US News

President Obama unveils his gun-reform proposals, setting off a battle in Congress

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday brandished an ambitious gun-control plan that ranged from a ban on assault weapons and large ammo clips to expanded background checks for gun buyers, vowing to “put everything I’ve got” into pushing it through Congress.

Surrounding himself at the White House with children who wrote to him after the horrific massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Obama spoke in very personal terms.

“This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe,” Obama said. Sitting in the audience were families of those killed at Sandy Hook and law-enforcement officers. “This is how we will be judged,” he added.

He tugged on America’s heartstrings as he rolled out the plan, reading from the children’s letters and remarking about the four who accompanied him: Grant Fritz, Julia Stokes, Hinna Zeejah, and Teja Goode.

“These are some pretty smart letters from some pretty smart young people,” he said.

But critics were already bashing the long list of proposals as an overreach.

Obama, who acknowledged that passing the legislation would be a heavy lift, called on the American public to help push it to fruition.

“It can’t just be the usual suspects. This will not happen unless the American people demand it,” he declared.

Meanwhile, the promise that a gun battle in Congress would fuel brisk firearm sales helped push up the stock prices of two major US gun makers — Smith & Wesson by 5.7 percent, and Sturm Ruger by 5 percent.

Lawmakers in both parties quickly started pouring cold water on Obama’s plan, and a prominent law-enforcement expert raised doubts about its effectiveness.

Obama’s sweeping anti-violence package calls for:

* Reinstating a ban on military-style assault weapons that would be even more stringent than the 1994 ban that expired seven years ago.

* Restricting ammunition clips to a maximum of 10 bullets.

* Background checks for all gun purchases, including at gun shows and through private sales.

* Putting more data from federal agencies, states and health-care professionals in background-check databases.

* Putting 1,000 more police officers and counselors in schools, training teachers in “mental-health first aid” to spot troubled kids and refer them to treatment.

The White House estimated that the cost of all the proposals would total $500 million next year.

The toughest of these gun-control proposals require congressional action, including the assault-weapons ban and the 10-bullet limit on magazines. But Obama is leaving it up to lawmakers to craft the actual bills.

Seeking faster action, Obama also signed 23 executive orders that took effect immediately, including an initiative to cut through privacy restrictions that currently discourage states from providing mental-health data for background checks.

He also ordered agencies to make sure they share all relevant records with the National Instant Background Check System and directed federal agents to trace all guns recovered in criminal investigations.

Still, it remained uncertain how many of these measures would prevent Americans from getting their hands on guns.

“I don’t see anything in here that prohibits gun ownership [or] the ability of people to buy guns,” said Andrew Scott, a former SWAT commander in North Miami Beach. He noted that bans on assault weapons or high-capacity ammo clips — if enacted — would keep those specific weapons out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. But he questioned its effectiveness.

“Carrying a firearm with a 10-round magazine capacity can inflict as much damage as a 30-round magazine if you take into account the shooter can quickly, within a matter of a seconds, load a new 10-round magazine,” he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) blasted an assault-weapons ban as “completely misplaced” while it tramples on the Second Amendment.

“And if you’re going to pass a bunch of laws that are not going to work but are going to infringe on the Second Amendment right of law-abiding citizens, you’re going to have a problem with that,” said Rubio, a possible GOP presidential candidate in 2016.

Obama released the package a little more than a month after 20 kids and six staff members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. Vice President Joe Biden, who helped draft the 1994 gun-control law while in Congress, offered recommendations after meeting with a variety of stakeholders.

The legislation is certain to meet withering resistance in the Republican-led House.

“House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations. And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that,” said a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has warned against going through “gyrations” that won’t lead anywhere on the assault ban. Yesterday, Reid put out a vague statement saying he was “committed to ensuring that the Senate will consider legislation that addresses gun violence and other aspects of violence in our society early this year.”

Among the toughest lifts in Obama’s gun-control agenda is the ban on assault weapons, which would be even more restrictive than the now-expired 1994 ban.

A new ban under consideration would cover weapons with just one military-style feature, such as a pistol grip or collapsible stock, and it would list 100 specific weapons that would be barred from sale.

The 1994 law — passed when Democrats controlled all three branches of the federal government — covered weapons with two military features and barred the sale of 19 specific weapons.

The NRA, predictably, ripped Obama’s plan, saying it was “attacking firearms and ignoring children.”

“Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected, and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy,” the pro-gun-rights group said.