More than a million Americans flooded the streets of cities nationwide for emotional protests demanding tighter gun control on Saturday, protests spearheaded by teenagers from a Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last month.

&quot;Politicians, either represent the people or get out,&quot; Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, told the crowd at a huge rally in Washington.

&quot;Stand for us or beware -- the voters are coming,&quot; said Kasky, one of the leaders of a dynamic and passionate student movement which has emerged following the February 14 shooting at his school. 
Large crowds also turned out for demonstrations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities -- more than 800 in all according to the organizers of the &quot;March For Our Lives.&quot;

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 175,000 people took part at the New York rally, tweeting: &quot;These students WILL change America.&quot;

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Amazing! Final NYC tally: 175,000 joined <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchForOurLives?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchForOurLives</a>. And this is a movement that has JUST BEGUN. These students WILL change America!
&mdash; Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/977641564171272192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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This movement is going to make a huge change in our country. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchForOurLives?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchForOurLives</a> <a href="https://t.co/hknTXcVfTK">pic.twitter.com/hknTXcVfTK</a>
&mdash; Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/977605992350285824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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You have to know when a revolution is starting... Today in NYC already 150,000 have taken to the streets for PEACE <a href="https://t.co/j5y0y0L3IT">pic.twitter.com/j5y0y0L3IT</a>
&mdash; Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/977598947412926465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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But the largest protest was in Washington, where organizers told NBC News the crowd was estimated at more than 800,000 people, the largest gun control rally in the United States since the Million Mom March in 2000.

The main stage for the event in Washington was set up near the US Capitol and lawmakers were the target audience as speakers delivered blistering warnings that the time has come for stricter gun laws.

&quot;The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons,&quot; Kasky said. &quot;The people demand we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks.&quot;

March organizers included a link for people to register to vote on their MarchForOurLives.com website as they seek to transform their nascent movement into a potent political force.Signs carried by protestors lambasted lawmakers who oppose tougher laws and the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful US gun lobby.

&quot;These kids are right,&quot; said Jeff Turchin, a 68-year-old retired garment manufacturer who came to Washington from New York to attend the rally.

&quot;They`re basically saying the NRA is paying off these Republicans,&quot; Turchin said of the party of President Donald Trump, which also controls Congress.

The Washington rally kicked off with Andra Day singing &quot;Rise Up&quot; and also featured performances by Jennifer Hudson, whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were shot dead in 2008. 
But the most riveting appearances were by the Stoneman Douglas students.

Emma Gonzalez, 17, took the stage wearing a green military-style jacket and ripped jeans and delivered a eulogy for the 14 students and three adults slain by 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz. 
Tears rolling down her face, she then stood in silence at the podium for a full four and half minutes as the crowd fidgeted and some cried out &quot;We`re with you Emma.&quot;

&quot;Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds,&quot; Gonzalez finally said -- the exact amount of time Cruz spent spraying bullets inside her school before fleeing.

&quot;Fight for your lives before it`s someone else`s job,&quot; Gonzalez said. &quot;Get out there and vote.&quot;

Yolanda Renee King, the nine-year-old granddaughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. brought many to tears with a surprise appearance.

&quot;My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character,&quot; she told a rapt crowd.

&quot;I have a dream that enough is enough,&quot; she said, referencing her grandfather`s famous 1963 &quot;I Have a Dream&quot; speech on ending racism.

&quot;And that this should be a gun-free world -- period.&quot;In New York, former Beatle Paul McCartney showed up at a march and spoke of the December 1980 murder of his bandmate John Lennon. 
&quot;Every week you hear about a new shooting and nothing is done about it,&quot; McCartney told AFP. &quot;But I think maybe after this something will be done about it.&quot;

On the other side of the country in Los Angeles, comedian Amy Schumer delivered a passionate plea in front of hundreds of thousands.

&quot;You are killing children,&quot; she said, of the gun lobby. &quot;And they call people like me `Hollywood liberals` like there`s something in it for us.

&quot;Well, what`s in it for us is knowing we`re doing our part to keep our children alive.&quot;

Demonstrations of solidarity also took place around the world, including across cities in Canada, which unveiled stricter gun laws earlier this week including enhanced background checks.

In Scotland, some relatives of those killed in a school shooting in the town of Dunblane in 1996 attended a protest in Edinburgh.

Thousands meanwhile gathered in Parkland to pay tribute to those slain in the city on Valentine`s Day.

&quot;I March Because I Was Almost Silenced,&quot; read a sign carried by Samantha Mayor, 17, who was shot in the knee and wears a heavy brace.

Samantha`s mother, Ellyn, held a sign reading &quot;I`m Marching So No Other Parent Has to Hear `Mom, I`ve Been Shot.`&quot;

Trump was in Florida as marchers gathered in Washington but the White House issued a statement.

&quot;We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today,&quot; it said. &quot;Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President`s.&quot;

The protests were spearheaded by teenagers from the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last month

More than a million Americans flooded the streets of cities nationwide for emotional protests demanding tighter gun control on Saturday, protests spearheaded by teenagers from a Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last month. "Politicians, either represent the people or get out," Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, told the crowd at a huge rally in Washington. "Stand for us or beware -- the voters are coming," said Kasky, one of the leaders of a dynamic and passionate student movement which has emerged following the February 14 shooting at his school. Large crowds also turned out for demonstrations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities -- more than 800 in all according to the organizers of the "March For Our Lives." Mayor Bill de Blasio said 175,000 people took part at the New York rally, tweeting: "These students WILL change America." Amazing! Final NYC tally: 175,000 joined #MarchForOurLives. And this is a movement that has JUST BEGUN. These students WILL change America! — Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 24, 2018 × This movement is going to make a huge change in our country. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/hknTXcVfTK — Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 24, 2018 × You have to know when a revolution is starting... Today in NYC already 150,000 have taken to the streets for PEACE pic.twitter.com/j5y0y0L3IT — Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 24, 2018 × But the largest protest was in Washington, where organizers told NBC News the crowd was estimated at more than 800,000 people, the largest gun control rally in the United States since the Million Mom March in 2000. The main stage for the event in Washington was set up near the US Capitol and lawmakers were the target audience as speakers delivered blistering warnings that the time has come for stricter gun laws. "The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons," Kasky said. "The people demand we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks." March organizers included a link for people to register to vote on their MarchForOurLives.com website as they seek to transform their nascent movement into a potent political force.Signs carried by protestors lambasted lawmakers who oppose tougher laws and the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful US gun lobby. "These kids are right," said Jeff Turchin, a 68-year-old retired garment manufacturer who came to Washington from New York to attend the rally. "They`re basically saying the NRA is paying off these Republicans," Turchin said of the party of President Donald Trump, which also controls Congress. The Washington rally kicked off with Andra Day singing "Rise Up" and also featured performances by Jennifer Hudson, whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were shot dead in 2008. But the most riveting appearances were by the Stoneman Douglas students. Emma Gonzalez, 17, took the stage wearing a green military-style jacket and ripped jeans and delivered a eulogy for the 14 students and three adults slain by 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz. Tears rolling down her face, she then stood in silence at the podium for a full four and half minutes as the crowd fidgeted and some cried out "We`re with you Emma." "Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds," Gonzalez finally said -- the exact amount of time Cruz spent spraying bullets inside her school before fleeing. "Fight for your lives before it`s someone else`s job," Gonzalez said. "Get out there and vote." Yolanda Renee King, the nine-year-old granddaughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. brought many to tears with a surprise appearance. "My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character," she told a rapt crowd. "I have a dream that enough is enough," she said, referencing her grandfather`s famous 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech on ending racism. "And that this should be a gun-free world -- period."In New York, former Beatle Paul McCartney showed up at a march and spoke of the December 1980 murder of his bandmate John Lennon. "Every week you hear about a new shooting and nothing is done about it," McCartney told AFP. "But I think maybe after this something will be done about it." On the other side of the country in Los Angeles, comedian Amy Schumer delivered a passionate plea in front of hundreds of thousands. "You are killing children," she said, of the gun lobby. "And they call people like me `Hollywood liberals` like there`s something in it for us. "Well, what`s in it for us is knowing we`re doing our part to keep our children alive." Demonstrations of solidarity also took place around the world, including across cities in Canada, which unveiled stricter gun laws earlier this week including enhanced background checks. In Scotland, some relatives of those killed in a school shooting in the town of Dunblane in 1996 attended a protest in Edinburgh. Thousands meanwhile gathered in Parkland to pay tribute to those slain in the city on Valentine`s Day. "I March Because I Was Almost Silenced," read a sign carried by Samantha Mayor, 17, who was shot in the knee and wears a heavy brace. Samantha`s mother, Ellyn, held a sign reading "I`m Marching So No Other Parent Has to Hear `Mom, I`ve Been Shot.`" Trump was in Florida as marchers gathered in Washington but the White House issued a statement. "We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today," it said. "Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President`s."

Over 1 million Americans pour onto streets, demand tighter gun control

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to rally nationwide on Saturday for tighter gun laws in &quot;March For Our Lives&quot; protests led by survivors of the Florida school massacre, which reiginited public anger over mass shootings.

Students from the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 students and staff were killed on Feb. 14 will be among the 500,000 people organizers say could rally on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol in Washington.

The protests orchestrated by survivors of the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are aimed at breaking through a legislative gridlock that has long stymied efforts to tighten firearms controls. Mass shootings at American schools and colleges have become a regular occurrence.

