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The most emotional part of the State of the Union came when President Barack Obama addressed the debate over new gun laws, invoking Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek and, yes, Tucson:
It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans — Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment — have come together around commonsense reform — like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because they are tired of being outgunned.
Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. If you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun.
One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.
Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.
Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.
The families of Newtown deserve a vote.
The families of Aurora deserve a vote.
The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence — they deserve a simple vote.
Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. Indeed, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.
This article appears in Feb 7-13, 2013.
God damn right. Those mentioned above AT THE VERY LEAST deserve a vote. It’s called democracy, in case the gun nuts forgot. Quit clinging to those outdated second amendment rights and let the people speak through a vote. I’m so tired of the weak argument from those people who couldn’t even begin to recite the complete second amendment and let alone even begin to understand it. The simple fact is that you can arm yourself to the teeth and guess what? The gubament is still gonna git ya if they really want. It’s time for a vote!
I’m a gun owner. If I wanted to I could have bought an AK-47 or something similar, because, AZ has more loopholes in gun laws than Swiss cheese has holes. Do I want to have a weapon(s) to protect myself? Yes. Do I believe that comprehensive background checks should be required across the board in every single state? Damn right! Do I believe that bullet clips should be limited to 10 round or less magazines? Absolutely.
Does this country’s citizens deserve the right to get their input into their Senators and their Representatives, and to the President? Of course they do!
We need change, piece by piece, even inch by inch. But we’ll keep trying and we will over come the pitfalls that are so evident right this minute.
Pass all the laws you can and the criminals will ignore them. It is what they do. I don’t believe unarming law abiding citizens makes the community safer. Why do those of us who don’t have a phobia about firearm ownership like our firearms? Because they work. And why shouldn’t we have magazines that hold more rounds than Obama or Cuomo want them to hold? Because if a threat confronts us, it may be greater than five, six or seven rounds will protect us against. Responsible firearm owners (99% of all firearm owners) are not the threat, so don’t treat us like we are.
Who ever said they DON’T have a vote? Typical straw man claptrap.
Oh… He meant a vote by congress. My bad. Never mind.
Gabby has the same vote as iI and every registerd voter has , so what other vote does she need that we dont get?