He can't run again, IIRC, so maybe he is the guy to take a run at gun control.
The risk is that if he does it too early, he'll face huge opposition and the rest of his agenda could be held hostage. With a battle in two years for the House/Senate and a presidential election in 4 years, if he acts too late, his own party will run for the hills in order to concentrate on the individual elections.
The NRA is incredibly powerful. I don't know if the Dems have enough juice to take this on (when they want to concentrate on immigration, the financial crisis, etc).
I feel far more at ease in Australia and New Zealand, which I have travelled to numerous times. Heck, even Asian countries that don't have the same standard of living, I feel far more safe and comfortable.
When I get to the US, I feel like I have to watch my back 24/7. But that's just me.
Depending on where you're travelling this could be either completely reasonable or totally ridiculous (not your feeling, the need to feel it). I imagine a lot of it has to do with preconceptions too. I do the same thing though, even just going to neighborhoods I'm not used to.
The risk is that if he does it too early, he'll face huge opposition and the rest of his agenda could be held hostage. With a battle in two years for the House/Senate and a presidential election in 4 years, if he acts too late, his own party will run for the hills in order to concentrate on the individual elections.
The NRA is incredibly powerful. I don't know if the Dems have enough juice to take this on (when they want to concentrate on immigration, the financial crisis, etc).
Can this be done with an executive order?
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The risk is that if he does it too early, he'll face huge opposition and the rest of his agenda could be held hostage. With a battle in two years for the House/Senate and a presidential election in 4 years, if he acts too late, his own party will run for the hills in order to concentrate on the individual elections.
The NRA is incredibly powerful. I don't know if the Dems have enough juice to take this on (when they want to concentrate on immigration, the financial crisis, etc).
It blows my mind that there can still be an argument/movement against gun control.
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[Updated at 3:22 p.m. ET] It appears that another member of the alleged shooter's family is dead. A senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation says a brother of the alleged shooter was found dead in a home searched in Hoboken, New Jersey. We already knew Ryan Lanza's mother was found dead in the elementary school.
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The risk is that if he does it too early, he'll face huge opposition and the rest of his agenda could be held hostage. With a battle in two years for the House/Senate and a presidential election in 4 years, if he acts too late, his own party will run for the hills in order to concentrate on the individual elections.
The NRA is incredibly powerful. I don't know if the Dems have enough juice to take this on (when they want to concentrate on immigration, the financial crisis, etc).
Unfortunetly the time has to be now. Again its so ####ed up that it takes nearly two dozen dead kids to really get people on board with gun control, but it always takes the absolute most horrific of events to prompt change. In the coming weeks they will have as much public support as ever for it. You gotta strike when the iron is hot.
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I have to think it's probably me being somewhat paranoid as well, given how much alarmist American media we get here and rarely is there a feel-good story from the US coming on the 6 o'clock news here in Calgary. So I have drawn a few conclusions which is unfortunate.
However, by the same token, my personal safety does feel threatened most every time I go to the States. In the last 10 years, the only place that I felt generally comfortable was in New York City, where law enforcement is everywhere and all the gangsters and scrubs I saw there in the 90's has since been replaced with hipsters and business people. Conversely, every time I go to San Francisco, the downtown district feels as schizo as ever, and I don't dare even go down to Union Square on my own past 10 PM. This is quite tragic.
i find that quite interesting, we have spent a lot of time in the states, primarily in southern California and it has the same feel to me as Canada. Where do you go that you are always feeling threatened?
I believe so. Executive Orders have the full force of law but this would definitely be challenged on a constitutional level (maybe valo403 could chime in too).
The problem is that this would be a bandaid solution that would hijack the rest of his term. I don't know if it's high enough on Obama's priority list to risk losing everything else that his platform is based on.
I believe so. Executive Orders have the full force of law but this would definitely be challenged on a constitutional level (maybe valo403 could chime in too).
The problem is that this would be a bandaid solution that would hijack the rest of his term. I don't know if it's high enough on Obama's priority list to risk losing everything else that his platform is based on.
It may be worth it. It needs to change now. Right. Now.
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Jeebus. This is getting worse by the second. I have never seen Obama that.... I don't even know the word for it. Disappointed? At a loss for words?
How anyone can possibly spin his that having an armed teacher would have made this any better, is mind boggling. Is there even a possible solution with all the guns already in circulation? Even if you did ban handguns and semi-automatics, I fear if they tried to do it, it would cause even more chaos.
Last year, economist Richard Florida dove deep into the correlations between gun deaths and other kinds of social indicators. Some of what he found was, perhaps, unexpected: Higher populations, more stress, more immigrants, and more mental illness were not correlated with more deaths from gun violence. But one thing he found was, perhaps, perfectly predictable: States with tighter gun control laws appear to have fewer gun-related deaths. The disclaimer here is that correlation is not causation. But correlations can be suggestive
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Jeebus. This is getting worse by the second. I have never seen Obama that.... I don't even know the word for it. Disappointed? At a loss for words?
How anyone can possibly spin his that having an armed teacher would have made this any better, is mind boggling. Is there even a possible solution with all the guns already in circulation? Even if you did ban handguns and semi-automatics, I fear if they tried to do it, it would cause even more chaos.
Americans will want their guns for safety and the feeling of protection. Heck, it doesn't take much for them to want to pull one out and use it on somebody . . . Remember this?
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I don't come out on either side of the gun issue. I don't own one and I tried to understand the ingrained gun culture in the US with limited success. It's almost like hockey in Canada - it's just part of the nation's fabric.
With that caveat aside, I don't see how a wide reaching gun control bill (if it could even be passed, which I don't think it could... ever) would make a difference. The massive number of guns in existence alone makes the prospect of success slim. Are people going to turn over their guns willingly or through a requirement of law? Lots will, but a massive number will see this as large (possibly even a tyrannical) government invading personal domain.
Gun culture is too ingrained, too important, too hot buttoned in the US. It's actually a non-starter, IMO.
