Gun Control

Link: Obama Extends Olive Branch In Gun Control Debate

Summary: After the Tucson, Arizona shooting rampage, President Obama is looking into enacting tougher gun-control laws while not starting a lobbying war with the NRA. He invited the NRA to a sit down meeting. It's thought that the NRA will not want any new gun control laws enacted (and have the power to make sure there are none), so the Obama administration wants to find ways to toughen the system without creating new laws.

Relevance: We spent a couple weeks talking about the influence lobbying can have on Legislative decisions. The article claims that anything that the Obama administration tries to enact, the NRA will have enough power to stop it. The power of lobbying is all dependent on the funding of the interest group. The NRA has lots of members who will do anything to protect their second amendment rights, even if it means shooting rampages could and do happen.

Opinion: Considering myself moderate, gun control is an issue that I don't know for sure where I stand. I have no problem with guns as long as they are registered to one person, and never change hands without the registration being changed, and as long as when they are not in use, they are locked away safely. However that would only happen in a perfect world. It would seem the only solution to stop gun violence would be to ban all guns, but that would surely be unconstitutional because of the Second Amendment. I do not want to see people harmed again, so the only thing that I think may help would be stricter reporting when guns are purchased at guns shows particularly where no background check is required. More precautions can be taken to ensure people owning guns are responsible citizens.