&quot;This issue is going to turn into the No. 1 issue in this country. I know that&#39;s not only what I want, but I know it&#39;s what you guys want,&quot; Alfonso Calderon, a junior at the Florida school, told Washington students at a pre-march event on Thursday.

The Washington rally is among more than 800 events scheduled worldwide, with U.S. demonstrations set from San Clemente, California, to New York and Parkland, according to gun-control group Everytown For Gun Safety.

The teenage organizers have won kudos and cash from dozens of celebrities, with singer Ariana Grande and &quot;Hamilton&quot; creator Lin-Manuel Miranda among those performing in Washington.

&quot;Trainwreck&quot; star Amy Schumer is set to appear at the Los Angeles rally. Actor George Clooney and his human rights attorney wife have donated $500,000 and said they would be at the Washington rally.

Organizers want Congress, many of whose members are up for re-election this year, to ban the sale of assault weapons like the one used in the Florida rampage and to tighten background checks for gun buyers. On the other side of the debate, gun rights advocates cite constitutional guarantees of the right to bear arms.

On Friday, Republican President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that includes modest improvements to background checks for gun sales and grants to help schools prevent gun violence.

David Hogg, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, said the protests were a way for young Americans to show their opposition to the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby.

&quot;We&#39;re asking people (to) put the USA over the NRA,&quot; he said at the Thursday event in Washington.

An NRA spokeswoman said it had not taken a position on the protests.

Democrats and nonpartisan groups hope to register at least 25,000 first-time voters at the rallies, potentially a boost for Democrats, who generally favor stricter gun controls.

Students from the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 students and staff were killed on Feb. 14 will be among the 500,000 people organizers say could rally on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol in Washington

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to rally nationwide on Saturday for tighter gun laws in "March For Our Lives" protests led by survivors of the Florida school massacre, which reiginited public anger over mass shootings. Students from the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 students and staff were killed on Feb. 14 will be among the 500,000 people organizers say could rally on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol in Washington. The protests orchestrated by survivors of the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are aimed at breaking through a legislative gridlock that has long stymied efforts to tighten firearms controls. Mass shootings at American schools and colleges have become a regular occurrence. "This issue is going to turn into the No. 1 issue in this country. I know that's not only what I want, but I know it's what you guys want," Alfonso Calderon, a junior at the Florida school, told Washington students at a pre-march event on Thursday. The Washington rally is among more than 800 events scheduled worldwide, with U.S. demonstrations set from San Clemente, California, to New York and Parkland, according to gun-control group Everytown For Gun Safety. The teenage organizers have won kudos and cash from dozens of celebrities, with singer Ariana Grande and "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda among those performing in Washington. "Trainwreck" star Amy Schumer is set to appear at the Los Angeles rally. Actor George Clooney and his human rights attorney wife have donated $500,000 and said they would be at the Washington rally. Organizers want Congress, many of whose members are up for re-election this year, to ban the sale of assault weapons like the one used in the Florida rampage and to tighten background checks for gun buyers. On the other side of the debate, gun rights advocates cite constitutional guarantees of the right to bear arms. On Friday, Republican President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that includes modest improvements to background checks for gun sales and grants to help schools prevent gun violence. David Hogg, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, said the protests were a way for young Americans to show their opposition to the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby. "We're asking people (to) put the USA over the NRA," he said at the Thursday event in Washington. An NRA spokeswoman said it had not taken a position on the protests. Democrats and nonpartisan groups hope to register at least 25,000 first-time voters at the rallies, potentially a boost for Democrats, who generally favor stricter gun controls.

Hundreds of thousands set to march for tighter US gun controls

President Donald Trump stood accused Monday of caving in to the US gun lobby one month after the Florida school shooting, as the White House pushed ahead with plans to arm teachers but backpedaled on curbing access to assault rifles.

Under pressure to act after a teenager killed 17 people with a semi-automatic rifle in Parkland, Trump had signaled support for raising from 18 to 21 the federal minimum age for purchasing the powerful weapons.

But a new policy statement focused on Trump&#39;s idea of arming teachers, &quot;making sure our schools are safe and secure, just like our airports, stadiums and government buildings.&quot;

As for federal age limits on gun purchases, it only said the government would form a special commission on school safety, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in charge.

It made no mention of expanding the vetting of firearms buyers to sales online and at gun shows, another idea previously floated by the White House.

However, the policy statement did endorse minor legislation in Congress to improve federal and state databases used for background checks by licensed dealers.

Those moves fell close in line with the position of the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby that fights any gun ownership restrictions.

Trump himself admitted in an earlier tweet that he is not currently pushing age restrictions that could have prevented 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz from buying the powerful AR-15 assault rifle used on February 14 to kill 14 students and three adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

&quot;On 18 to 21 Age Limits, watching court cases and rulings before acting. States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly),&quot; the president wrote.Trump&#39;s step backwards, after two extraordinary meetings in recent weeks with NRA executives, has critics accusing him of wilting after three of the worst mass shootings in US history scarred his first year in office.&nbsp;

&quot;President Trump has completely caved to the gun lobby,&quot; said Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein.

&quot;He backed off his openness toward an assault weapons ban, support for expanded background checks, barring those who exhibit &#39;red flags&#39;&nbsp;from buying guns and raising the age to buy assault weapons to 21.&quot;

Feinstein called the notion of arming teachers an &quot;utterly ridiculous idea that teachers strongly oppose.&quot;

The tepid steps lessened the hopes of gun control advocates that Trump would take a stand in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

Robert Spitzer, an expert on the gun rights debate and chair of the political science department at the State University of New York, College at Cortland, foresaw no meaningful reform in the White House announcement.

&quot;His initiative basically amounts to a big nothing,&quot; he said of Trump.Polls since Parkland shooting show the US public has turned strongly for tougher regulations.&nbsp;

Students from the high school have taken the lead in a national campaign to advance gun control, meeting Trump and other leading politicians, and helping force through a new law on age limits for purchasers in Florida.

But the NRA, which considers the US Constitution&#39;s Second Amendment a guarantee of broad gun ownership rights, has pressed the White House and Congress to hold off.

On Friday, it filed a lawsuit contesting Florida&#39;s new age limit law.

&quot;It totally eviscerates the right of law-abiding adults between the ages of 18 and 21 to keep and bear arms,&quot; the NRA said.

The Justice Department did announce a concrete move Saturday -- a plan to ban bump stocks.

But that comes more than five months after a man killed 58 people in Las Vegas using multiple AR-15 rifles equipped with the devices, which turn semi-automatic rifles into machine guns, and they are still on sale.

Spitzer was not optimistic of any solid action on gun control, given that the Republican-controlled Congress faces a tough election battle in November.&nbsp;

&quot;The NRA did not want to see Congress enacting any legislation,&quot; he said. &quot;If there are 100 mass shootings next week, the Congress is not going to move on any significant new gun law.&quot;

Trump had signaled support for raising from 18 to 21 the federal minimum age for purchasing the powerful weapons

President Donald Trump stood accused Monday of caving in to the US gun lobby one month after the Florida school shooting, as the White House pushed ahead with plans to arm teachers but backpedaled on curbing access to assault rifles. Under pressure to act after a teenager killed 17 people with a semi-automatic rifle in Parkland, Trump had signaled support for raising from 18 to 21 the federal minimum age for purchasing the powerful weapons. But a new policy statement focused on Trump's idea of arming teachers, "making sure our schools are safe and secure, just like our airports, stadiums and government buildings." As for federal age limits on gun purchases, it only said the government would form a special commission on school safety, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in charge. It made no mention of expanding the vetting of firearms buyers to sales online and at gun shows, another idea previously floated by the White House. However, the policy statement did endorse minor legislation in Congress to improve federal and state databases used for background checks by licensed dealers. Those moves fell close in line with the position of the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby that fights any gun ownership restrictions. Trump himself admitted in an earlier tweet that he is not currently pushing age restrictions that could have prevented 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz from buying the powerful AR-15 assault rifle used on February 14 to kill 14 students and three adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "On 18 to 21 Age Limits, watching court cases and rulings before acting. States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly)," the president wrote.Trump's step backwards, after two extraordinary meetings in recent weeks with NRA executives, has critics accusing him of wilting after three of the worst mass shootings in US history scarred his first year in office. "President Trump has completely caved to the gun lobby," said Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein. "He backed off his openness toward an assault weapons ban, support for expanded background checks, barring those who exhibit 'red flags' from buying guns and raising the age to buy assault weapons to 21." Feinstein called the notion of arming teachers an "utterly ridiculous idea that teachers strongly oppose." The tepid steps lessened the hopes of gun control advocates that Trump would take a stand in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Robert Spitzer, an expert on the gun rights debate and chair of the political science department at the State University of New York, College at Cortland, foresaw no meaningful reform in the White House announcement. "His initiative basically amounts to a big nothing," he said of Trump.Polls since Parkland shooting show the US public has turned strongly for tougher regulations. Students from the high school have taken the lead in a national campaign to advance gun control, meeting Trump and other leading politicians, and helping force through a new law on age limits for purchasers in Florida. But the NRA, which considers the US Constitution's Second Amendment a guarantee of broad gun ownership rights, has pressed the White House and Congress to hold off. On Friday, it filed a lawsuit contesting Florida's new age limit law. "It totally eviscerates the right of law-abiding adults between the ages of 18 and 21 to keep and bear arms," the NRA said. The Justice Department did announce a concrete move Saturday -- a plan to ban bump stocks. But that comes more than five months after a man killed 58 people in Las Vegas using multiple AR-15 rifles equipped with the devices, which turn semi-automatic rifles into machine guns, and they are still on sale. Spitzer was not optimistic of any solid action on gun control, given that the Republican-controlled Congress faces a tough election battle in November. "The NRA did not want to see Congress enacting any legislation," he said. "If there are 100 mass shootings next week, the Congress is not going to move on any significant new gun law."

