Administration is contemplating massive new gun control measures.

And at least eight bills have been filed by liberal gun control advocates in Congress.

This has stimulated strong responses from pro-Second Amendment activists. For example, a Marine veteran wrote a letter that has gone viral in response to Senator Feinstein’s public statements against guns and then went head-to-head with a CNN anchor over the constitutional purpose for individual ownership of guns.

Even Alex Jones got into the act with his appearance on Piers Morgan several days ago. This followed Piers Morgan’s meltdown with Gun Owners of America President Larry Pratt the week before.

But if you really want ammunition in support of your right to bear arms, pass around the following video. It’s entertaining and is right on the mark:

Iowa Lawmaker Calls for Retroactive Gun Ban, Confiscation of Semi-Automatic Weapons

In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.

Muhlbauer, a Democrat from the western Iowa town of Manilla, is a cattleman and farmer. The newspaper reported that he owns a .410 shotgun, a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol.

“We cannot have big guns out here as far as the big guns that are out here, the semi-automatics and all of them,” Muhlbauer told the newspaper during a December 19 audiotaped interview. “We can’t have those running around out here. Those are not hunting weapons.”

“We should ban those in Iowa,” he said, adding that such a ban should be applied retroactively.

“We need to get them off the streets — illegally — and even if you have them, I think we need to start taking them,” Muhlbauer told the Daily Times Herald. “We can’t have those out there. Because if they’re out there they’re just going to get circulated around to the wrong people. Those guns should not be in the public’s hands. There are just too many guns.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Biden, NRA to Meet on Guns

photo credit: donkeyhotey

Vice President Biden will meet with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a range of other groups this week as President Obama’s gun violence task force shifts into high gear.

A flurry of meetings with Biden and other Cabinet members were announced on Tuesday that will include gun-safety and sportsmen’s groups as well as Hollywood and video-game interests.

The pace and scope of Biden’s work — the task force he is leading is said to be considering significant changes to gun laws and is scheduled to deliver recommendations to Obama by the end of the month — have left groups scrambling over who can attend.

Movie studios, for example, were at press time still mulling whether to send their local representatives in Washington or corporate executives to meet with Biden.

The powerful NRA, which had warned that Obama, if reelected, would push for tighter gun laws, said it had accepted an invitation to attend a meeting.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bank of America Freezes Gun Manufacturer’s Account, Company Owner Claims

photo credit: moneyblognewz

Bank of America has reportedly frozen the account of gun manufacturer American Spirit Arms, according to its owner, Joe Sirochman.

In a Facebook post dated December 29, Sirochman wrote the following:

“My name is Joe Sirochman owner of American Spirit Arms…our Web site orders have jumped 500 percent causing our Web site e-commerce processing larger deposits to Bank of America. So they decided to hold the deposits for further review.

“After countless hours on the phone with Bank of America, I finally got a manager in the right department that told me the reason that the deposits were on hold for further review — her exact words were — ‘We believe you should not be selling guns and parts on the Internet.’”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Marine of Feinstein Letter Fame Schools CNN Anchor on Constitutional Law

We reported last week on a letter written by Marine Combat Vet Joshua Boston to Senator Diane Feinstein in reaction to her threat to require nationwide registration of firearms. Here, he educates a CNN anchor on the Second Amendment:

On First Day, Democrats Propose Eight Anti-Gun Bills

With the left looking for its next big cause, Congressional Democrats have latched onto the Sandy Hook massacre as an opportunity to push gun control. Yesterday alone, eight new bills were introduced relating to gun control. Two conservative bills were introduced relating to ending “gun free zones” under federal law.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) led the way with four bills introduced. Her husband was shot to death in 1993 and her son was severely injured when Colin Ferguson, a mentally unstable black militant (he spent time in his apartment chanting, “all the black people killing all the white people”), shot up a Long Island commuter train.

She has been a longtime gun control advocate. In 1997, she tried to push a federal law that would have mandated trigger locks on all firearms. She introduced legislation that would have forced gun companies to produce firearms that were “child-resistant.” In 2007, she tried an “assault weapons” ban that would have targeted some 65 types of firearms.

The measures McCarthy introduced include:
•Significant restrictions on gun show transactions, which would in effect end gun shows;
•No online purchases of ammunition, and licensing of ammunition dealers, as well as reporting to the federal government all bulk ammunition purchases;
•Prohibition on the transfer, sale, or possession of ammunition clips beyond a certain size.

But McCarthy wasn’t alone.

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Weighs Broad Gun-Control Agenda in Wake of Newtown Shootings

The White House is weighing a far broader and more comprehensive approach to curbing the nation’s gun violence than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to multiple people involved in the administration’s discussions.

A working group led by Vice President Biden is seriously considering measures backed by key law enforcement leaders that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks, and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors, the sources said.

To sell such changes, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association that one source said could include rallying support from Wal-Mart and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses. White House aides have also been in regular contact with advisers to New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), an outspoken gun-control advocate who could emerge as a powerful surrogate for the Obama administration’s agenda.

The Biden group, formed last month after the massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that killed 20 children and six adults, plans to submit a package of recommendations to President Obama this month. Once Obama’s proposals are set, he plans to lead a public-relations offensive to generate popular support.

“They are very clearly committed to looking at this issue comprehensively,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, who has been involved in the discussions. The proposals under consideration, he added, are “a deeper exploration than just the assault-weapons ban.”

Read more from this story HERE.