Quote of the day

Nancy Pelosi spells out the truth about gun control legislation in Congress

Published August 6, 2012 9:26PM (EDT)

It is apparently futile to expect gun-related violence to spur a change either in Obama's position or in Congress'. Today, nearly 24 hours after Wade Page shot and killed six people in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., Jay Carney, the Obama administration's press secretary, reiterated in the daily press briefing that the president's stance toward gun control hadn't changed. Citing "common-sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens," Carney said that the president wasn't going to push for further reforms. "[W]e cannot lose sight of the fact that there is violence all the time in America and that we need to take concerted action to deal with it," he also said.

Nancy Pelosi's reaction to the shooting was more forthcoming. She told the Huffington Post that, since Republicans and some Democrats disagreed on principle with putting any limitations on gun rights, there wasn't much that Congress could do.

"The votes aren't there for gun control," she said. "We certainly aren't going to be able to do it in this Congress, and I don't know that we would be able to do it in a Democratic Congress because it takes a lot of votes to go down that path."


By Salon Staff

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Congress Gun Control Nancy Pelosi Oak Creek Shooting