Trump accused of backpedaling on gun control

Just a little more than a day away, 90th Academy Awards will don an orange hue with A-listers planning to sport a special &lsquo;Wear Orange To Prevent Gun Violence&rsquo; pins in support of the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety on the red carpet, according to a popular magazine.

This comes in the wake of a tragic school shooting on February 14, 2018, that claimed the lives of 17 people in Parkland, Florida.

Furthering their voice on an internationally televised event, celebrities have previously too, come out in support of teen-survivors of the shooting who have now turned into activists and organised &ldquo;March for Our Lives&rdquo;&nbsp;calling for gun control. George Clooney and lawyer-wife Amal Clooney&nbsp;donated $500,000&nbsp;in the name of their infant twins -- Ella and Alexander, to the event. Popular TV host Oprah Winfrey&nbsp;also donated the same amount to the fund.

While this year&rsquo;s Golden Globes turned black with whos-who of Hollywood turning up in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/golden-globes-2018-updates-dressed-in-black-hollywood-stars-have-a-message-28820" target="_blank">all-black attire</a> and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/entertainment-times-up-reese-witherspoon-jennifer-anniston-meryl-streep-and-others-join-hands-to-fight-against-sexual-harassment-28305" target="_blank">Time&rsquo;s Up pins </a>to stand in support of sexually abused and harassed victims, Oscars 2018 will have notes of orange.

Let&rsquo;s see who all actually turn up for gun control in the United States among the popular names.

Hollywood celebrities will be making a statement with the pins like their Golden Globes' counterparts who chose to go black against sexual abuse and harassment

Just a little more than a day away, 90th Academy Awards will don an orange hue with A-listers planning to sport a special ‘Wear Orange To Prevent Gun Violence’ pins in support of the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety on the red carpet, according to a popular magazine. This comes in the wake of a tragic school shooting on February 14, 2018, that claimed the lives of 17 people in Parkland, Florida. Furthering their voice on an internationally televised event, celebrities have previously too, come out in support of teen-survivors of the shooting who have now turned into activists and organised “March for Our Lives” calling for gun control. George Clooney and lawyer-wife Amal Clooney donated $500,000 in the name of their infant twins -- Ella and Alexander, to the event. Popular TV host Oprah Winfrey also donated the same amount to the fund. While this year’s Golden Globes turned black with whos-who of Hollywood turning up in all-black attire and Time’s Up pins to stand in support of sexually abused and harassed victims, Oscars 2018 will have notes of orange. Let’s see who all actually turn up for gun control in the United States among the popular names.

Oscars 2018: This is why stars are wearing orange pins on the red carpet

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for healing and peace one day after a gunman killed at least 17 people at a Florida high school, saying his administration would work to improve school safety and address mental illness.

Trump said he was making plans to meet with families in Parkland, Florida.

In televised remarks from the White House, Trump, who has an 11-year-old son, said he wanted to address America&#39;s children with the message they are &quot;never alone and you never will be.&quot;

&quot;You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you,&quot; he said.

Democrats have said the shooting underscores the need for tougher gun laws, but Trump did not mention the issue in his brief address, delivered from the White House.

He said he would make school safety the top priority when he meets with governors and state attorneys general later this month.

&quot;We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections,&quot; Trump said, urging children who feel scared or alone to reach out to trusted adults for help.

&quot;We are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain,&quot; he said.

Trump said his administration would work to improve school safety and address mental illness

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for healing and peace one day after a gunman killed at least 17 people at a Florida high school, saying his administration would work to improve school safety and address mental illness. Trump said he was making plans to meet with families in Parkland, Florida. In televised remarks from the White House, Trump, who has an 11-year-old son, said he wanted to address America's children with the message they are "never alone and you never will be." "You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you," he said. Democrats have said the shooting underscores the need for tougher gun laws, but Trump did not mention the issue in his brief address, delivered from the White House. He said he would make school safety the top priority when he meets with governors and state attorneys general later this month. "We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections," Trump said, urging children who feel scared or alone to reach out to trusted adults for help. "We are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain," he said.

Trump says will make schools safer after Florida shooting

The shooting in Virginia that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, as well as the shooting in a San Francisco UPS facility that left four dead on the very same day, have generated &ndash; yet again &ndash; the standard set of responses in the wake of a mass shooting in the United States.

The details of any such tragedy often emerge slowly, but a few points can be made. While deaths from mass shootings are a relatively small part of the overall homicidal violence in America, they are particularly wrenching. The problem is worse in the U.S. than in most other industrialised nations. And it is getting worse.

The political overlay of the Virginia shooting also carries a particular social harm. Any thought that guns can play a helpful role in reducing tyranny in a democratic country like the United States should quickly be dispelled. Hopefully, that message will penetrate everyone from the NRA leadership and Sen. Rand Paul to anyone on the opposite end of the political spectrum who doesn&rsquo;t like the current developments of Republican rule.

I&rsquo;ve been researching gun violence &ndash; and what can be done to prevent it &ndash; in the U.S. for 25 years. The fact is that if the NRA claim that guns helped reduce crime were true, the U.S. would have the lowest homicide rate among industrialised nations instead of the highest one &ndash; and by a wide margin.

The U.S. is by far the world leader in the number of guns in civilian hands. The stricter gun laws of other &ldquo;advanced countries&rdquo; have restrained homicidal violence, suicides and gun accidents &ndash; even when, in some cases, laws were introduced over massive protests from their armed citizens.

The state of gun control in the US

Eighteen states in the U.S. and a number of cities including Chicago, New York and San Francisco have tried to reduce the unlawful use of guns as well as gun accidents by adopting laws to keep guns safely stored when they are not in use. Safe storage is a common form of gun regulation in nations with stricter gun regulations.

The NRA has been battling such laws for years. But that effort was dealt a blow in June 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court &ndash; over a strident dissent by Justices Thomas and Scalia &ndash; refused to consider the San Francisco law that required guns not in use be stored safely. This was a positive step because hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen every year, and good public policy must try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children.

The dissenters were alarmed by the thought that a gun stored in a safe would not be immediately available for use, but they seemed unaware of how unusual it is that a gun is helpful when someone is under attack.

Statistics show only the tiniest fraction of victims of violent crime are able to use a gun in their defense. Over the period from 2007 to 2011, roughly six million nonfatal violent crimes occurred each year. Yet data from the National Crime Victimisation Survey show that 99.2 percent of victims in these incidents did not protect themselves with a gun &ndash; this in a country with roughly 300 million guns in civilian hands.

In fact, a classic study of 198 cases of unwanted entry into occupied single-family dwellings in Atlanta found that the invader was twice as likely to obtain the victim&rsquo;s gun than to have the victim use a firearm in self-defense.

The author of the study, Arthur Kellerman, concluded in words that those opposing safe storage of guns should heed:

<blockquote>
On average, the gun that represents the greatest threat is the one that is kept loaded and readily available in a bedside drawer.
</blockquote>

A loaded, unsecured gun in the home is like an insurance policy that fails to deliver at least 95 percent of the time, but has the constant potential &ndash; particularly in the case of handguns which are more easily manipulated by children and more attractive for use in crime &ndash; to harm someone in the home or be stolen and harm someone else.

More guns won&rsquo;t stop gun violence

For years, the NRA mantra has been that allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns would reduce crime as they fought off or scared of the criminals.

Some early studies even purported to show that so-called right-to-carry (RTC) laws did just that, but a 2004 report from the National Research Council refuted that claim, saying it was not supported by &ldquo;the scientific evidence,&rdquo; while remaining uncertain about what the true impact of RTC laws was.

Ten years of additional data have allowed researchers to get a better fix on this question, which is important since the NRA is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would allow RTC as a matter of constitutional law.

The new research on this issue from my team at Stanford University has given the most compelling evidence to date that RTC laws are associated with significant increases in violent crime. Looking at Uniform Crime Reports data from 1979 to 2014, we find that, on average, the 33 states that adopted RTC laws over this period experienced violent crime rates that are roughly 14 percent higher after 10 years than if they had not adopted these laws.

In the meantime, can anything make American politicians listen to the preferences of the 90 percent on the wisdom of adopting universal background checks for gun purchases?

Gun control around the world

As an academic exercise, one might speculate whether the law could play a constructive role in reducing the number or deadliness of mass shootings.

