Independent Firearm Owners Association
President of the Independent Firearm Owners Association and author of Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist; former lobbyist for the National Rifle Association
PROFILE
Richard Feldman
Guest
FROM Richard Feldman
To the Point
The Tragic Mathematics of Gun Violence Another lone gunman grabbed headlines last week in California, but so-called mass shootings rarely kill more than a dozen people. That's all too many, but it's a fraction of the 20 to 30 deaths every day from firearms -- 32,000 every year: the daily gun violence that does not receive saturation news coverage. Each rampage focuses attention on killers with mental illness. But most of the mentally ill are not violent, and most violent people are not mentally ill. Is there some way to reduce the carnage without violating the gun rights now recognized by the US Supreme Court?
To the Point
Gun Ownership, Stand-Your-Ground Laws and Gun Control George Zimmerman is hardly the only American who owns a gun, and gun sales increase with every high profile shooting. "Stand Your Ground" laws in Florida and 24 other states protect more killers who use guns with increasingly broad definitions of "self-defense." But there's a paradox. The share of American households with guns has dropped like a stone, declining from 50 percent in the 1970's to 34 percent in 2012. Is there a chance that gun control could make a political comeback?
Which Way, L.A.?
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.
To the Point
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.
Which Way, L.A.?
Aurora, Mass Shootings and America's Gun Laws In 1929, American newspapers carried sensational pictures of crumpled, dead bodies, victims of Al Capone's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. President Franklin Roosevelt then persuaded Congress to restrict access to machine guns favored by gangsters. Since then, there have been many more multiple shootings, but the result has more often been sympathy, rather than action. In the aftermath of the massacre in Aurora, Colorado , New York Mayor Bloomberg wants President Obama and candidate Mitt Romney to talk about gun violence. Could that possibly be a winning issue for either side? What's the history of gun control? Are multiple killings America's "new normal?"
To the Point
Can We Talk about Gun Control? In 1929, American newspapers carried sensational pictures of crumpled, dead bodies — victims of Al Capone's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. President Franklin Roosevelt then persuaded Congress to restrict access to machineguns favored by gangsters. Since then, there've been many more multiple shootings, but the result has more often been sympathy, rather than action. In the aftermath of last week's mass shooting, even gun control advocates concede that new legislation is already dead on arrival. But Second Amendment purists aren't getting far either by insisting that the Aurora theater would have been safer if every moviegoer had carried a gun. Is there some way to safeguard the Second Amendment at the same time protecting against gun violence? Is a presidential election year the best time or the worst time to come to terms with a deadly menace and a divided electorate?
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