The Obama administration has conducted informal discussions with groups from both ends of the gun-policy spectrum, including law enforcement and gun-rights organizations, and is set to hold formal meetings as early as this week in an effort to chart out a set of new firearms policies, administration officials say.

@funkmasterflex

Spearheaded by the Department of Justice, the talks were described by one individual involved in the discussions as a “feeling-out process.” With more official meetings set to begin shortly, they provide the clearest indication to date that the White House is readying a response to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 19 others at Tucson in early January.

“As the president said, we should focus on sound, effective steps that will keep guns out of the hands of the criminals, fugitives, people with serious mental illness, and others who have no business possessing a gun and who are prohibited by laws on the books from owning a gun,” Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We will be meeting with stakeholders on all sides of the issue to discuss how we can find sensible, intelligent ways to make the country safer.”

The goal is to finalize a set of policy changes, including, perhaps, legislation that could pass through a Congress hostile to abridgments of Second Amendment rights. The last serious bite at the apple occurred following the shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007.

In a Sunday op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star, President Barack Obama called for a three-pronged approach: enforcing the laws already on the books, including the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; pushing for greater state-to-state coordination; and expediting background checks and the release of relevant data.

“It was a promising sign that the president understands that 86 percent of the public, including around 80 percent of gun owners, think that a simple background check for every purchase includes next to zero burden for law-abiding citizens and can save countless live,” said Mark Glaze, the executive director of the coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG).

The contours laid out in the op-ed are similar to the plan currently being pushed by MAIG and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Schumer, who has also been in touch with DOJ officials, held a press conference with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg several weeks ago announcing plans to beef up the national background-check system, including eliminating a loophole that allows individuals to buy firearms at gun shows without submitting to a background check.

Though official talks have not yet begun, the Obama administration is expected to aim mostly at such low-hanging fruit, leaving issues like the legality of the high-capacity magazine — which allows even pistols to fire more than 30 shots without reloading, and was used in the Tucson shootings in January — to remain unaddressed for the time being. The principal debate, then, will likely center around the application of background-check standards to private dealers.

“They have been meeting with us and also with law enforcement groups and industry,” one gun-control advocate said of the administration. “This is what the White House does when they want to put a serious legislative apparatus together … The game now becomes effectively demonstrating, in a way that is meaningful, what we know is the overwhelming support for universal background checks.”

u will only get shottt or stabbed if u are in another gang or are a drug dealer, if u dont go out causing trouble then u wont get into any, over here if are are caught with a gun u get 10 years straight, and if u are caught with a knife its 2 years, so no one risks it, but their are people :dingding: and i ask my self if guns were made legal here then it would be just like us or even worse

What if a gangster decides your house looks like it has valuables..

u wait for the cunnnt to come in, as soon as he is in your front garden u can kill him and claim self defense, i would stab him in the neck couple times, buttheir are no such thing as gangsters now, just wanabes, because now if u have no money u get government funding,so it isnt like 2pac days where the poor were robbing houses and shops formoney, now no one is poorso if the poor have money then they dont need to steal, but u do have the average wanabes trying to mug u as u walk u just brake 1 of their noses and they will never mess with u again

So I'm supposed to take on someone packing a Glock, with a kitchen knife? Doesn't sound favorable..

What is it about americans and guns.....
Alll he doing is making it harder to get a gun so people who are unstable can't get them.

Not taking them away :/
I know americans love there guns but come on when people who are unstable can get them
Small problem ?

Funny thing is people ask for more control but when it starts to come you try to stop it.
Irony

they should just bann guns, i mean if someone has pissed u of u cant controll it and will pick up the first thing u see, so like most americans they carry guns with them and end up shooting someone who made them angry, i mean u a pusssy if u hideing behind a gun or knife, it takes no skill, but if u fight with just your body, then u are a man, like olden days, if we had a dispute we would go out and have a brawl, now days kids just pick up a knife or gun and think they cool, or someone gets mad and because he knows if he goes unarmed he gonna get his asss whooped so he takes a gun or knife and ends up killing, then after he has calmed down he realizes what he has done and.....

As the president said, we should focus on sound, effective steps that will keep guns out of the hands of the criminals, fugitives, people with serious mental illness, and others who have no business possessing a gun and who are prohibited by laws on the books from owning a gun,” Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We will be meeting with stakeholders on all sides of the issue to discuss how we can find sensible, intelligent ways to make the country safer.”

Really? That's been the norm for years now...






The problem here guys, is that it doesn't make it harder for criminals to get guns. I agree that unstable individuals should not be allowed to obtain guns, but what about us people who are perfectly stable?

Just because more laws are added doesn't mean that gun related crimes will go down. Criminals get guns illegally no matter how many restrictions are set. They WILL still have guns, and if less people who aren't criminals can't have them purely for protection, then crime will continue.

And this whole argument about "you're a pussy if you need a gun" is correct in some circumstances. If a guy cuts me off on the 405, I don't pull out a gun. I usually shrug it off, but if need be I will get out and beat him with my hands. But, let's say I'm relaxing in my house and some asshole breaks in with a gun. I'm going to shoot him, without hesitation. If my right to do that is taken away, and that scenario plays out. See ya guys! I'm dead!

They aren't going to do that though. The laws will stay the same basically, except that they will definitely fix the "no-background check purchase at gunshows" and they'll make it so pistols can only have a maximum of ten rounds for magazine just like rifles.

California has the WORST gun laws. Basically the law is this. If your gun is capable of being able to be pulled out and have a lot of rounds go through it before reloading and it has a pistol grip (for rifles), it's illegal. I understand this, but who's driving around with ak-47s? CRIMINALS.

they should just bann guns, i mean if someone has pissed u of u cant controll it and will pick up the first thing u see, so like most americans they carry guns with them and end up shooting someone who made them angry, i mean u a pusssy if u hideing behind a gun or knife, it takes no skill, but if u fight with just your body, then u are a man, like olden days, if we had a dispute we would go out and have a brawl, now days kids just pick up a knife or gun and think they cool, or someone gets mad and because he knows if he goes unarmed he gonna get his asss whooped so he takes a gun or knife and ends up killing, then after he has calmed down he realizes what he has done and.....