Most other advanced nations apparently think so, since they make it far harder for someone like your typical American mass killer to get his hands on particularly lethal weapons. Universal background checks are common features of gun regulation in other developed countries, including:

Germany: To buy a gun, anyone under the age of 25 has to pass a psychiatric evaluation. Presumably, 21-year-old Charleston shooter Dylann Roof would have failed. 
Finland: Handgun license applicants are allowed to purchase firearms only if they can prove they are active members of regulated shooting clubs. Before they can get a gun, applicants must pass an aptitude test, submit to a police interview and show they have a proper gun storage unit. 
Italy: To secure a gun permit, one must establish a genuine reason to possess a firearm and pass a background check considering both criminal and mental health records. 
France: Firearms applicants must have no criminal record and pass a background check that considers the reason for the gun purchase and evaluates the criminal, mental and health records of the applicant. 
The United Kingdom and Japan: Handguns are illegal for private citizens. 
While mass shootings, as well as gun homicides and suicides, are not unknown in these countries, the overall rates are substantially higher in the United States than in these nations.

While NRA supporters frequently challenge me on these statistics, saying that this is only because American blacks are so violent, pointing to the type of wildly incorrect claims about the percentages of whites killed by blacks that Dylann Roof spouted and Donald Trump tweeted, it is important to note that white murder rates in the U.S. are well over twice as high as the murder rates in any of these other countries.

Australia hasn&rsquo;t had a mass shooting since 1996

The story of Australia, which had 13 mass shootings in the 18-year period from 1979 to 1996 but none in the succeeding 21 years, is worth examining.

The turning point was the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, in which a gunman killed 35 individuals using semiautomatic weapons.

In the wake of the massacre, the conservative federal government succeeded in implementing tough new gun control laws throughout the country. A large array of weapons were banned &ndash; including the Glock semiautomatic handgun used in the Charleston shootings. The government also imposed a mandatory gun buy-back that substantially reduced gun possession in Australia.

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A pile of about 4,500 prohibited firearms in Sydney that have been handed in under the Australian government&rsquo;s buy-back scheme July 28, 1997. (Reuters)
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The effect was that both gun suicides and homicides fell. In addition, the 1996 legislation disallowed self-defense as a legitimate reason to purchase a firearm.

When I mention this to disbelieving NRA supporters, they insist that crime must now be rampant in Australia. In fact, the Australian murder rate has fallen to one per 100,000 while the U.S. rate, thankfully lower than in the early 1990s, is still roughly 5 per 100,000 &ndash; nearly five times as high. Moreover, robberies in Australia occur at only about half the rate of the U.S.: 58 in Australia versus 113.1 per 100,000 in the U.S. in 2012.

How did Australia do it? Politically, it took a brave prime minister to face the rage of Australian gun interests.

Prime Minister John Howard wore a bullet-proof vest when he announced the proposed gun restrictions in June 1996. The deputy prime minister was hung in effigy. But Australia did not have a domestic gun industry to oppose the new measures so the will of the people was allowed to emerge. And today, support for the safer, gun-restricted Australia is so strong that going back would not be tolerated by the public.

That Australia hasn&rsquo;t had a mass shooting since 1996 is likely more than merely the result of the considerable reduction in guns &ndash; it&rsquo;s certainly not the case that guns have disappeared altogether.

I suspect that the country has also experienced a cultural shift between the shock of the Port Arthur massacre and the removal of guns from everyday life, as they are no longer available for self-defense and they are simply less present throughout the country. Troubled individuals, in other words, are not constantly being reminded that guns are a means to address their alleged grievances to the extent that they were in the past, or continue to be in the U.S.

Lax gun control in one nation can create problems in another

Of course, strict gun regulations cannot ensure that the danger of mass shootings or killings has been eliminated.

Norway has strong gun control and committed humane values. But that didn&rsquo;t prevent Anders Breivik from opening fire on a youth camp on the island of Utoya in 2011. His clean criminal record and hunting license had allowed him to secure semiautomatic rifles, but Norway restricted his ability to get high-capacity clips for them. In his manifesto, Breivik wrote about his attempts to legally buy weapons, stating, &ldquo;I envy our European American brothers as the gun laws in Europe sucks ass in comparison.&rdquo;

In fact, in the same manifesto, Breivik wrote that it was from a U.S. supplier that he purchased &ndash; and had mailed &ndash; 10 30-round ammunition magazines for the rifle he used in his attack.

In other words, even if a particular nation or state chooses to make it harder for some would-be killers to get their weapons, these efforts can be undercut by the jurisdictions that hold out. In the U.S., of course, state gun control measures are often thwarted by the lax attitude to gun acquisition in other states.

Editor&rsquo;s note: This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-us-gun-control-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world-43590" rel="nofollow" target="blank">an article</a> first published on June 24, 2015.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-us-gun-control-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world-79490" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

In the US, gun control measures are often thwarted by the lax attitude to gun acquisition in pro-gun states

The shooting in Virginia that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, as well as the shooting in a San Francisco UPS facility that left four dead on the very same day, have generated – yet again – the standard set of responses in the wake of a mass shooting in the United States. The details of any such tragedy often emerge slowly, but a few points can be made. While deaths from mass shootings are a relatively small part of the overall homicidal violence in America, they are particularly wrenching. The problem is worse in the U.S. than in most other industrialised nations. And it is getting worse. The political overlay of the Virginia shooting also carries a particular social harm. Any thought that guns can play a helpful role in reducing tyranny in a democratic country like the United States should quickly be dispelled. Hopefully, that message will penetrate everyone from the NRA leadership and Sen. Rand Paul to anyone on the opposite end of the political spectrum who doesn’t like the current developments of Republican rule. I’ve been researching gun violence – and what can be done to prevent it – in the U.S. for 25 years. The fact is that if the NRA claim that guns helped reduce crime were true, the U.S. would have the lowest homicide rate among industrialised nations instead of the highest one – and by a wide margin. The U.S. is by far the world leader in the number of guns in civilian hands. The stricter gun laws of other “advanced countries” have restrained homicidal violence, suicides and gun accidents – even when, in some cases, laws were introduced over massive protests from their armed citizens. The state of gun control in the US Eighteen states in the U.S. and a number of cities including Chicago, New York and San Francisco have tried to reduce the unlawful use of guns as well as gun accidents by adopting laws to keep guns safely stored when they are not in use. Safe storage is a common form of gun regulation in nations with stricter gun regulations. The NRA has been battling such laws for years. But that effort was dealt a blow in June 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court – over a strident dissent by Justices Thomas and Scalia – refused to consider the San Francisco law that required guns not in use be stored safely. This was a positive step because hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen every year, and good public policy must try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children. The dissenters were alarmed by the thought that a gun stored in a safe would not be immediately available for use, but they seemed unaware of how unusual it is that a gun is helpful when someone is under attack. Statistics show only the tiniest fraction of victims of violent crime are able to use a gun in their defense. Over the period from 2007 to 2011, roughly six million nonfatal violent crimes occurred each year. Yet data from the National Crime Victimisation Survey show that 99.2 percent of victims in these incidents did not protect themselves with a gun – this in a country with roughly 300 million guns in civilian hands. In fact, a classic study of 198 cases of unwanted entry into occupied single-family dwellings in Atlanta found that the invader was twice as likely to obtain the victim’s gun than to have the victim use a firearm in self-defense. The author of the study, Arthur Kellerman, concluded in words that those opposing safe storage of guns should heed: On average, the gun that represents the greatest threat is the one that is kept loaded and readily available in a bedside drawer. A loaded, unsecured gun in the home is like an insurance policy that fails to deliver at least 95 percent of the time, but has the constant potential – particularly in the case of handguns which are more easily manipulated by children and more attractive for use in crime – to harm someone in the home or be stolen and harm someone else. More guns won’t stop gun violence For years, the NRA mantra has been that allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns would reduce crime as they fought off or scared of the criminals. Some early studies even purported to show that so-called right-to-carry (RTC) laws did just that, but a 2004 report from the National Research Council refuted that claim, saying it was not supported by “the scientific evidence,” while remaining uncertain about what the true impact of RTC laws was. Ten years of additional data have allowed researchers to get a better fix on this question, which is important since the NRA is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would allow RTC as a matter of constitutional law. The new research on this issue from my team at Stanford University has given the most compelling evidence to date that RTC laws are associated with significant increases in violent crime. Looking at Uniform Crime Reports data from 1979 to 2014, we find that, on average, the 33 states that adopted RTC laws over this period experienced violent crime rates that are roughly 14 percent higher after 10 years than if they had not adopted these laws. In the meantime, can anything make American politicians listen to the preferences of the 90 percent on the wisdom of adopting universal background checks for gun purchases? Gun control around the world As an academic exercise, one might speculate whether the law could play a constructive role in reducing the number or deadliness of mass shootings. Most other advanced nations apparently think so, since they make it far harder for someone like your typical American mass killer to get his hands on particularly lethal weapons. Universal background checks are common features of gun regulation in other developed countries, including: Germany: To buy a gun, anyone under the age of 25 has to pass a psychiatric evaluation. Presumably, 21-year-old Charleston shooter Dylann Roof would have failed. Finland: Handgun license applicants are allowed to purchase firearms only if they can prove they are active members of regulated shooting clubs. Before they can get a gun, applicants must pass an aptitude test, submit to a police interview and show they have a proper gun storage unit. Italy: To secure a gun permit, one must establish a genuine reason to possess a firearm and pass a background check considering both criminal and mental health records. France: Firearms applicants must have no criminal record and pass a background check that considers the reason for the gun purchase and evaluates the criminal, mental and health records of the applicant. The United Kingdom and Japan: Handguns are illegal for private citizens. While mass shootings, as well as gun homicides and suicides, are not unknown in these countries, the overall rates are substantially higher in the United States than in these nations. While NRA supporters frequently challenge me on these statistics, saying that this is only because American blacks are so violent, pointing to the type of wildly incorrect claims about the percentages of whites killed by blacks that Dylann Roof spouted and Donald Trump tweeted, it is important to note that white murder rates in the U.S. are well over twice as high as the murder rates in any of these other countries. Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since 1996 The story of Australia, which had 13 mass shootings in the 18-year period from 1979 to 1996 but none in the succeeding 21 years, is worth examining. The turning point was the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, in which a gunman killed 35 individuals using semiautomatic weapons. In the wake of the massacre, the conservative federal government succeeded in implementing tough new gun control laws throughout the country. A large array of weapons were banned – including the Glock semiautomatic handgun used in the Charleston shootings. The government also imposed a mandatory gun buy-back that substantially reduced gun possession in Australia. A pile of about 4,500 prohibited firearms in Sydney that have been handed in under the Australian government’s buy-back scheme July 28, 1997. (Reuters) × The effect was that both gun suicides and homicides fell. In addition, the 1996 legislation disallowed self-defense as a legitimate reason to purchase a firearm. When I mention this to disbelieving NRA supporters, they insist that crime must now be rampant in Australia. In fact, the Australian murder rate has fallen to one per 100,000 while the U.S. rate, thankfully lower than in the early 1990s, is still roughly 5 per 100,000 – nearly five times as high. Moreover, robberies in Australia occur at only about half the rate of the U.S.: 58 in Australia versus 113.1 per 100,000 in the U.S. in 2012. How did Australia do it? Politically, it took a brave prime minister to face the rage of Australian gun interests. Prime Minister John Howard wore a bullet-proof vest when he announced the proposed gun restrictions in June 1996. The deputy prime minister was hung in effigy. But Australia did not have a domestic gun industry to oppose the new measures so the will of the people was allowed to emerge. And today, support for the safer, gun-restricted Australia is so strong that going back would not be tolerated by the public. That Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since 1996 is likely more than merely the result of the considerable reduction in guns – it’s certainly not the case that guns have disappeared altogether. I suspect that the country has also experienced a cultural shift between the shock of the Port Arthur massacre and the removal of guns from everyday life, as they are no longer available for self-defense and they are simply less present throughout the country. Troubled individuals, in other words, are not constantly being reminded that guns are a means to address their alleged grievances to the extent that they were in the past, or continue to be in the U.S. Lax gun control in one nation can create problems in another Of course, strict gun regulations cannot ensure that the danger of mass shootings or killings has been eliminated. Norway has strong gun control and committed humane values. But that didn’t prevent Anders Breivik from opening fire on a youth camp on the island of Utoya in 2011. His clean criminal record and hunting license had allowed him to secure semiautomatic rifles, but Norway restricted his ability to get high-capacity clips for them. In his manifesto, Breivik wrote about his attempts to legally buy weapons, stating, “I envy our European American brothers as the gun laws in Europe sucks ass in comparison.” In fact, in the same manifesto, Breivik wrote that it was from a U.S. supplier that he purchased – and had mailed – 10 30-round ammunition magazines for the rifle he used in his attack. In other words, even if a particular nation or state chooses to make it harder for some would-be killers to get their weapons, these efforts can be undercut by the jurisdictions that hold out. In the U.S., of course, state gun control measures are often thwarted by the lax attitude to gun acquisition in other states. Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article first published on June 24, 2015. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

