Obama signs gun control measures

Using his powers of the presidential executive order, President Obama signed sweeping new gun control measures into law today.

Looking very presidential, Mr. Obama remembered the most innocent victims of gun violence — the 20 Sandy Hook Elementary students who were gunned down by a crazed gunman wielding an assault rifle last month.

“We can’t put this off any longer,” Obama said. He urged Congress to approve measures requiring universal background checks on gun buyers, and banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

“While there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil,” Obama said at an announcement at the White House Wednesday, “if there’s even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there’s even one life that can be saved, then we have an obligation to try it.”

In addition to urging Congress to ban assault rifles and limit high capacity magazines to 10 bullets, Obama signed 23 new measures that will go into effect today, including:

  • Prosecution of would-be gun buyers who fail background checks
  • Funding federal research on gun crime through the Centers for Disease Control
  • Federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations
  • Strengthening penalties for gun trafficking

    • Officials in Kentucky and Oregon say they won’t enforce new gun laws. They said any potential federal gun laws would infringe on the Constitutional rights of their citizens.

    “You can ban every firearm out there and it’s not gonna fix it, said Oregon Sheriff Tim Mueller. “People that a re gonna commit these kinds of heinous acts, they’re gonna find a way to do it.”

    Also today, the White House called an ad created by the National Rifle Association “cowardly.” The ad targeted President Obama’s children, Sasha and Malia.

    “Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” a narrator asks in the short ad. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their schools? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.”

    White House spokesman Jay Carney reacted swiftly, saying, “Most Americans agree that a president’s children should not be used as pawns in a political fight. But to go so far as to make the safety of the President’s children the subject of an attack ad is repugnant and cowardly.”