The Issue: President Obama’s press conference on gun-control, in which he was surrounded by children.
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President Obama’s big plan to curb gun violence is more of a wish list of things he would like to see than an actual plan to stop the violence (“Gunning for…What?” Editorial, Jan. 17).
Obama should be ashamed of himself for exploiting children to promote his agenda.
He and his ilk want to disarm law-abiding citizens while ignoring the fact that only criminals will have weapons.
If you tell kids that guns are dangerous, then you are asking them to see for themselves.
If you show them the do’s and don’ts, it takes away the mystery.
If the school systems implemented a psychological test and an aptitude test twice during a child’s development, they might be able to tell who should be watched and helped.
If children are taught safety and respect for weapons, then gun violence could be nipped in the bud before it happens.
Gregory J. Topliff
Warrenville, SC
Obama’s shameful use of children was a disgusting display of political grandstanding that exploited the terrible Newtown tragedy.
To allow him to bypass Congress, the Second Amendment and other issues would just be another step in his incremental moves toward tighter control over the citizens of this great nation.
Congress needs to stand strong against Obama’s arrogant, self-serving actions.
John W. Fox
Galloway, NJ
Obama came out the other day, guns blazing (pun intended) with all of these gun-control measures, working up over 20 executive actions.
Why hasn’t he been as brazen and quick to the draw about Attorney General Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious debacle?
Tommy DeJulio
New Rochelle
Obama gave an emotional speech while surrounded by small children, citing the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School as his motivation.
He’s got some nerve. That hypocrite is killing the future of all our children by spending trillions of dollars and saddling them with debt for the rest of their lives.
Tom Ennis
Whitehouse Station, NJ
All America need do is look back at Holder’s botched Fast and Furious operation to realize that the Obama administration knows nothing about gun control.
Nichola Maffei
Croton-on-Hudson
Both Obama and Gov. Cuomo followed the maxim “let no crisis go to waste.”
In their haste, they used a “shotgun” approach — pardon the pun — to a complex problem. They touched the surface on some issues, but missed others that require prolonged study and analysis.
The president’s use of emotional theater was uncomfortable to watch, and the governor’s actions were just a shameful political attempt to co-opt the matter.
Rarely is the timing so appropriate for the formation of a commission to study gun violence in America.
The problem has many tentacles and each one needs separate analysis. These hurried actions have only set the stage for more rancor and arguments.
Phil Serpico
Queens
So it’s the style of the weapon that people find offensive?
What if the guns were painted pink?
The editorial states that “they’ve not given us any clear way to put what they’ve done to the test.”
But we do know what these bans accomplish.
We did have an “assault-weapons ban” and it did absolutely nothing to the crime rate.
A. Levy
Manhattan