SALON

Wednesday, Dec 19, 2012 5:43 PM UTC

Obama: No longer “an excuse for doing nothing” on gun violence

A Joe Biden-led task force will be required to put forward proposals "no later than January"

By

Topics: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Gun Control, Gun Violence, Newtown school shooting,

Obama: No longer (Credit: White House)

The president announced that Joe Biden will lead a task force to come up with proposals for how to deal with gun violence, in the wake of the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn. “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,” Obama said.

Obama continued that there has been a conversation over the last few days about how we can “reduce the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every day,” and “that conversation has to continue, but this time the words need to lead to action.”

“The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing,” Obama said. “The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence.” He added that the task force will be required to come up with a “set of concrete proposals, no later than January, proposals that I intend to push without delay.

“This country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that’s been handed down from generation to generation,” he continued, but “you know what, I am also betting that the majority, the vast majority of responsible, law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible few from buying a weapon of war.”

When asked whether he believes the commission will, in fact, result in actual policy changes, Obama replied: “As soon as we get those recommendations I will put forth proposals,” adding that not having a ”sustained attention span to get this done over the next several months doesn’t make sense.”

Matt Bennett, vice president for public affairs for the Third Way, formerly Americans for Gun Safety, told Salon that he thinks the president is serious about reform: “This vice president doesn’t lead missions to nowhere. And from everything we have seen and heard from the WH, they want to pull out every stop and do all they can to make real progress.”

And prior to the press conference, Jon Chait at Daily Intel explained why the Biden choice could have some legs:

As for Biden, he’s been a longtime advocate for gun control, working as a senator to write and pass the 1994 federal assault-weapons ban and earning an F grade from the NRA, along with the title of “the most anti-gun vice president in American history.” So that’s a start.

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 3 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
277 points278 points | 59 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
247 points248 points | 10 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
194 points195 points | 1 comment
vote
Today in How Did I Miss This: Iowa GOP is pushing to cut the pay of the remaining Supreme Court Justices that voted for legalization of gay marriage.
83 points84 points | 8 comments
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
58 points59 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations