Obama Takes Executive Action on Gun Control

Making News

Obama Unveils Gun Control Proposals ()

President Obama today signed 23 executive orders and asked Congress to pass legislation he said will help to reduce gun violence.  The parents of some children killed in the Connecticut school massacre were part of his audience; four grade-school children who’d written him letters were on the stage.  He told them that action now is a “moral obligation…” 

Guests:

• Philip Rucker: Washington Post

Main Topic

Obama Takes Executive Action on Gun Control ()

The President today signed 23 executive orders and asked Congress for additional gun control measures—with an appeal to the public.

"If parents and teachers, police officers, and pastors, if hunters and sportsman, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of every background stand up and say, enough. We’ve suffered too much pain, and care too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will -- change will come," the president said.

Today we’ll hear what’s in the executive orders the President signed and assess his chances on Capitol Hill, where the focus is on Democrats in the Senate.

Guests:

• Julian Zelizer: Professor of History, Princeton University
• Richard Feldman: Independent Firearm Owners Association
• Matt Bennett: Democratic Strategist, Third Way, @ThirdWayMattB
• Andrew Kohut: Pew Research Center, @pewresearch

Reporter's Notebook

Is Mali the Next Afghanistan? ()

Fighting  between French troops and Islamic rebels in Mali has moved from the air to the ground for the first time since the intervention began last Friday. Meantime, Islamic jihadists have taken hostages in Algeria—including some Americans.

Guests:

• Steven Erlanger: New York Times, @StevenErlanger
• Mort Rosenblum: Reporter and author. He has written extensively about Mali