Some in GOP show willingness to discuss gun control issue
WASHINGTON — Some Republicans now say they’re willing to discuss the politically treacherous issue of gun control, along with mental health issues and violent video games, while U.S. President Barack Obama said he supports efforts in Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban in the wake of last week’s Connecticut school shooting.
Republicans in the House of Representatives discussed the gun issue at their regular closed-door meeting Tuesday, and at least some were willing to consider gun control as part of a solution to the kind of violence that killed 28 people — including 20 children six and seven years old and six staff at the school.
The massacre, one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, has rattled the usual national dialogue on guns in America, where public opinion had shifted against tougher gun control in recent years and the gun lobby is a powerful political force.
Obama has called for “meaningful action” and met with cabinet members Monday on how to respond. He has long supported reinstating the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, but was quiet on the issue during his first term.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that Obama is “actively supportive” of reinstating an assault weapons ban and would also support legislation to close the gun show “loophole,” which allows people to buy guns from private dealers without background checks.
The president was not expected to take any formal action on guns before the end of the year, given the all-consuming efforts to resolve tax and deficit-reduction talks and nominate new cabinet secretaries.
The most powerful supporter of gun owners, the National Rifle Association, broke its silence Tuesday, four days after the school shooting. After a self-imposed media blackout that left many wondering how it would respond to the killings, it said in a statement that its members were “shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders.”
The group also said it wanted to give families time to mourn before making its first public statements. The organization pledged “to help to make sure this never happens again” and has scheduled a news conference for Friday.
As shares in publicly traded gun manufacturers were dropping for a third straight day Tuesday, the largest firearms maker in the United States said it is being put up for sale by its owner, which called last week’s school shooting a “watershed event” in the American debate over gun control.
Freedom Group International makes Bushmaster rifles, the weapons thought to have been used in Friday’s killings.
The New York-based private equity group Cerberus Capital Management said it will sell its controlling stake in the company, while investors fled other firearms makers.
Meanwhile, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. suspended sales of all “modern sporting rifles” — the industry term for military-style guns. The company also removed all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sells Bushmaster rifles in some stores, said it would not change the guns it sells, although a Bushmaster rifle that it still sells stopped showing up on its website Tuesday.
All the talk about additional gun control appeared to be driving increased gun sales, though. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it received a record 4,154 requests for background checks on Saturday, the day after the shooting.
That was slightly more than on its normal biggest day, Black Friday.