US President Barack Obama renewed calls for stricter gun control laws in his hometown of Chicago. Chicago has been plagued with series of deadly shootings and gun menace for a long time.
Speaking before Hyde Park Academy students in their navy uniform shirts in Chicago, Obama said 65 children were killed by gun violence last year in Chicago. "That's the equivalent of a Newtown every four months,'' Obama reiterated.
"This is not just a gun issue,'' Obama said. "It's also an issue of the kinds of communities that we're building, and for that we all share responsibility as citizens to fix it". As a result, he said: "Too many of our children are being taking away from us.''
Recent shooting victims have included Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old drum majorette gunned down less than 2km from Obama's home just days after she performed at the president's inauguration in Washington.
Gun control was not on Obama's agenda in his first term, but the president responded quickly to the December shooting of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut.
He is pushing measures including background checks for all gun purchases and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, even as both sides in the debate doubt he'll be able to achieve the full package.
Gun advocates have pushed back hard as always, arguing that such restrictions are an infringement on the second amendment of the constitution, which states that citizens have the right to bear arms.
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Showing posts with label Gun Control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gun Control. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Obama and the Second Term Swearing-in Ceremony
Providence does bring a kind of symmetrical and coincidental occurrences which makes analysis sometimes obfuscating and sometimes interesting. As Israel prepares for election on January 22, Obama's inauguration comes up for his final lapse in the White House on January 20 which makes the affairs interesting.
The expected population is around 800,000, a sharp drop in the 1.8 million audience his first term swearing-in ceremony in office commanded in 2009. This is expected as the president has had more tough time battling established 'popular culture' with his skin pigmentation being a sort of impediment.
From Obamacare to Israel to fiscalcliff to gun control and recently back to Israel, the President has been seen by many whites as an 'imported leader' but his leadership sagacity has made him held his ground and come out hale and hearty.
On Sunday, following a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama will be sworn in officially at the White House at 1655 GMT, meeting the constitutional requirement that he do so on January 20. That portion will be private - except for a media presence - with a small audience of mostly family members.
Both times he will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts who, in 2009 after flubbing the oath the first time, administered it to Obama again in the White House the day after his inauguration. The president's two recitations this year will be the third and fourth time he has taken the oath.
Obama's speech will focus on the American values, his imbroglio with the Republican-led house on issues like fiscalcliff, immigration laws, gun control and his major agendas in his second term. He will also bear in mind the changes in the Middle East, the United States' commitment to Israel and America's 'international responsibilities'.
The expected population is around 800,000, a sharp drop in the 1.8 million audience his first term swearing-in ceremony in office commanded in 2009. This is expected as the president has had more tough time battling established 'popular culture' with his skin pigmentation being a sort of impediment.
From Obamacare to Israel to fiscalcliff to gun control and recently back to Israel, the President has been seen by many whites as an 'imported leader' but his leadership sagacity has made him held his ground and come out hale and hearty.
On Sunday, following a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama will be sworn in officially at the White House at 1655 GMT, meeting the constitutional requirement that he do so on January 20. That portion will be private - except for a media presence - with a small audience of mostly family members.
Both times he will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts who, in 2009 after flubbing the oath the first time, administered it to Obama again in the White House the day after his inauguration. The president's two recitations this year will be the third and fourth time he has taken the oath.
Obama's speech will focus on the American values, his imbroglio with the Republican-led house on issues like fiscalcliff, immigration laws, gun control and his major agendas in his second term. He will also bear in mind the changes in the Middle East, the United States' commitment to Israel and America's 'international responsibilities'.
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