How US gun control compares to the rest of the world

Today&rsquo;s mass shooting at a small Baptist church in the small Texas town of Sutherland Springs highlights the role of pro-gun advocates in blocking the progress of effective gun control.

Such advocacy often reflects the persuasive power of &ldquo;issue management&rdquo; &ndash; a communication process that enables organisations to isolate public issues and steer them in a direction that suits their interests. In the case of the terrible mass-shooting in Las Vegas, the NRA turned a potential PR disaster into a near-triumph.

This approach has been used since the early 1980s when issues management was developed as a strategy to help US businesses compete on an equal footing in setting the social agenda. It was soon adopted around the world by governments, non-profits, community groups and activist organisations.

Controlling the headlines

Usually, it&rsquo;s pretty transparent who is managing the issue and trying to persuade the public, the government or some other decision maker.

For example, we know broadly who is trying to convince us to vote for or against same-sex marriage, or to support or oppose the Adani coal mine, or to join the campaign to ban duck-shooting in Victoria.

But sometimes it is much less clear. A case in point is the television campaign purportedly launched by Australian convenience-store owners to oppose plain packaging of cigarettes, which turned out to be funded by Big Tobacco.

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<div class="media-description">
A section of the advertisement that appeared in the Australian media that was actually partly funded by the tobacco industry. (Others)
</div>
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In fact, some of the most effective issue management is only partly visible to the public, and in some cases is never seen at all in the mainstream media. 
Conversely, there are rare occasions when a major controversy is fought out almost entirely in the headlines and the issue management is laid bare for all to see.

NRA agenda setting

Whatever you think of the National Rifle Association you have to give them credit for some highly effective issue management. In the wake of the shooting rampage in Las Vegas, they could have dusted off their usual response after every previous mass shooting.

But instead, the plotters at NRA came up with an audacious new approach &ndash; they called for a review of the so-called bump stocks, which are devices retrofitted to turn a legal semi-automatic weapon into an illegal automatic killing machine.

Bump stocks allow the gun to fire faster than you can manually pull the trigger, which is how the Las Vegas shooter could fire so many shots in such a short time.

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A bump fire stock that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate. (Reuters)
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In issue management terms, the NRA&rsquo;s strategy was a classic case of &ldquo;look over here&rdquo; while maintaining its devotion to its core objectives.

By seeming to give away something that is peripheral to the gun rights issue, the NRA implemented a perfect example of the tried and true &ldquo;issue diversion tactic&rdquo;. In doing so, it positioned itself as part of the solution, rather than as a key part of the problem.

The long and short of it

While some issue management campaigns are very long-term - like the decades-long tussle over cigarette sales - there are also occasions when the issue management strategy seems to be a short-term initiative explicitly designed to influence the media headlines (such as the NRA campaign).

Commentators and reporters in the US and elsewhere rushed to express amazement that the NRA was actually &ldquo;supporting gun control&rdquo;. Headlines around the world hyped a minor concession on bump stocks into an apparently substantive change of direction. 
For example, ABC America headlined it: &ldquo;Las Vegas shooting leads to first signs of movement in gun control stalemate&rdquo; and The Orange County Register trumpeted: &ldquo;Gun control war dramatically changes with GOP, NRA agreeing to regulations.&rdquo;

Meanwhile, in Australia, the ABC reported: &ldquo;NRA supports crackdown on rapid-fire device used in Las Vegas&rdquo; and Sputnik News carried the headline &ldquo;NRA calls for additional gun control following Las Vegas massacre.&rdquo;

Overall the NRA&rsquo;s strategy produced a real media win, placing itself at the centre of claimed reform. At the same time, the group also achieved political success.

Republican politicians were predictably quick to embrace a call for &ldquo;sensible regulation&rdquo; which they could endorse without alienating their gun-rights-endorsing voters.

Even anti-gun Democrats had little choice but to support the proposal, thus delivering a faux image of bipartisanship, with the NRA appearing as an honest broker.

The NRA&rsquo;s plan was an ingenious win-win for them &ndash; though not for actual gun control.

The art of issue management

Issue management is a serious discipline taught in universities and practised in boardrooms around the world.

It can be used by a corporation to persuade the government and the public to accept the construction of a new toll road, or by the government to encourage childhood vaccination. Or it might be used by a non-profit to increase funding to combat aboriginal inequality or to drive domestic violence onto the national agenda.

Yet issue management has always had its critics, who claim it is often just a mask for manipulation and everything that is bad about public relations.

There is a large body of literature and evidence to refute this assertion, but some controversial cases undoubtedly give strength to the critics who claim it is all about &ldquo;dirty tricks,&rdquo; like the example of Big Tobacco&rsquo;s &ldquo;hidden&rdquo; campaign against plain packaging of cigarettes.

