President Obama on Wednesday morning announced a new White House task force aimed at discovering solutions to allay the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.
The commission, which will be headed up by Vice President Joe Biden, must come up with “concrete solutions” by January, Obama said Wednesday. He went on to praise Biden for proposing the assault weapons ban in 1994. He also mentioned background checks as an area for improvement.
During the speech, Obama called on political leaders to show “one tiny iota of courage those teachers in Newtown summoned on Friday.”
“If there is even one thing we can do to prevent any of these events,” Obama said. “we have a deep obligation — all of us — to try.” :
This time the words need to lead to actions. We know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply-held passions and political divides… We’re going to need to work on making access to mental healthcare at least as easy as getting access to a gun.. Any actions we must take must begin inside the home and inside our hearts. But the fact that this problem is complex cannot be an excuse for doing nothing.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney indicated on Tuesday that the President would entertain the idea of reviving the assault weapons ban, closing the gun show loophole, and limiting high-capacity ammunition clips.
This commission is hopefully the first step toward new policy proposals, which may go hand-in-hand with measures being proposed in both the House and Senate by long-time gun control advocates.
Update:
Obama said the commission will “sift through every recommendation that is out there,” and propose solutions in “about a month.” He promised to address the task force’s suggestions in his State of the Union speech.