Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban (PPR Version)

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The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration will seek to reinstitute the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004 during the Bush administration.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

"I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.

Mexican government officials have complained that the availability of sophisticated guns from the United States have emboldened drug traffickers to fight over access routes into the U.S.

A State Department travel warning issued Feb. 20, 2009, reflected government concerns about the violence.

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."

At the news conference today, Holder described his discussions with his Mexican counterpart about the recent spike in violence.

"I met yesterday with Attorney General Medina Mora of Mexico, and we discussed the unprecedented levels of violence his country is facing because of their enforcement efforts," he said.

Holder declined to offer any time frame for the reimplementation of the assault weapons ban, however.

"It's something, as I said, that the president talked about during the campaign," he said. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of his time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be."

In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."

During his confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee about other gun control measures the Obama administration may consider.

"I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.

The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds.

"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country," LaPierre said. "I think it is clearly covered under Heller and it's clearly, I think, protected by the Constitution."

As much as I like the U.S. Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment deserves to be repealed. It's nonsensical, indeed, suicidal to a nation, to keep such a regulation.

As much as I like the U.S. Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment deserves to be repealed. It's nonsensical, indeed, suicidal to a nation, to keep such a regulation.

As much as I like the U.S. Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment deserves to be repealed. It's nonsensical, indeed, suicidal to a nation, to keep such a regulation.

Thats an incredibly ignorant, illogical, and just plaint st00pid thing to say carturo222.

If it's suicidal, it's an awfully slow form, so far the patient has lasted 200+ years and we're still collectively breathing. I notice your location says Columbia, so perhaps this handy chart will of be of interest to you:

Murders per capita: (from Nationmaster)

[...]

Considering that most of the countries on the list have very restrictive or non-existent civilian firearms ownership, explain to me again why we should be taking advice from them on curbing crime?

Murders per capita: (from Nationmaster)

#1 Colombia: 0.617847 per 1,000 people
#2 South Africa: 0.496008 per 1,000 people
#3 Jamaica: 0.324196 per 1,000 people
....

#24 United States: 0.042802 per 1,000 people
#25 Armenia: 0.0425746 per 1,000 people

Considering that most of the countries on the list have very restrictive or non-existent civilian firearms ownership, explain to me again why we should be taking advice from them on curbing crime?

When the US invaded Iraq, an insurgency of extremists formed out of a rather small group of people (per unit population, anyway), but the majority was rather passive... even though the majority didn't want the US in their country, they still just played along.

Now, contrast that to if the United States were ever to be invaded. Every redneck, hillbilly, mobster, hunter, boy scout, repo man, and wide receiver in the nation would already know how to shoot some weapon (well, okay, maybe not wide receivers... they would just shoot themselves in the leg...), and any occupying force in the US would have a much more difficult job (possibly 2 orders of magnitude harder in difficulty) in occupying the nation than the US had in Iraq...

Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Iraq one of those countries where everyone and their dog has a kalashnikov?

It is at the end a matter of democracy: A democratic state can't allow anyone except himself to own any weapons. If the states allows anyone to execute potentially power via owing a weapon the state undermines its absolute monopole of legitimate power - the basis of all democratic states.

Guns do not prevent murder, and they do not cause it.