Now is the Time

Now is the time to do something about gun violence

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence

 

Our nation has suffered too much at the hands of dangerous
people who use guns to commit horrific acts of violence. As President
Obama said following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, “We won’t
be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that
we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all
of us, to try.”

Most gun owners are responsible and law-abiding, and they use
their guns safely. The President strongly believes that the Second
Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. But to better
protect our children and our communities from tragic mass shootings like
those in Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek, and Tucson, there are common-sense
steps we can take right now.

While no law or set of laws will end gun violence, it is clear
that the American people want action. If even one child’s life can be
saved, then we need to act. Now is the time to do the right thing for
our children, our communities, and the country we love.

Why Now

Gunfire was probably the last thing U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
and her constituents expected to hear during their Saturday morning town
hall meeting in a Tucson grocery store parking lot. But by the time the
last shot rang out on January 8, 2011, six lay dead or dying and
thirteen more were injured. Rep. Giffords, the gunman's target, was shot
in the head. She survived, but faced a long and difficult journey to
recovery. Among those who lost their lives were a nine-year-old girl, a
federal judge, and one of Giffords’ staffers.

 

Four days later, President Obama spoke at a memorial service for
the Tucson shooting victims, urging Americans to engage in a national
conversation about the causes of this type of tragedy.

“We cannot and will not be passive in the
face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions
in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future.”

Just after midnight on July 20, 2012, a man walked into a packed
movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire. He killed twelve
people and wounded another 58.

Days after the shooting there, President Obama traveled to Aurora
to speak with survivors and meet with family members and loved ones of
each of the victims. He heard from local leaders about the community’s
resilience in the face of such shocking violence – violence that
reminded the nation it could have been any of us in that theater, or any
of us mourning the loss of a friend or family member.

President Obama visits with survivors of the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. July 22, 2012

President Obama also reminded us that even in the darkest of days,
the extraordinary courage and strength of the American people shines
through. He told the remarkable story of two young women he met who
survived the shooting. After Allie was shot in the neck, her best friend
Stephanie stayed beside her and kept pressure on the wound, even as
bullets whizzed overhead. When they stopped, Stephanie helped carry
Allie outside to the safety of a waiting ambulance, two parking lots
away.

But just a few weeks later, another American community faced the
unimaginable grief that cities like Tucson and Aurora knew too well. In
Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a shooting in a Sikh temple left six people dead
and four more wounded.

Despite witnessing these tragedies again and again and again,
nothing could have steeled the nation for what would happen in Newtown,
Connecticut.

On December 14, 2012, the day had just begun at Sandy Hook
Elementary when a man broke into the school and started shooting. Within
minutes, twenty of Sandy Hook’s first graders – 6 and 7 year olds –
were killed in their classrooms. The school’s principal and psychologist
were among the six staff members who died trying to protect the
children in their care.

That afternoon, the President spoke emotionally about the day’s
events from the White House. At a prayer vigil in Newtown two days
later, President Obama said we couldn’t tolerate this kind of tragedy
anymore. The time had come to take meaningful action to reduce gun
violence in America.

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President Obama speaks about the Newtown shooting. December 14, 2012

“If there is
even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or
another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and
Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg
before that -- then surely we have an obligation to try.”

Working Together

Five days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, President
Obama announced that Vice President Biden would lead an effort to
develop a set of concrete policy proposals for reducing gun violence,
due no later than January.

“This is not some Washington commission. This is not something
where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and
publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team
that has a very specific task, to pull together real reforms right
now.”

Keeping with President Obama’s commitment to engage the American
people in the process, the Vice President solicited input from citizens
and organizations with a wide range of concerns, perspectives, and
opinions while preparing his recommendations. From victims’ advocates to
educators, elected leaders to sports and wildlife conservationists, he
spoke with many groups about their ideas on curbing gun violence in the
United States.

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Colin Goddard, Survivor of the Virginia Tech Shooting

Goddard, then a college senior, was shot four times in a
classroom at Virginia Tech. A single gunman killed 32 people at the
school and wounded Goddard and 16 others in April 2007. Today, he is a
gun violence prevention advocate.

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Annette Nance-Holt, Parent of Blair Nance-Holt, who was shot in gang-related crossfire In May 2007

Nance-Holt’s 16-year-old son, Blair, was killed riding a bus on
his way to help out at his grandparents’ store in Roseland, Illinois.

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Hildy Saizow, President, Arizonans for Gun Safety

Saizow directs Arizona’s Community Outreach for Project Safe
Neighborhoods. She has worked as a criminologist, public policy analyst,
community planner, and is working to develop and implement community
crime prevention programs.

In addition to the Vice President’s meetings and discussions here
in Washington, people from around the country joined the conversation
about preventing gun violence by signing We the People petitions on the
White House web site. As part of the official response to those
petitions, President Obama recorded a special message for the more than
350,000 people who signed them, explaining that his efforts would only
be successful with the continued help of Americans who stand up and
speak out.

“That is how change happens. Because of committed Americans who
work to make it happen. Because of you. You have started something and
now I am asking you to keep at it. I am asking for your help to make a
real, meaningful difference in the lives of our communities and our
country.”

To keep the conversation going, Bruce Reed, the Vice President’s
chief of staff, invited petition signers to join him on a conference
call about the ongoing work at the White House. As domestic policy
advisor in the Clinton White House, Reed worked closely with
then-Senator Joe Biden to pass the 1994 Crime Bill that helped law
enforcement bring down the rate of violent crime in America, and is
deeply involved in developing the latest set of proposals.

The President's Plan to Reduce Gun Violence

On January 15, 2013, Vice President Biden delivered his policy
proposals to President Obama. On January 16, 2013, the President put
forward a specific plan to protect our children and communities by
reducing gun violence. The plan combines executive actions and calls for
legislative action that would help keep guns out of the wrong hands,
ban assault and high-capacity magazines, make our schools safer, and
increase access to mental health services.

  • Require background checks for all gun sales
  • The single most important thing we can do to prevent gun violence
    and mass shootings is to make sure those who would commit acts of
    violence cannot get access to guns. Right now, federally licensed
    firearms dealers are required to run background checks on those buying
    guns, but studies estimate that nearly 40 percent of all gun sales are
    made by private sellers who are exempt from this requirement. A
    national survey of inmates found that only 12 percent of those who used a
    handgun in a crime acquired it from a retail store or pawn shop, where a
    background check should have been run.

    Congress should pass
    legislation that goes beyond closing the “gun show loophole” to require
    background checks for all firearm sales, with limited, common-sense
    exceptions for cases like certain transfers between family members and
    temporary transfers for hunting and sporting purposes.

    #NowIsTheTime to require background checks for all gun sales: Wh.gov/now-is-the-time

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  • Strengthen the background check system for gun sales
  • Pass a new, stronger ban on assault weapons
  • Limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds
  • Finish the job of getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets
  • Give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and prosecute gun crime
  • End the freeze on gun violence research
  • Make our schools safer with new resource officers and
    counselors, better emergency response plans, and more nurturing school
    climates
  • Ensure quality coverage of mental health treatment, particularly for young people

No single law – or even set of laws – can prevent every act of
violence in our country. But the fact that this problem is complex can
not be an excuse for inaction.