WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Democrats say meaningful action in the wake of the school
shootings in Connecticut must include a ban on military-style assault
weapons and a look at how the nation deals with individuals suffering
from serious mental illness.
Several
Democratic lawmakers and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman said it was time
to take a deeper look into the recent spate of mass shootings and what
can be done to prevent them. Gun control was a hot topic in the early
1990s, when Congress enacted a 10-year ban on assault weapons. But since
that ban expired in 2004, few Americans have wanted stricter laws and
politicians say they don't want to become targets of a powerful
gun-rights lobby.
Gun-rights advocates said
that might all change after the latest shooting that killed 20 children
aged 6 or 7. Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, was carrying an arsenal
of ammunition and used a high-powered rifle similar to the military's
M-16.
On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a lifelong
member of the National Rifle Association, said it was time to discuss
gun policy and move toward action on gun regulation. The conservative
West Virginia Democrat said Monday he agrees with New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, who has advocated banning the sale of assault
weapons.
Manchin is the most prominent gun
rights advocate to speak after the shooting, telling MSNBC that he is a
"proud outdoorsman and hunter, but this doesn't make sense."
At
a Sunday night service in Newtown, Conn., the site of Friday's
massacre, President Barack Obama did not specifically address gun
control. But he vowed, "In the coming weeks I'll use whatever power this
office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to
mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed
at preventing more tragedies like this."
He
added: "Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face
of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say
that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is
somehow the price of our freedom?"
Sen. Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., said the nation "could be at a tipping point ... a
tipping point where we might actually get something done" on gun
control. He and other Democrats, as well as Lieberman, said they want to
ban the sale of new assault weapons and make it harder for mentally ill
individuals to obtain weapons. Lieberman said a new commission should
be created to look at gun laws and the mental health system, as well as
violence in movies and video games.
"Assault
weapons were developed for the U.S. military, not commercial gun
manufacturers," Lieberman said before the Newtown vigil Sunday night.
"This
is a moment to start a very serious national conversation about
violence in our society, particularly about these acts of mass
violence," said the Connecticut senator, who is retiring at the end of
the year.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,
said she will introduce legislation next year to ban new assault
weapons, as well as big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets.
"It
can be done," Feinstein told NBC's "Meet the Press" of reinstating the
ban despite deep opposition by the powerful National Rifle Association
and similar groups.
Bloomberg said Obama could
use executive powers to enforce existing gun laws, as well as throw his
weight behind legislation like Feinstein's.
"It's
time for the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this
country what we should do - not go to Congress and say, `What do you
guys want to do?'" Bloomberg said."
Gun-rights
activists had remained largely quiet on the issue since Friday's
shooting, all but one declining to appear on the Sunday talk shows.
David
Gregory, the host of "Meet the Press," said NBC invited all 31
"pro-gun" senators to appear on Sunday's show, and all 31 declined. All
eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee were unavailable or
unwilling to appear on CBS' "Face the Nation," host Bob Schieffer said.
Rep.
Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was the sole representative of gun rights'
activists on the various Sunday talk shows. In an interview on "Fox News
Sunday," Gohmert defended the sale of assault weapons and said that the
principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who authorities say died
trying to overtake the shooter, should herself have been armed.
"I
wish to God she had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she
heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically
with nothing in her hands. But she takes him (the shooter) out, takes
his head off before he can kill those precious kids," Gohmert said.
Gohmert also argued that violence is lower in cities with lax gun laws, and higher in cities with stricter laws.
"The
facts are that every time guns have been allowed - conceal-carry (gun
laws) have been allowed - the crime rate has gone down," Gohmert said.
Gun-control
advocates say that isn't true. A study by the California-based Law
Center to Prevent Gun Violence determined that 7 of the 10 states with
the strongest gun laws - including Connecticut, Massachusetts and
California - are also among the 10 states with the lowest gun death
rates.
"If you look at the states with the
strongest gun laws in the country, they have some of the lowest gun
death rates, and some of the states with the weakest gun laws have some
of the highest gun death rates," said Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
