The Vice President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre Friday, announced that the association will not support any gun-control legislation and instead recommended schools be armed with security guards to avoid an incident such as the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.
Friday made these recommendations at a press conference held by the NRA on Friday in light of the national concern on the nation's gun-laws after the Newtown School shooting, which left 26 people killed among which 20 were children of ages six and seven.
The NRA is a staunch supporter of lax gun-control legislation owing to the principal that the right to own a gun is right given to every American by the U.S. Constitution's "right to bear arms." Over the past months, the nation has experienced a number of massive shootings - The Aurora Movie Theater shooting in July and the Sikh Temple shooting weeks after, throughout these events, the NRA continued to hold strong on its stance regarding gun-control laws.
However, the recent Newtown, Connecticut massacre has pushed the NRA to acknowledge the need to address the issue since members of both parties have begun to raise questions on the existing laws. But, not surprisingly, the NRA announced that stricter gun-control laws are not the solution to such tragic events.
President addressed the White House on the matter on Thursday, announcing his supports for a ban on assault weapons, as well as military style rifles and large ammunition magazines. In the briefing, he said that he wanted legislative recommendations no later than January, which is merely weeks away, stressing the importance of acting without any delay.
"This is not some Washington commission, this is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms, right now," as reported by Voice of America.
Political analyst and expert on gun-control law, Robert Spitzer, told Newsday, that without the support of the NRA, the legislation Obama is suggesting will be very difficult to procure.
"It's going to be a hard fight," Spitzer said.
In a speech in Newton on Sunday President Obama mentioned, "no single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this," as reported by CNN News.
The President has trusted the Vice President, Joe Biden, to spearhead the agenda on federal gun control legislation, given Joe Biden's track record in such matters.
Senator Diane Feinstein, judiciary committee chair, also announced that she will work to create a legislation that would ban assault weapons.
According to the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, the president will support Feinstein's efforts. According to Wall Street Journal, Carney also said, "the president would consider limits on high-capacity magazines and would back efforts to prevent people from buying guns through unlicensed dealers without a background check."
