美國去年底發生的校園槍擊案駭人聽聞。俺很關心，而且覺得應該做點什麼。在網友牧人（這老兄該回來了吧？還有醫生）的建議下，俺到白宮網站登記註冊，投票支持對槍支實行嚴格管制。
最近收到了白宮發來的兩封電子郵件，一封是2012 年12月21日，解釋了奧巴馬政府在槍支控制方面的立場，希望繼續支持。另一封是2012年1月16日收到的。標題是If not now, when? （現在不行動，更待何時？）解釋了奧巴馬總統今天宣布的一項計劃內容，並呼籲民眾進一步的支持。在傾聽了各界人士的意見後，奧巴馬政府決定優先解決一些關鍵性問題，諸如查堵購槍者背景審查方面存在的漏洞、禁止售賣軍用進攻性武器，加強學校安全措施、增加心理健康服務等。
這封信仍然承認，持槍是憲法賦予每個美國公民的權利，每一個守法、負責任的美國人都有權攜帶武器。奧巴馬可能有意繼續推動更嚴格的槍械控制，但這需要國會立法。因此奧巴馬決定優先解決一些容易解決的問題，包括查堵背景審查漏洞、禁止出售軍用進攻性武器，加強學校安全措施、增加心理健康服務等。
本人曾在美國生活過幾年， 雖然並未受過槍支之害，但看到體育用品商店、沃爾瑪商店、甚至Yard Sale 都賣槍，還是覺得這個社會槍支太泛濫了，終究不是什麼好事。美國人在墾荒時代要求擁槍的權利是為了自衛，抵抗暴政。但美國民主制度經過幾百年的發展，已經走向成熟。守衛國土靠軍隊，維護社會治安靠警察，普通公民有什麼必要持槍自衛？因此，我支持在社會上完全禁槍。
順便把這兩封信貼在下面。我覺得這種互動方式很有用。據我所知，中國一些地方政府也有在網上與民眾互動的，不知效果如何。
Hello –
Today President Obama announced a plan to help protect our kids and communities from gun violence. You’re going to hear a lot about it, but I wanted to make sure you got a chance to get the facts, straight from me.
After hearing from Americans from across the political spectrum, we decided to focus on some key priorities: closing background check loopholes, banning military-style assault weapons, making our schools safer, and increasing access to mental health services.
The ideas we sent to President Obama are straightforward. Each of them honors the rights of law-abiding, responsible Americans to bear arms. Some of them will require action from Congress; the President is acting on others immediately. But they’re all commonsense and will help make us a little safer.
Now is the time for all of us to act.
Here’s what we’ve put together:
We’re calling for requiring background checks for all gun sales and closing the loopholes that allow dangerous individuals to make their purchase without going through one of these checks.
We’re asking for a new, stronger ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that allow a shooter to fire dozens of bullets as quickly as he can pull a trigger. And we’re asking Congress to help protect law enforcement by make it illegal for members of the public to possess armor-piercing bullets.
We’re going to give law enforcement more tools and resources to prevent and prosecute gun crimes, and we’re going to end the freeze on gun violence research that prevents the Center from Disease Control from looking at the causes of gun violence.
We’re calling on Congress to help make schools safer by putting up to 1,000 school resource officers and mental health professionals in schools and ensuring they have comprehensive emergency management plans in place.
And we’re going to increase coverage so that students and young adults can get access to the mental health treatment they may need.
We know that no policy we enact or law we enforce can prevent every senseless act of violence in our country. But if we can save the life of even one child, we have a deep responsibility to act.
Now is the time to come together to protect our kids. Learn about the plan, then add your name alongside mine:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/now-is-the-time
Thanks,
Vice President Joe Biden
A Message from President Obama about Your Petition on Reducing Gun Violence
By Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden
In the days since the tragedy in Newtown, Americans from all over the country have called for action to deter mass shootings and reduce gun violence. Hundreds of thousands of you have signed petitions on We the People.
I’m writing you today to thank you for speaking up, to update you on an important development, and to encourage you to continue engaging with the White House on this critical issue.
First, you should know that President Obama is paying close to attention to the public response to this tragedy. In fact, he sat down to record a message specifically for those of you who have joined the conversation using We the People. Watch it now:
On Wednesday, the President outlined a series of first steps we can take to begin the work of ending this cycle of violence. This is what he said:
“We know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides. And as I said on Sunday night, there’s no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. We’re going to need to work on making access to mental health care at least as easy as access to a gun. We’re going to need to look more closely at a culture that all too often glorifies guns and violence. And any actions we must take must begin inside the home and inside our hearts.
But the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence, and prevent the very worst violence.”
Vice President Biden has been asked to work with members of the Administration, Congress, and the general public to come up with a set of concrete policy proposals by next month — proposals the President intends to push swiftly. The President asked the Vice President to lead this effort in part because he wrote and passed the 1994 Crime Bill that helped law enforcement bring down the rate of violent crime in America. That bill included the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
As the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, I’m going to do everything I can to ensure we run a process that includes perspectives from all sides of the issue, which is why I wanted to respond to your petition myself. Two decades ago, as domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House, I first worked with Joe Biden as he fought to enact the Crime Bill, the assault weapons ban, and the Brady Bill. I will never forget what a key role the voices of concerned citizens like you played in that vital process.
The President called on Congress to pass important legislation “banning the sale of military-style assault weapons,” “banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips,” and “requiring background checks before all gun purchases, so that criminals can’t take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who won’t take the responsibility of doing a background check at all.”
An issue this serious and complex isn’t going to be resolved with a single legislative proposal or policy prescription. And let’s be clear, any action we take will respect the Second Amendment. As the President said:
“Look, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. This country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that’s been handed down from generation to generation. Obviously across the country there are regional differences. There are differences between how people feel in urban areas and rural areas. And the fact is the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible — they buy their guns legally and they use them safely, whether for hunting or sport shooting, collection or protection.
But you know what, I am also betting that the majority — the vast majority — of responsible, law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war. I’m willing to bet that they don’t think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas — that an unbalanced man shouldn’t be able to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle so easily; that in this age of technology, we should be able to check someone’s criminal records before he or she can check out at a gun show; that if we work harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in Newtown — or any of the lesser-known tragedies that visit small towns and big cities all across America every day.”
The President said it best: “Ultimately if this effort is to succeed it’s going to require the help of the American people — it’s going to require all of you. If we’re going to change things, it’s going to take a wave of Americans — mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, pastors, law enforcement, mental health professionals — and, yes, gun owners — standing up and saying ‘enough’ on behalf of our kids.”
So let’s continue this conversation and get something meaningful done. If you have additional ideas and are interested in further engagement with the White House on this issue, please let us know and share your thoughts here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/share-your-thoughts-reducing-gun-violence
Thank you for speaking out and staying involved.
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