Whatever you think of the NRA, their response to the Las Vegas tragedy was a lesson in well-executed issue management - and we can expect them to use a similar strategy in response to today&rsquo;s tragedy. It&rsquo;s just a shame that such strategic audacity wasn&rsquo;t applied in support of a more worthy cause.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-nra-can-teach-us-about-the-art-of-public-persuasion-85610" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

The Texas attack makes it clear again that the National Rifle Association of the US can't evade the issue of actual gun control

Today’s mass shooting at a small Baptist church in the small Texas town of Sutherland Springs highlights the role of pro-gun advocates in blocking the progress of effective gun control. Such advocacy often reflects the persuasive power of “issue management” – a communication process that enables organisations to isolate public issues and steer them in a direction that suits their interests. In the case of the terrible mass-shooting in Las Vegas, the NRA turned a potential PR disaster into a near-triumph. This approach has been used since the early 1980s when issues management was developed as a strategy to help US businesses compete on an equal footing in setting the social agenda. It was soon adopted around the world by governments, non-profits, community groups and activist organisations. Controlling the headlines Usually, it’s pretty transparent who is managing the issue and trying to persuade the public, the government or some other decision maker. For example, we know broadly who is trying to convince us to vote for or against same-sex marriage, or to support or oppose the Adani coal mine, or to join the campaign to ban duck-shooting in Victoria. But sometimes it is much less clear. A case in point is the television campaign purportedly launched by Australian convenience-store owners to oppose plain packaging of cigarettes, which turned out to be funded by Big Tobacco. A section of the advertisement that appeared in the Australian media that was actually partly funded by the tobacco industry. (Others) × In fact, some of the most effective issue management is only partly visible to the public, and in some cases is never seen at all in the mainstream media. Conversely, there are rare occasions when a major controversy is fought out almost entirely in the headlines and the issue management is laid bare for all to see. NRA agenda setting Whatever you think of the National Rifle Association you have to give them credit for some highly effective issue management. In the wake of the shooting rampage in Las Vegas, they could have dusted off their usual response after every previous mass shooting. But instead, the plotters at NRA came up with an audacious new approach – they called for a review of the so-called bump stocks, which are devices retrofitted to turn a legal semi-automatic weapon into an illegal automatic killing machine. Bump stocks allow the gun to fire faster than you can manually pull the trigger, which is how the Las Vegas shooter could fire so many shots in such a short time. A bump fire stock that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate. (Reuters) × In issue management terms, the NRA’s strategy was a classic case of “look over here” while maintaining its devotion to its core objectives. By seeming to give away something that is peripheral to the gun rights issue, the NRA implemented a perfect example of the tried and true “issue diversion tactic”. In doing so, it positioned itself as part of the solution, rather than as a key part of the problem. The long and short of it While some issue management campaigns are very long-term - like the decades-long tussle over cigarette sales - there are also occasions when the issue management strategy seems to be a short-term initiative explicitly designed to influence the media headlines (such as the NRA campaign). Commentators and reporters in the US and elsewhere rushed to express amazement that the NRA was actually “supporting gun control”. Headlines around the world hyped a minor concession on bump stocks into an apparently substantive change of direction. For example, ABC America headlined it: “Las Vegas shooting leads to first signs of movement in gun control stalemate” and The Orange County Register trumpeted: “Gun control war dramatically changes with GOP, NRA agreeing to regulations.” Meanwhile, in Australia, the ABC reported: “NRA supports crackdown on rapid-fire device used in Las Vegas” and Sputnik News carried the headline “NRA calls for additional gun control following Las Vegas massacre.” Overall the NRA’s strategy produced a real media win, placing itself at the centre of claimed reform. At the same time, the group also achieved political success. Republican politicians were predictably quick to embrace a call for “sensible regulation” which they could endorse without alienating their gun-rights-endorsing voters. Even anti-gun Democrats had little choice but to support the proposal, thus delivering a faux image of bipartisanship, with the NRA appearing as an honest broker. The NRA’s plan was an ingenious win-win for them – though not for actual gun control. The art of issue management Issue management is a serious discipline taught in universities and practised in boardrooms around the world. It can be used by a corporation to persuade the government and the public to accept the construction of a new toll road, or by the government to encourage childhood vaccination. Or it might be used by a non-profit to increase funding to combat aboriginal inequality or to drive domestic violence onto the national agenda. Yet issue management has always had its critics, who claim it is often just a mask for manipulation and everything that is bad about public relations. There is a large body of literature and evidence to refute this assertion, but some controversial cases undoubtedly give strength to the critics who claim it is all about “dirty tricks,” like the example of Big Tobacco’s “hidden” campaign against plain packaging of cigarettes. Whatever you think of the NRA, their response to the Las Vegas tragedy was a lesson in well-executed issue management - and we can expect them to use a similar strategy in response to today’s tragedy. It’s just a shame that such strategic audacity wasn’t applied in support of a more worthy cause. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Texas attack: How many more lives before the US says no to gun

The lockdown on the Virginia State University campus has been lifted.&nbsp;

University Police said they&nbsp;had cleared the scene but that officers would continue to remain vigilant.&nbsp;

Police said first responders had found one person with gunshot wounds but that they were non-life-threatening.&nbsp;

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Shooting Conclusion - Police have cleared the scene. Officers will remain vigilant. Campus lock down has been lifted.
&mdash; VSU Police (@VSUPolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/VSUPolice/status/919434217544716289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Police said the shooting had been an isolated incident, and that there was no further threat.&nbsp;

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UPDATE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UPDATE</a> Police say shooting on Virginia State University campus is isolated incident, no further threat: AP <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USA</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/919426705613242368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The Virginia State University campus in Petersburg, Virginia had earlier been put on lockdown after reports of a shooting on campus.&nbsp;

University Police had earlier tweeted that the area should be avoided.&nbsp;

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Shooting on Campus Update - Police scene still active and the campus remains on lockdown. Continue to avoid area.
&mdash; VSU Police (@VSUPolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/VSUPolice/status/919373900374466560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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News reports said at least one person had been shot and had life-threatening injuries

The lockdown on the Virginia State University campus has been lifted. University Police said they had cleared the scene but that officers would continue to remain vigilant. Police said first responders had found one person with gunshot wounds but that they were non-life-threatening. Shooting Conclusion - Police have cleared the scene. Officers will remain vigilant. Campus lock down has been lifted. — VSU Police (@VSUPolice) October 15, 2017 × Police said the shooting had been an isolated incident, and that there was no further threat. #UPDATE Police say shooting on Virginia State University campus is isolated incident, no further threat: AP #USA — ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2017 × The Virginia State University campus in Petersburg, Virginia had earlier been put on lockdown after reports of a shooting on campus. University Police had earlier tweeted that the area should be avoided. Shooting on Campus Update - Police scene still active and the campus remains on lockdown. Continue to avoid area. — VSU Police (@VSUPolice) October 15, 2017 ×

Virginia State University shooting: Lockdown on US campus lifted, 1 injured

The&nbsp;recent mass shooting in Las Vegas that left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured raises two important questions: How do dangerous people get their guns? And what should the police and courts be doing to make those transactions more difficult?

The fact is that even leaving aside the assault in Las Vegas and terrorist attacks like the one in San Bernardino, California, in 2015, gun violence is becoming almost routine in many American neighbourhoods. The U.S. homicide rate increased more than 20 percent from 2014 to 2016, while last year&rsquo;s 3.4 percent rise in the violent crime rate was the largest single-year gain in 25 years.&nbsp;

The guns carried and misused by youths, gang members and active criminals are more likely than not obtained by transactions that violate federal or state law. And, as I&rsquo;ve learned from my decades of researching the topic, it is rare for the people who provide these guns to the eventual shooters to face any legal consequences.

How can this illicit market be policed more effectively?

Undocumented and unregulated transactions

The vast majority of gun owners say they obtained their weapons in transactions that are documented and for the most part legal.

When asked where and how they acquired their most recent firearm, about 64 percent of a cross-section of American gun owners reported&nbsp;buying it from a gun store, where the clerk would have conducted a background check and documented the transfer in a permanent record required by federal law. Another 14 percent were transferred in some other way but still involved a background check. The remaining 22 percent said they got their guns without a background check.

The same is not true for criminals, however, most of whom obtain their guns illegally.

A transaction can be illegal for several reasons, but of particular interest are transactions that involve disqualified individuals &ndash; those banned from purchase or possession due to the criminal record, age, adjudicated mental illness, illegal alien status or some other reason. Convicted felons, teenagers and other people who are legally barred from possession would ordinarily be blocked from purchasing a gun from a gun store because they would fail the background check or lack the permit or license required by some states.

Anyone providing the gun in such transactions would be culpable if he or she had reason to know that the buyer was disqualified, was acting as a straw purchaser or if had violated state regulations pertaining to such private transactions.

The importance of the informal (undocumented) market in supplying criminals is suggested by the results of inmate surveys and data gleaned from guns confiscated by the police. A national survey of inmates of state prisons found that just 10 percent of youthful (age 18-40) male respondents who admitted to having a gun at the time of their arrest had obtained it from a gun store. The other 90 percent obtained them through a variety of off-the-book means: for example, as gifts or sharing arrangements with fellow gang members.

Similarly, an ongoing study of how Chicago gang members get their guns has found that only a trivial percentage obtained them by direct purchase from a store. To the extent that gun dealers are implicated in supplying dangerous people, it is more so by accommodating straw purchasers and traffickers than in selling directly to customers they know to be disqualified.

The supply chain of guns to crime

While criminals typically do not buy their guns at a store, all but a tiny fraction of those in circulation in the United States are first sold at retail by a gun dealer &ndash; including the guns that eventually end up in the hands of criminals.

That first retail sale was most likely legal, in that the clerk followed federal and state requirements for documentation, a background check and record-keeping. While there are scofflaw dealers who sometimes make under-the-counter deals, that is by no means the norm.

If a gun ends up in criminal use, it is usually after several more transactions. The average age of guns taken from Chicago gangs is over 11 years.

The gun at that point has been diverted from legal commerce. In this respect, the supply chain for guns is similar to that for other products that have a large legal market but are subject to diversion.

In the case of guns, the diversion from licit possession and exchange can occur in a variety of ways: theft, purchase at a gun show by an interstate trafficker, private sales where no questions are asked, straw purchases by girlfriends and so forth.

What appears to be true is that there are few big operators in this domain. The typical trafficker or underground broker is not making a living that way but rather just making a few dollars on the side. The supply chain for guns used in crime bears little relationship to the supply chain for heroin or cocaine and is much more akin to that for cigarettes and beer that are diverted to underage teenagers.

