President Obama’s stance on gun control, until the Newtown shootings, has largely been centrist despite campaigning on a bill that would ban assault weapons, as pointed out by Bloomberg recently. Speaking of the bill and the need for Obama to take action, New York City Mayor Bloomberg, said, “The president campaigned back in 2008 on a bill that would prohibit assault weapons. It’s time for
the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this country what we should do — not go to Congress and say, “What do you guys want to do?”
Yet with Obama’s apparent inactivity when it comes to gun control, Wayne La Pierre, NRA Executive Vice President, still thinks that this is all part of a massive Obama conspiracy is offering lip service to gun owners but actually wants to destroy the Second Amendment in his second term – much to the disdain of gun control advocates in recent times. However, Friday’s shootings in Newtown has taken this discussion to a new level altogether with gun control advocates reflecting the sentiment of Bloomberg and are pressing for new laws that would prevent such incidents in the future.
This has led a Democratic Senator from California, Dianne Feinstein, to promise that she would introduce a bill that would revive the assault weapons ban when Congress convenes at the beginning of next year. The President, in his weekly Saturday radio address, said that meaningful action will be taken in the days ahead, regardless of politics, and due to a combined effort so as to prevent such tragedies from occurring again.