Looking down the Barrel
Recent large-scale tragedies at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and the Empire State Building have reinvigorated our nation’s debate over gun control. As America enters election season, gun control will undoubtedly be a point of great contention for voters.
President Obama certainly believes in the constitutional right to bear arms, but encourages communities to engage in their own debate and discussion on the issue. After the Colorado shooting in July, President Obama said gun regulations “shouldn’t be controversial. They should be common sense…We should leave no stone unturned and recognize that we have no greater mission that keeping our young people safe.” Although he has been diplomatically ambiguous, given the current emotional state of the American people on the gun issue, President Obama may gamble for the stricter regulation of firearms.
Clearly, Republican presidential candidate Romney has less interest in potential legislation than President Obama. Though Governor Romney had previously stated that guns were “instruments of destruction,” when NBC News asked him his updated opinion on those statements, Romney said, “I don’t happen to believe that America needs new gun laws. A lot of what this…young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening”.
Some Democrats are yearning for more direct and substantive action on the issue. Six senators have offered some “reasonable” gun control regulations as an amendment to their Cybersecurity Act. This amendment would make it illegal to buy or possess “large capacity feeding devices such as gun magazines, belts, feed strips, and drums of more than ten rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.” It is not surprising that the lack of immediate proposed action by President Obama and Governor Romney has spurred interested Democrats towards proposing strong regulation.
Though this November’s presidential election will stimulate some further debate on gun control, it will primarily be a referendum on the candidate’s views on other issues. When will the country and its elected representatives be forced to directly confront the issue of gun control?