With tears running down his face, President Obama has outlined new actions to try and reduce gun deaths in the USA, after years of mass shootings he says has rendered the American public “numb” to their impact.
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USA: Gun Control measures
The new measures the White House has announced include more background checks on those buying guns, using executive orders.
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But already Republicans and gun advocates are getting red in the face and yelling about their rights as Americans to bear arms.
On Monday January 4, the White House revealed its plans to curb gun deaths, stating over the past decade in America, more than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence.
The following day, Obama spoke about the plan from the White House, surrounded by advocates for better gun control.
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At parts of the speech he gave, Obama was visibly crying.
Talking about the 2012 Sandy Hook primary school shooting in which 20 children and six adults were killed Obama said “every time I think about those kids it gets me mad.”
He also reeled off the long list of other mass shootings in the USA in recent years.
He said the USA was the “only advanced country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency. It doesn't happen in other advanced countries. It's not even close. And as I've said before, somehow we've become numb to it and we start thinking that this is normal.
“And instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, this has become one of our most polarized, partisan debates -- despite the fact that there's a general consensus in America about what needs to be done.”
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Obama has insisted that the order falls within his legal powers, and is bypassing Congress to enact it.
“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is making clear that it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks,” a White House fact sheet said.
However, Obama will need Congress for some of the measures he is proposing.
“Some of the gaps in our country’s gun laws can only be fixed through legislation, which is why the President continues to call on Congress to pass the kind of commonsense gun safety reforms supported by a majority of the American people,” the White House said in its statement.
These measures include proposing funding for 200 new ATF agents and investigators to help enforce the gun laws.
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Mental health is sometimes attributed to mass shootings, and the Administration is proposing a new $500 million investment to increase access to mental health care.
The Social Security Administration has indicated that it will begin the rulemaking process to include information in the background check system about beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons.
Obama was greeted by a standing ovation when he began explaining his new orders, CNN reported.
Mark Barden, a father of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, introduced Obama and spoke of how Obama's administration made a commitment to fight widespread gun violence.
Former Congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords was also in attendance and was greeted with a standing ovation from the White House audience.
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White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett defended Obama's plans Tuesday, saying the President's actions are "well within the existing statute” CNN reported.
The measures come after a series of horrifying mass shootings and unnecessary gun deaths through the USA in recent years.
Each time there has been a mass shooting in the USA, Obama’s frustration at the situation has grown - leading to this week’s announcement, in Obama’s final year as president.
After an October 2015 Oregon shooting, Obama set out a challenge to news media - find out how many people were killed by guns in the USA, and compare that to those killed by terrorists.
News media accepted that challenge and the results were striking.
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CNN found that from 2001 to 2013, 406,496 people died by firearms on U.S. soil. (2013 is the most recent year CDC data for deaths by firearms is available.) This data covered all manners of death, including homicide, accident and suicide.
According to the U.S. State Department, the number of U.S. citizens killed overseas as a result of incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 was 350.
Including all terrorism incidents inside the U.S. CNN and found that between 2001 and 2013, there were 3,030 people killed in domestic acts of terrorism, bringing the total to 3,380.
For the whole of 2015, US NGO The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) found there were 13,338 deaths in the USA caused by guns.
In a time when it seems the terrorists are winning, where people are too scared to leave their homes or get on planes and their fear and ignorance turns to hatred and prejudice, Obama’s challenge showed that guns in the USA were far more deadly than backwards and bloodthirsty ideologies terrorists lived off.
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In his October speech Obama said : "We spend over $1 trillion and pass countless laws and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil — and rightfully so — and yet we have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?"
"When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities. We have seatbelt laws because we know it saves lives.
"So the notion that gun violence is somehow different, that our freedom and our Constitution prohibits any modest regulation of how we use a deadly weapon ... doesn't make sense."
He said mass shootings have become "routine" and Americans are "numb" to their impact.
As he delivered that October speech, he said he could image the press releases gun advocates would be churning out calling for more guns and fewer gun safety laws.
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"There is a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in America. So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that more guns will make us safer?
"We know that states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths.”
Associated Press reporter Julie Pace wrote gun control will be pushed to the forefront of the 2016 presidential campaign, and though Republicans and Democrats are divided on the issue, both parties see Obama’s actions as an opportunity to generate enthusiasm among primary voters.
US polls have shown Americans overwhelmingly support expanding background checks for gun purchases, but are more divided on the broader question of stricter gun laws.
The gun-control advocacy movement has gained wealthy backers, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but the National Rifle Association remains one of the most dominant forces in American politics, Pace reported.
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However, Republicans are combating Obama’s wishes to crackdown on gun rules, with fear monger Donald Trump telling CNN “pretty soon you won't be able to get guns".
If elected he said he would reverse the measures.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, criticized the President's plans for choosing executive action over working with Congress.
He accused Obama of “subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will....His proposals to restrict gun rights were debated by the United States Senate, and they were rejected. No president should be able to reverse legislative failure by executive fiat, not even incrementally."
The BBC reported the the largest gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association (NRA), said Obama's steps would not have prevented any recent mass killings in the US.
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There have also been the usual arguments about the US second amendment splashed around by gun advocates - the right to bear arms - and with Obama pushing the issue, things will get more heated.
What Obama is proposing is light. He has constantly been thwarted by Congress each time he has called for a crackdown on guns in the USA.
He is right to call for change. But so much of that lies in the hands of the Republican dominated Congress.
And until he is successful, that there is a legislation change, more Americans are going to lose their lives in the face of lackluster laws and an obsession with the right to bear arms.
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