Guns and Gun Control
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For three decades, the story of gun control was one of notorious crimes and laws passed in response, beginning with the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
In 1994 the Democratic-controlled Congress passed bills proposed by President Clinton to restrict certain kinds of assault weapons and to create a national system of background checks for gun purchases, the political pendulum began to swing the other way. In addition, Mr. Gore’s defeat to President Bush in the 2000 presidential election was attributed in part to the perception among gun owners that Mr. Gore was “anti-gun.”
In recent years, there have been calls for action on gun violence after a series of horrific mass shootings, including the killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007, the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Gifford’s of Arizona and 18 others in 2011, and the deaths of 12 people at a movie theater in Colorado in July 2012. But the bills that were introduced — including ones to restrict sales of 100-bullet magazines or to tighten background checks — went nowhere.
However, in December 2012, the debate was revived again after a gunman carrying semiautomatic weapons forced his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killing 27 people, including 20 young children. Supporters of harsher gun laws gained some hope that the tragedy might be a catalyst for change.
In January 2013, President Obama called on Congress to toughen America’s gun laws to confront mass shootings and everyday gun violence. Democratic Senators Look to Tighten Gun Control in Two Separate Bills.
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He laid out a plan that included a renewed ban on assault weapons, limits on high-capacity magazines, expanded background checks for gun purchases and new gun trafficking laws to crack down on the spread of weapons across the country.
He also promised to act without Congressional approval to increase the enforcement of existing gun laws and improve the flow of information among federal agencies to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and others who shouldn’t have them.
Governors Promise Action on Gun Laws
Also in January, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and state lawmakers agreed to a broad package of changes to gun laws that would expand the state’s ban on assault weapons and include new measures to keep guns away from people with mental
