Tuesday, January 5, 2016
President Obama has emotional call on limiting gun violence
President Obama had a very emotional and passionate meeting on gun violence. There were people affected by gun violence in attendance that he recognized, including former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. The President made it clear that there must be expanded background checks for gun buyers. What's your reaction to Obama's ideas and his emotions? Do you think it was appropriate? Obama also made it clear about what he thought of those opposing the bill. What do you think about the reaction of those agreeing and those opposing Obama? Are you surprised? And what are you're overall thoughts on the President's possible executive action on limiting Gun Control?
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I think Obama's actions were appropriate. Politicians are humans too, and they have emotions that need to be expressed. Obama must've felt so frustrated to see all these innocent people dying from guns, and not be able to do anything about it because of those who opposed his views in Congress. I'm not surprised by the reactions of those who opposed and supported Obama. Democrats like Hillary would've naturally shown their support for his actions. On the other hand, I didn't expect conservatives like Rand Paul to show much sympathy for the emotions Obama expressed because they see him as someone who is trying to take away the 2nd Amendment rights from law abiding citizens. In my opinion, Obama is doing the right thing. There's nothing wrong with having extensive background checks, unless you have something to hide. The only possible downside I can think of is that it will make obtaining a gun harder or more inconvenient, but then again it shouldn't be that easy to obtain such a deadly weapon.
ReplyDeletePeople should be able to see that sometimes things strike closer to home than we expect. Maybe Obama was particularly affected by the shootings because he has seen them happen in Chicago; maybe he knows someone who was personally affected by gun violence; whatever the case may be, he has the right to be upset. We all should be upset by these shootings. Some people have called him a hypocrite for crying for these kids and then dropping bombs, but I don't think those should be compared. Maybe he should not have dropped those bombs, maybe he should have, but nonetheless it can be so horribly eye-opening when our own citizens turn against each other. Shootings happen almost every week, so it is evident that our system now is not working. I don't know if Obama's plan will make a difference, but in my opinion we have to do something. We have to at least try.
ReplyDeleteObama's show of emotion ways unacceptable. How dare he care about the lives of school children? What gives him the right to feel that major shootings are tragedies that shouldn't occur on a regular basis? Clearly I am being sarcastic. It's an emotional issue; Obama should be emotional about it. In fact, I'd like to see more emotion from our government when it comes to these issues. The lack of emotion in our government on major issues has at times alienated me from politicians who appear to be far away from major issues. I am in full support of Obama's executive actions on guns as well because they are a reasonable way of regulating firearms and I belive that regulating guns can reduce the instances of tragic shootings that have become commonplace in our country.
ReplyDeleteI think Obama's actions were very appropriate. I believe having more in depth background checks to prevent innocent lives from being killed is the right thing to do. Obama seemed to think so too as he wanted to expand the background checks when people try and buy guns. I'm not too surprised by the actions of the people that both opposed and supported Obama becasue it is such a controversial topic. It is crazy to think how shootings happen every week and nothing is really being changed to prevent anyone from buying a gun. It is obvious there needs to be more in depth background checks and that's why I strongly agree with Obama and what he's doing. I'm not sure if Obama's plan will be enough to make a difference, but it's worth a shot becasue it could save many innocent lives and that is totally worth the extra background checks.
ReplyDeleteI think that not only were Obama's emotions and responses appropriate, they were absolutely called for. There has been too many tragedies, too much horror, and too little done. In fact, next to nothing has been done. We have not moved forward or taken any serious action to prevent a single one of the massacres, and be that for whatever reason I think it is unacceptable. Way too many lives have been lost, futures ended, and families torn apart for there to not only have been nothing done, but more than just that, to have a strong backlash against any action attempting to do something to help. Personally, I find the public to be much less at fault in this that government, even more so than usual, due to the rhetoric used around prospective gun control bills, where it is commonly thrown around that those promoting such actions want to "take our guns away", where in reality they just want to make sure that those who acquire them can safely own them. It will make it harder to purchase a firearm, but that is definitely a small price to pay for such a reward. However, even with the rhetoric, the majority of Americans want something to be done, and therefore I think that President Obama was not only justified in taking action, but he was called to do so, so as to protect the interests of the people as well as the best interests of the country. I honestly see no downside that could be seriously compared to the possible upsides to such actions, and therefore I think that the reason for such disagreement is that people don't fully understand what is being proposed, largely due to those rallying against it. In my opinion, it is time for the rhetoric to stop, and for people to actually vote on what this proposition is saying. I think if that happens, we will be able to reach a consensus that something must be done to honor the lives lost, and to do our best to make sure what happens to them doesn't happen again.