There have been few attempts to estimate the scope or scale of the underground market, in part because it is not at all clear what types of transactions should be included. But for the sake of having some order-of-magnitude estimate, suppose we just focus on the number of transactions each year that supply the guns actually used in robbery or assault.

There are about 500,000 violent crimes committed with a gun each year. If the average number of times that an offender commits a robbery or assault with a particular gun is twice, then (assuming patterns of criminal gun use remain constant) the total number of transactions of concern is 250,000 per year.

Actually, no one knows the average number of times a specific gun is used by an offender who uses it at least once. If it is more than twice, then there are even fewer relevant transactions.

That compares with total sales volume by licensed dealers, which is upwards of 20 million per year.

All in the family

So how do gang members, violent criminals, underage youths and other dangerous people get their guns?

A consistent answer emerges from the inmate surveys and from ethnographic studies. Whether guns that end up being used in crime are purchased, swapped, borrowed, shared or stolen, the most likely source is someone known to the offender, an acquaintance or family member.

For example, Syed Rizwan Farook &ndash; one of the shooters in San Bernardino &ndash; relied on a friend to get several of the rifles and pistols he used because Farook doubted that he could pass a background check. That a friend and neighbour was the source is quite typical, despite the unique circumstances otherwise.

Also important are &ldquo;street&rdquo; sources, such as gang members and drug dealers, which may also entail a prior relationship. Thus, social networks play an important role in facilitating transactions, and an individual (such as a gang member) who tends to hang out with people who have guns will find it relatively easy to obtain one.

Effective policing of the underground gun market could help to separate guns from everyday violent crime. Currently, it is rare for those who provide guns to offenders to face any legal consequences, and changing that situation will require additional resources to penetrate the social networks of gun offenders.

Needless to say, that effort is not cheap or easy and requires that both the police and the courts have the necessary authority and give this sort of gun enforcement high priority.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" nofollow="" rel="">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dangerous-people-get-their-weapons-in-america-85056" nofollow="" rel="">original article</a>.

Mass killing in Las Vegas raised questions on unregulated gun possession

The recent mass shooting in Las Vegas that left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured raises two important questions: How do dangerous people get their guns? And what should the police and courts be doing to make those transactions more difficult? The fact is that even leaving aside the assault in Las Vegas and terrorist attacks like the one in San Bernardino, California, in 2015, gun violence is becoming almost routine in many American neighbourhoods. The U.S. homicide rate increased more than 20 percent from 2014 to 2016, while last year’s 3.4 percent rise in the violent crime rate was the largest single-year gain in 25 years. The guns carried and misused by youths, gang members and active criminals are more likely than not obtained by transactions that violate federal or state law. And, as I’ve learned from my decades of researching the topic, it is rare for the people who provide these guns to the eventual shooters to face any legal consequences. How can this illicit market be policed more effectively? Undocumented and unregulated transactions The vast majority of gun owners say they obtained their weapons in transactions that are documented and for the most part legal. When asked where and how they acquired their most recent firearm, about 64 percent of a cross-section of American gun owners reported buying it from a gun store, where the clerk would have conducted a background check and documented the transfer in a permanent record required by federal law. Another 14 percent were transferred in some other way but still involved a background check. The remaining 22 percent said they got their guns without a background check. The same is not true for criminals, however, most of whom obtain their guns illegally. A transaction can be illegal for several reasons, but of particular interest are transactions that involve disqualified individuals – those banned from purchase or possession due to the criminal record, age, adjudicated mental illness, illegal alien status or some other reason. Convicted felons, teenagers and other people who are legally barred from possession would ordinarily be blocked from purchasing a gun from a gun store because they would fail the background check or lack the permit or license required by some states. Anyone providing the gun in such transactions would be culpable if he or she had reason to know that the buyer was disqualified, was acting as a straw purchaser or if had violated state regulations pertaining to such private transactions. The importance of the informal (undocumented) market in supplying criminals is suggested by the results of inmate surveys and data gleaned from guns confiscated by the police. A national survey of inmates of state prisons found that just 10 percent of youthful (age 18-40) male respondents who admitted to having a gun at the time of their arrest had obtained it from a gun store. The other 90 percent obtained them through a variety of off-the-book means: for example, as gifts or sharing arrangements with fellow gang members. Similarly, an ongoing study of how Chicago gang members get their guns has found that only a trivial percentage obtained them by direct purchase from a store. To the extent that gun dealers are implicated in supplying dangerous people, it is more so by accommodating straw purchasers and traffickers than in selling directly to customers they know to be disqualified. The supply chain of guns to crime While criminals typically do not buy their guns at a store, all but a tiny fraction of those in circulation in the United States are first sold at retail by a gun dealer – including the guns that eventually end up in the hands of criminals. That first retail sale was most likely legal, in that the clerk followed federal and state requirements for documentation, a background check and record-keeping. While there are scofflaw dealers who sometimes make under-the-counter deals, that is by no means the norm. If a gun ends up in criminal use, it is usually after several more transactions. The average age of guns taken from Chicago gangs is over 11 years. The gun at that point has been diverted from legal commerce. In this respect, the supply chain for guns is similar to that for other products that have a large legal market but are subject to diversion. In the case of guns, the diversion from licit possession and exchange can occur in a variety of ways: theft, purchase at a gun show by an interstate trafficker, private sales where no questions are asked, straw purchases by girlfriends and so forth. What appears to be true is that there are few big operators in this domain. The typical trafficker or underground broker is not making a living that way but rather just making a few dollars on the side. The supply chain for guns used in crime bears little relationship to the supply chain for heroin or cocaine and is much more akin to that for cigarettes and beer that are diverted to underage teenagers. There have been few attempts to estimate the scope or scale of the underground market, in part because it is not at all clear what types of transactions should be included. But for the sake of having some order-of-magnitude estimate, suppose we just focus on the number of transactions each year that supply the guns actually used in robbery or assault. There are about 500,000 violent crimes committed with a gun each year. If the average number of times that an offender commits a robbery or assault with a particular gun is twice, then (assuming patterns of criminal gun use remain constant) the total number of transactions of concern is 250,000 per year. Actually, no one knows the average number of times a specific gun is used by an offender who uses it at least once. If it is more than twice, then there are even fewer relevant transactions. That compares with total sales volume by licensed dealers, which is upwards of 20 million per year. All in the family So how do gang members, violent criminals, underage youths and other dangerous people get their guns? A consistent answer emerges from the inmate surveys and from ethnographic studies. Whether guns that end up being used in crime are purchased, swapped, borrowed, shared or stolen, the most likely source is someone known to the offender, an acquaintance or family member. For example, Syed Rizwan Farook – one of the shooters in San Bernardino – relied on a friend to get several of the rifles and pistols he used because Farook doubted that he could pass a background check. That a friend and neighbour was the source is quite typical, despite the unique circumstances otherwise. Also important are “street” sources, such as gang members and drug dealers, which may also entail a prior relationship. Thus, social networks play an important role in facilitating transactions, and an individual (such as a gang member) who tends to hang out with people who have guns will find it relatively easy to obtain one. Effective policing of the underground gun market could help to separate guns from everyday violent crime. Currently, it is rare for those who provide guns to offenders to face any legal consequences, and changing that situation will require additional resources to penetrate the social networks of gun offenders. Needless to say, that effort is not cheap or easy and requires that both the police and the courts have the necessary authority and give this sort of gun enforcement high priority. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

How dangerous people get their weapons in America

US senators signalled today a new willingness to consider restrictions on the sale of guns after the Orlando nightclub massacre, with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others in his party ready to discuss limited gun control measures. 
 
With Republicans and the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby under pressure to respond to the worst mass shooting in modern US history, Trump said he would meet with the NRA to discuss ways to block people on terrorism watch or no-fly lists from buying guns. 
 
Emotions have run high in Congress since Sunday&#39;s mass shooting with Democrats stalling Senate proceedings today in a bid to push for tougher gun control legislation. Democratic senators planned to speak on the Senate floor today. 
 
The Senate began discussions on legislation to ban firearm sales to the hundreds of thousands of people on US terrorism watch lists after a gunman who had been on such a list killed 49 people at a gay nightclub on Sunday. 
 
But following a full day of wrangling, senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that negotiations &quot;were little more than a smokescreen by Republicans trying to give themselves political cover while they continue to march in lock-step with the NRA&#39;s extreme positions.&quot; 
 
Reid said there were no Republican proposals &quot;that come close to attracting Democratic support.&quot; 
 
Earlier today, Republican senate majority leader Mitch McConnell urged senators to offer ideas on how to prevent another attack like the one in Orlando. 
 
&ldquo;I do not believe this was some random act of violence,&quot; McConnell said. &quot;It seems clear this was cold-blooded murder committed by a terrorist who picked his targets with deliberate malice.&quot; On Tuesday, McConnell said that &quot;nobody wants terrorists to have firearms.&quot; 
 
Earlier in the week, some Democrats in the House of representatives interrupted a moment of silence for the victims, with shouts of &quot;Where&#39;s the bill?&quot; to protest the Republican-led chamber&#39;s refusal to consider tougher gun laws. 
 
If Congress was to pass a gun control measure, it would mark the first time in more than 20 years that lawmakers agreed on how to address the hot-button issue. A ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, such as the one used in Orlando, had gone into effect in 1994 and expired ten years later. 
 
