Gun Control: The President Charts A Welcome Path Forward

A new CNN/ORC poll finds that 67 percent of Americans say they are in favor of President Obama’s executive actions on guns issued this week.

Obama’s tears, town hall, and gun control talking points have assaulted the news and social media this week, but is he reaching voters?

“The president clearly does not respect Second Amendment rights for law-abiding Americans”, said Rep. Paul Ryan, House Speaker.

But the billionaire real-estate mogul reiterated his frequent position that the answer to mass shootings is having more people with guns in the room, not fewer.

Jim Irvine of the gun rights group the Buckeye Firearms Association says increased background checks only serve to intimidate law abiding citizens, because the “gun show loophole” the President cited is a made up term. Obama has announced executive actions that would reinforce the background check system, and tighten other gun regulation measures.

Obama also took questions from Cleo Pendleton, whose daughter was shot and killed near Obama’s Chicago home, and from Sheriff Paul Babeu, an Arizona lawman and congressional candidate who has accused Obama of unconstitutional power grabs on guns.

“Maybe when I propose to make sure that unsafe drugs are taken off the market, that secretly I’m trying to control the entire drug industry – or take people’s drugs away”, Obama said.

After that tragedy, the Democratic president failed to persuade Congress to toughen United States gun laws.

The NRA fired back at Obama while the town hall was still going on.

Then, on Thursday evening, Obama conducted a town hall at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, to discuss the need for such action with gun owners.

“If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over the top, so overheated”, Obama said, dismissing his opponents’ claims that his policies are an effort “to take away everybody’s guns”.

“It’s true: None of the president’s orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings”, the organization tweeted.

Donald Trump, addressing a rally in Vermont, said he would eliminate gun-free zones in schools on his first day if elected to the White House.

“Let me just jump in”, said Cooper, who was moderating the discussion.