Gun Control Debate Simmers After Sandy Hook Massacre

Democrats say meaningful action in the wake of the school shootings in Connecticut must include a ban on military-style assault weapons and a look at how the nation deals with individuals suffering from serious mental illness.

Several Democratic lawmakers and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman said it was time to take a deeper look into the recent spate of mass shootings and what can be done to prevent them. Gun control was a hot topic in the early 1990s, when Congress enacted a 10-year ban on assault weapons. But since that ban expired in 2004, few Americans have wanted stricter laws and politicians say they don't want to become targets of a powerful gun-rights lobby.

Gun-rights advocates said that might all change after the latest shooting that killed 20 children aged 6 or 7. Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, was carrying an arsenal of ammunition and used a high-powered rifle similar to the military's M-16.

On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, said it was time to discuss gun policy and move toward action on gun regulation. The conservative West Virginia Democrat said Monday he agrees with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has advocated banning the sale of assault weapons.

Manchin is the most prominent gun rights advocate to speak after the shooting, telling MSNBC that he is a "proud outdoorsman and hunter, but this doesn't make sense."

At a Sunday night service in Newtown, Conn., the site of Friday's massacre, President Barack Obama did not specifically address gun control. But he vowed, "In the coming weeks I'll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this."

He added: "Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the nation "could be at a tipping point ... a tipping point where we might actually get something done" on gun control. He and other Democrats, as well as Lieberman, said they want to ban the sale of new assault weapons and make it harder for mentally ill individuals to obtain weapons. Lieberman said a new commission should be created to look at gun laws and the mental health system, as well as violence in movies and video games.

"Assault weapons were developed for the U.S. military, not commercial gun manufacturers," Lieberman said before the Newtown vigil Sunday night.

"This is a moment to start a very serious national conversation about violence in our society, particularly about these acts of mass violence," said the Connecticut senator, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she will introduce legislation next year to ban new assault weapons, as well as big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets.

"It can be done," Feinstein told NBC's "Meet the Press" of reinstating the ban despite deep opposition by the powerful National Rifle Association and similar groups.

Bloomberg said Obama could use executive powers to enforce existing gun laws, as well as throw his weight behind legislation like Feinstein's.

"It's time for the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this country what we should do – not go to Congress and say, `What do you guys want to do?'" Bloomberg said."

Gun-rights activists had remained largely quiet on the issue since Friday's shooting, all but one declining to appear on the Sunday talk shows.

David Gregory, the host of "Meet the Press," said NBC invited all 31 "pro-gun" senators to appear on Sunday's show, and all 31 declined. All eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee were unavailable or unwilling to appear on CBS' "Face the Nation," host Bob Schieffer said.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was the sole representative of gun rights' activists on the various Sunday talk shows. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Gohmert defended the sale of assault weapons and said that the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who authorities say died trying to overtake the shooter, should herself have been armed.

"I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands. But she takes him (the shooter) out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," Gohmert said.

Gohmert also argued that violence is lower in cities with lax gun laws, and higher in cities with stricter laws.

"The facts are that every time guns have been allowed – conceal-carry (gun laws) have been allowed – the crime rate has gone down," Gohmert said.

Gun-control advocates say that isn't true. A study by the California-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence determined that 7 of the 10 states with the strongest gun laws – including Connecticut, Massachusetts and California – are also among the 10 states with the lowest gun death rates.

"If you look at the states with the strongest gun laws in the country, they have some of the lowest gun death rates, and some of the states with the weakest gun laws have some of the highest gun death rates," said Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Credit : Huffington Post

Cory Booker: Food Stamp Challenge Resulting In Hunger Pains, Caffeine Withdrawal

Cory Booker is getting hungry.

The Newark, N.J. mayor is now on day three of his self-imposed food stamp challenge. Inspired by a Twitter spat about the responsibility of government to provide food for its people, Booker decided to live for a week on the monetary equivalent of food stamps. He had $30 for the whole week -- a mere $4.32 a day -- to pay for all of his meals and beverages.

True to form, Booker is tweeting up a storm about his experience and keeping a blog.

After a few days of eating mostly vegetable-based foods, Booker is famished. "The constrained food options I have for this one short week highlight for me (with the hunger pains I felt today between small meals) what many hardworking families have to deal with week after week," he wrote on his blog.

"Not being able to stop and drop a few dollars for a Venti coffee or Diet Mountain Dew is really raising my consciousness about the food choices I often take for granted," Booker observed.

@CoryBooker
Cory Booker

Lunch today was a can of corn and a can of peas mixed together. I'm starting to feel the caffeine withdrawal.

December 5, 2012 7:35 pm via UberSocial for BlackBerry Reply Retweet Favorite

On Thursday, Booker shared this photo on Instagram: "Preparing meals for my 3rd day of #SNAPChallenge."

He's also starting to regret some of his purchases.

"The second day on the #SNAPChallenge, I ate salad for breakfast, a can of peas and corn mixed together for lunch, and cauliflower, broccoli and a sweet potato for dinner," he wrote. "In hindsight, investing more of my SNAP budget in eggs, and perhaps some coffee might have helped me later in the week. I am growing concerned about running out of food before this is over -- especially as I try to resist the urge now to have another sweet potato before I go to bed tonight."

Here's what Booker started out with at the beginning of his challenge.

Hang in there Booker! Four more days to go.

Credit : Huffington Post

Joe Biden Reassures Sandy Victims: 'You've Got A Homeboy In The Deal Who Gets It'

Vice President Joe Biden visited New Jersey on Sunday to see the devastation from Superstorm Sandy, and reassured victims that coming from a neighboring state he would stay on top of the devastation.

"So as the president said when he was up here with the governor, we’re not going anywhere. We’re not going anywhere. And you’ve got a homeboy in the deal who gets it," said Biden in Seaside Heights, N.J., according to White House pool reports.

Before that, he reflected on his Delawarean roots. "If you’re not an Easterner it’s hard to understand that the ocean to us is the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park and everything else combined," he said. "It is a gigantic part of not only our economy but who we are. It’s a gigantic part of the culture as well."

"And every time the rest of the country is in real trouble, New Jersey and Delaware and New York and Connecticut etc., we respond, we respond. And it’s going to be a heavy lift," he continued. "These are difficult times in terms of budgets, but the president has made it clear that we are going to do everything we can to make sure that the Corps is fully funded, that FEMA has their needs and that all the programs that exist under the auspices of the federal government not only continue to exist but are funded so that we can make sure that this area of the country is fully, fully, fully restored."

The summertime beach community of Seaside Heights, on a barrier peninsula off the mainland of New Jersey, bore Sandy's brunt.

Biden later toured Hoboken, N.J., where he was shown pictures of the damage to the PATH system. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) greeted Biden by saying "Your holiness!"

Credit : Huffington Post