President Obama introduced a package of sweeping gun control proposals Wednesday, acknowledging that getting Congress to pass them “will be difficult.”
“Ask them what’s more important,” Obama said, urging people to press their representatives in Congress on their position. “Doing whatever it takes to get an ‘A’ grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off to first grade?”
We’ll talk with Rep. James Langevin, who has been advocating for gun control from his wheelchair since he was accidentally shot at age 16. Langevin applauded the President’s “all-encompassing approach” to gun reform, and as a member of the House Democrats’ Gun Violence Task Force, introduced legislation targeting irresponsible gun dealers last week.
We’ll also talk with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who had this reaction to the President’s press conference:
“There’s a slow-motion Sandy Hook going on in every community in America…. The center of the gun debate should not be Washington. It should be the streets of America, where …there’s a much deeper consensus than there is in the halls of Congress.”
Politico‘s writing about how gun control might be the “it” issue for 2016 hopefuls. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: We’ll also take a look at the five races to watch in 2013 with Roll Call’s Shira Toeplitz.
MS NOW staff