ReplyDeleteI was watching the evening news on 6abc the day after the President made this announcement. It featured an interview with Joe Biden that was conducted by Jim Gardener. In the interview, Joe Biden said himself that he was slightly skeptical of the Presidents actions because he knows something that the President couldn't admit. Criminals don't care about the law. Very few criminals actually buy guns from dealers or gun shows. Criminals and people who intend to to cause chaos in the world buy their guns from the guy in the van or underground in that black market. Biden went on to tell a story about how he was in Wilmington and asked a middle school aged student where he could get a gun. The student told him that he has a guy in a van that he could set him up with. In this way, the President's actions are going to have the most affect on the law abiding citizens who want to purchase a gun. Yes, gun violence is horrible and an epidemic in this country, but there needs to be harsh penalties against the underground gun dealers before we start affecting law abiding citizens.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was very important that Obama take a stand on the issue of gun violence. By coming out with an emotional plea to bring an end to an issue he has worked on resolving for years, he may very well be able to cancel out some of the rhetoric coming from the right. The president was obviously frustrated about not getting anywhere on an issue he felt should be easily fixed, and the fact that he took a stand to defend what he believes in shows his resolve as a president, and shows that he will not back down on issues that are important to him. It may be unprecedented to issue an executive order on an issue pertaining to second amendment rights, but it is also unprecedented how many mass killings have resulted from the leniency in gun ownership laws.
ReplyDeleteWell I think Obama had great delivery for his speech, and I don't see how anyone couldn't be emotional over the things he said. I think he turned a sad day of mourning into a day of bashing Republicans. Obviously he'd use this to his political advantage, but in my opinion it just seemed a bit tacky. I do agree with what he said about stricter gun control laws, but I also agree with Ryan that we need to focus on terrorist attacks too. I think in order to get more people and Congress's approval, we need to change the way people view guns. I'm not surprised by the reactions on both sides. It's like bi-partisanship and how no one wants to work together even more for the good of the people. I wish they'd just work together to get this important bill passed because it's devastating to learn about shooting after shooting happening across America. If we can do something to stop this, we should. And we should do it fast. I understand there is opposition, but they need to find a way to get laws on stricter gun control passed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel and Andrew. Obama's emotional delivery of the speech, while it may have altered the rhetoric and made him stumble at some points, made the message more real and personable. I think that Obama is right in that we need to take action on gun control as soon as possible, as even though there is opposition, we cannot move forward at all if we don't even try. I wish that Congress would work together for once and make compromises for the good of the country. If this does not happen soon, more and more people will die from mass shootings and other incidents. Congress has to decide what's more important: people's lives or sticking to their ideology.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of a quote whenever I hear about this seemingly never ending gun violence - "How come this stuff keeps happening? We've tried absolutely nothing!" Horrible instances of gun violent keep occurring, we are shocked, an attempt at reform is made, that reform is blocked, and people forget about it altogether. That is, until another school or movie theater is shot up. At which point the cycle repeats itself. If we do nothing, we can't expect anything to change! Background checks, tougher penalties, mental health screening. Anything. I wish we would at least try something. And I believe that gun owners in this instance are being selfish and closed-minded and are sacrificing innocent lives for the sake of their guns. If I were Obama, I would have cried too. To stand there, knowing that, in all likeliness, nothing will change, is a sad thing. I wish that, just for once, we could put aside rhetoric and make real, lasting changes. Because if we can't compromise in order to save lives, then we won't ever be able to compromise on anything, and that signals a sad time in our government's history.
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ReplyDeleteThe topic of gun control is very controversial and talking about it publicly is a brave move by president Obama. He showed a great passion towards his beliefs on the subject and that for me shows dedication. It was a very emotional thing to see those who were affected by gun violence in attendance. I personally feel very strong about gun control. It would do the entire nation good for everyone to feel more confident in their well-being on a daily basis. I don’t know what steps and what laws we need to make in order to get to a point of better gun safety in control but I believe it is necessary.
ReplyDeleteI got emotional watching Obama's speech. We have become desensitized to gun violence. We hear reports of a mass shooting and think, "Oh here's another one." It should be that way. I may have said this before, but Australia had a single mass shooting before they cracked down on gun control. Obama talked about an incident in China where an individual attacked children with a knife. Since he only had a knife he was quickly subdued and the situation was handled. If that man had had a gun, the damage would have been worse. It really pisses me off that Congress can't get over themselves and make a change. This is completely unacceptable and needs to be addressed before another shooting happens.
ReplyDeleteI think that Obama's speech and emotions were very appropriate. I hope that the rest of Americans were moved just as much as I was. Unfortunately though, I'm sure that many conservatives were not moved at all and simply disagreed with President Obama, just as they always do, even though this is an issue that needs to seriously be addressed. In 2015, 475 people were killed in mass shootings and 1,870 were wounded. 64 of these shootings occurred in schools. That is so horrifying. Gun control NEEDS to be addressed and laws NEED to be changed. We need much stricter laws. And no, having guns will not "protect" us. If people didn't have guns, there would not be mass shootings like this happening so often in the US that people think nothing about them. Something needs to be done, and even though I'm not sure it will happen soon, I truly hope that something changes soon.
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