New Year’s Resolution: Do Not Forget The Children Of Newtown, CT.

Posted on | December 31, 2012 | 1 Comment

Mike Magee

On December 30, 2012, President Obama stated that the day a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., was the “worst day of my presidency.”

Clearly his visit to Newtown, CT was for him a call to action. He immediately established a task force under the direction of Vice President Biden to bring back recommendations for change. On December 17, 2012, he met privately with the Vice-President and three members of his Cabinet — Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — to discuss steps forward in the aftermath of Newtown.(1)

Christmas has come and gone. The children have been laid to rest. And the country is on a Fiscal Cliff watch. But yesterday, on Meet The Press, the President focused again on these innocent children and stated that he intends to move legislation through Congress within the year.(2)

“Anybody who was up in Newtown, who talked to the parents, who talked to the families understands that something fundamental in America has to change. And all of us have to do some soul searching, including me as president, that we allow a situation in which 20 precious small children are getting gunned down in a classroom.”

“Will there be resistance? Absolutely there will be resistance. And the question then becomes whether we are actually shook up enough by what happened here that it does not just become another one of these routine episodes where it gets a lot of attention for a couple of weeks and then it drifts away. It certainly won’t feel like that to me. This is something that . . . that was the worst day of my presidency. And it’s not something that I want to see repeated.”

As for Wayne LaPierre and his proposal to turn schools into armed camps: “I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”

A sea change appears to be occurring across America as well. A new USA Today/Gallup poll taken shortly after the Newtown massacre shows 58 percent of respondents saying they now favor stricter gun laws, up from 43 percent in October 2011. And yet, 51% remain opposed to laws that would restrict ownership of assault style semi-automatic weapons like the one used to kill the children in Newtown. (3)

New Year’s Wish: Don’t Forget the Children Of Newtown. Honor Their Memory By Rejecting Violence and Assault Weapons.

For Health Commentary, I’m Mike Magee

References:

1. Dwyer D. Obama Taps Biden For Post Newtown Action Plan. NBC News.http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/12/obama-taps-biden-for-post-newtown-action-plan/

2. President Obama on Meet The Press. December 29, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-wants-action-on-gun-control-within-year/2012/12/30/979237f0-52c2-11e2-bf3e-76c0a789346f_story.html

3.Knickerbocker B. Polls show movement toward stricter gun control – with major caveats. The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/1229/Polls-show-movement-toward-stricter-gun-control-with-major-caveats