aGameOfThrones
08-29-2013, 10:07 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Months after gun control efforts crumbled in Congress, Vice President Joe Biden stood shoulder to shoulder Thursday with the attorney general and the top U.S. firearms official and declared the Obama administration would take two new steps to curb American gun violence.
But the narrow, modest scope of those steps served as pointed reminders that without congressional backing, President Barack Obama's capacity to make a difference is severely inhibited.
Still, Biden renewed a pledge from him and the president to seek legislative fixes to keep guns from those who shouldn't have them — a pledge with grim prospects for fulfillment amid the current climate on Capitol Hill.
"If Congress won't act, we'll fight for a new Congress," Biden said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. "It's that simple. But we're going to get this done."
One new policy will bar military-grade weapons that the U.S. sells or donates to allies from being imported back into the U.S. by private entities. In the last eight years, the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to come back to the U.S., the White House said, arguing that some end up on the streets. From now on, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.
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Vice President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 2*…
The ban will largely affect antiquated, World War II-era weapons that, while still deadly, rarely turn up at crime scenes, leaving some to question whether the new policy is much ado about nothing.
"Banning these rifles because of their use in quote-unquote crimes is like banning Model Ts because so many of them are being used as getaway cars in bank robberies," said Ed Woods, a 47-year-old from the Chico area of northern California.
Woods said he collects such guns because of their unique place in American history. He now wonders whether he'll be prohibited from purchasing the type of M1 Garand rifle his father used during World War II. The U.S. later sold thousands of the vintage rifles to South Korea.
"Someday my kids will have something that possibly their grandfather, who they never had a chance to meet, is connected to," Woods said in an interview.
http://news.yahoo.com/powers-limited-obama-biden-seek-action-guns-214445391--politics.html
But the narrow, modest scope of those steps served as pointed reminders that without congressional backing, President Barack Obama's capacity to make a difference is severely inhibited.
Still, Biden renewed a pledge from him and the president to seek legislative fixes to keep guns from those who shouldn't have them — a pledge with grim prospects for fulfillment amid the current climate on Capitol Hill.
"If Congress won't act, we'll fight for a new Congress," Biden said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. "It's that simple. But we're going to get this done."
One new policy will bar military-grade weapons that the U.S. sells or donates to allies from being imported back into the U.S. by private entities. In the last eight years, the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to come back to the U.S., the White House said, arguing that some end up on the streets. From now on, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.
."
Vice President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 2*…
The ban will largely affect antiquated, World War II-era weapons that, while still deadly, rarely turn up at crime scenes, leaving some to question whether the new policy is much ado about nothing.
"Banning these rifles because of their use in quote-unquote crimes is like banning Model Ts because so many of them are being used as getaway cars in bank robberies," said Ed Woods, a 47-year-old from the Chico area of northern California.
Woods said he collects such guns because of their unique place in American history. He now wonders whether he'll be prohibited from purchasing the type of M1 Garand rifle his father used during World War II. The U.S. later sold thousands of the vintage rifles to South Korea.
"Someday my kids will have something that possibly their grandfather, who they never had a chance to meet, is connected to," Woods said in an interview.
http://news.yahoo.com/powers-limited-obama-biden-seek-action-guns-214445391--politics.html