Republicans over the years have blocked gun control measures saying they step on Americans&#39; right to bear arms as guaranteed under the US constitution 
 
Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 senate Republican, confirmed that he and Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein were holding private talks on a possible compromise bill stopping weapons sales to those on watch lists. 
 
OPPORTUNITY CITED 
 
Another Republican,senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, also is working on a bill that would keep guns from people on watch lists, a gun control group said. 
 
Toomey, who is in a possibly difficult re-election bid this year, took to the senate floor urging compromise. 
 
&ldquo;So there&rsquo;s an obvious opportunity here guys, to work together and find a solution,&rdquo; he said, adding, &quot;This is not rocket science to figure this out.&quot; 
 
A spokeswoman for Toomey, E.R. Anderson, said the senator was seeking bipartisan support for an approach that he had tentatively agreed on with gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, which is backed by ex-New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. 
 
Everytown spokeswoman Erika Lamb said the group was encouraged by the discussions but added, &quot;We are not there yet and our support for any compromise legislation is contingent on support from both Republicans and Democrats.&quot; 
 
Toomey&#39;s bill would allow the US attorney general to create a new list of &quot;likely terrorists&quot; and block any person on the list from buying or selling a gun. If someone was denied a gun, he or she would be entitled to a swift court hearing where the attorney general would have to turn over the evidence against the person. 
 
Democrats were dubious. One problem, a Democratic aide said, was that under the proposal officials would just have three days to try to block sales to anyone not already on the new list. 
 
Congressional Republicans and the NRA have thwarted previous gun control measures backed by President Barack Obama and other Democrats after other mass shootings, and supporters of new restrictions remained cautious about the moves. 
 
&quot;The Cornyn bill is outlandish and is worse than nothing. From what I&#39;m told all of the compromises proposed by Cornyn and Toomey are not at all acceptable,&quot; said senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York. 
 
Feinstein, speaking to reporters following a closed briefing from the Obama administration on the Orlando massacre, held out little hope her talks with Cornyn would bear fruit. &quot;I don&#39;t think it&#39;s going to work out,&quot; she said, but added she was still engaged in talks. 
 
NRA HAPPY TO MEET WITH TRUMP 
 
Trump said on Twitter he would meet with the NRA &quot;about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no-fly list, to buy guns.&quot; His campaign did not specify what he might support legislatively, and a spokeswoman declined to give details about the timing or nature of the meeting. 
 
The NRA, a politically influential lobbying group that claims more than 4 million members, said in a statement it was &quot;happy to meet&quot; with Trump, whom it endorsed for president on May 20. 
 
The group said in a statement that anyone on a terrorism watch list who tries to buy a gun &quot;should be thoroughly investigated&quot; by the FBI and any sale to that person delayed, a position the lobby group has long held. 
 
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has supported gun control efforts, on Monday said she was &quot;bewildered&quot; that Republicans in Congress in December had blocked a Democratic effort to restrict gun sales to people on the watch lists. 
 
The US government maintains two terrorism watch lists: a no-fly list barring people from flying to and from the United States and a larger one that subjects travellers to greater scrutiny at airports and border crossings. 
 
An FBI official said in 2014 there were 64,000 people on the no-fly list and 800,000 on the broader list. The Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, the US-born son of Afghan immigrants, was on the broader list at one time. 
 
NRA executive director Chris Cox also voiced backing for legislation offered in December by Cornyn, who proposed to put gun sales on hold for 72 hours for people on watch lists. Critics have said such background checks could take longer to complete. 
 
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was too soon to tell if Republicans would support &quot;common sense&quot; steps like blocking firearm sales to people on the no-fly lists. 
(Reuters)

He said he would meet with the NRA to discuss ways to block people on terrorism watch or no-fly lists from buying guns

US senators signalled today a new willingness to consider restrictions on the sale of guns after the Orlando nightclub massacre, with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others in his party ready to discuss limited gun control measures. With Republicans and the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby under pressure to respond to the worst mass shooting in modern US history, Trump said he would meet with the NRA to discuss ways to block people on terrorism watch or no-fly lists from buying guns. Emotions have run high in Congress since Sunday's mass shooting with Democrats stalling Senate proceedings today in a bid to push for tougher gun control legislation. Democratic senators planned to speak on the Senate floor today. The Senate began discussions on legislation to ban firearm sales to the hundreds of thousands of people on US terrorism watch lists after a gunman who had been on such a list killed 49 people at a gay nightclub on Sunday. But following a full day of wrangling, senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that negotiations "were little more than a smokescreen by Republicans trying to give themselves political cover while they continue to march in lock-step with the NRA's extreme positions." Reid said there were no Republican proposals "that come close to attracting Democratic support." Earlier today, Republican senate majority leader Mitch McConnell urged senators to offer ideas on how to prevent another attack like the one in Orlando. “I do not believe this was some random act of violence," McConnell said. "It seems clear this was cold-blooded murder committed by a terrorist who picked his targets with deliberate malice." On Tuesday, McConnell said that "nobody wants terrorists to have firearms." Earlier in the week, some Democrats in the House of representatives interrupted a moment of silence for the victims, with shouts of "Where's the bill?" to protest the Republican-led chamber's refusal to consider tougher gun laws. If Congress was to pass a gun control measure, it would mark the first time in more than 20 years that lawmakers agreed on how to address the hot-button issue. A ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, such as the one used in Orlando, had gone into effect in 1994 and expired ten years later. Republicans over the years have blocked gun control measures saying they step on Americans' right to bear arms as guaranteed under the US constitution Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 senate Republican, confirmed that he and Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein were holding private talks on a possible compromise bill stopping weapons sales to those on watch lists. OPPORTUNITY CITED Another Republican,senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, also is working on a bill that would keep guns from people on watch lists, a gun control group said. Toomey, who is in a possibly difficult re-election bid this year, took to the senate floor urging compromise. “So there’s an obvious opportunity here guys, to work together and find a solution,” he said, adding, "This is not rocket science to figure this out." A spokeswoman for Toomey, E.R. Anderson, said the senator was seeking bipartisan support for an approach that he had tentatively agreed on with gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, which is backed by ex-New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Everytown spokeswoman Erika Lamb said the group was encouraged by the discussions but added, "We are not there yet and our support for any compromise legislation is contingent on support from both Republicans and Democrats." Toomey's bill would allow the US attorney general to create a new list of "likely terrorists" and block any person on the list from buying or selling a gun. If someone was denied a gun, he or she would be entitled to a swift court hearing where the attorney general would have to turn over the evidence against the person. Democrats were dubious. One problem, a Democratic aide said, was that under the proposal officials would just have three days to try to block sales to anyone not already on the new list. Congressional Republicans and the NRA have thwarted previous gun control measures backed by President Barack Obama and other Democrats after other mass shootings, and supporters of new restrictions remained cautious about the moves. "The Cornyn bill is outlandish and is worse than nothing. From what I'm told all of the compromises proposed by Cornyn and Toomey are not at all acceptable," said senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York. Feinstein, speaking to reporters following a closed briefing from the Obama administration on the Orlando massacre, held out little hope her talks with Cornyn would bear fruit. "I don't think it's going to work out," she said, but added she was still engaged in talks. NRA HAPPY TO MEET WITH TRUMP Trump said on Twitter he would meet with the NRA "about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no-fly list, to buy guns." His campaign did not specify what he might support legislatively, and a spokeswoman declined to give details about the timing or nature of the meeting. The NRA, a politically influential lobbying group that claims more than 4 million members, said in a statement it was "happy to meet" with Trump, whom it endorsed for president on May 20. The group said in a statement that anyone on a terrorism watch list who tries to buy a gun "should be thoroughly investigated" by the FBI and any sale to that person delayed, a position the lobby group has long held. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has supported gun control efforts, on Monday said she was "bewildered" that Republicans in Congress in December had blocked a Democratic effort to restrict gun sales to people on the watch lists. The US government maintains two terrorism watch lists: a no-fly list barring people from flying to and from the United States and a larger one that subjects travellers to greater scrutiny at airports and border crossings. An FBI official said in 2014 there were 64,000 people on the no-fly list and 800,000 on the broader list. The Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, the US-born son of Afghan immigrants, was on the broader list at one time. NRA executive director Chris Cox also voiced backing for legislation offered in December by Cornyn, who proposed to put gun sales on hold for 72 hours for people on watch lists. Critics have said such background checks could take longer to complete. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was too soon to tell if Republicans would support "common sense" steps like blocking firearm sales to people on the no-fly lists. (Reuters)

After Orlando, Trump open to (some) gun control

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested on Friday that Clinton&#39;s secret service guards should disarm and &#39;&#39;see what happens to her&#39;&#39;. 
 
Trump was speaking at a rally in Miami. 
 
&quot;I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons,&quot; the real estate billionaire told his supporters. &quot;I think they should disarm. Immediately. What do you think. Yes? Take their guns away. She doesn&#39;t want guns. Take them. Let&rsquo;s see what happens to her. Take their guns away, OK. It will be very dangerous.&quot; 
 
The presidential nominees are protected by secret service agents. 
 
&quot;Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander-in-chief,&quot; Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. 
 
&quot;He is unfit to be President and it is time Republican leaders stand up to denounce this disturbing behaviour in their nominee.&quot; 
 
Trump has said in the past that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wants to ban all guns. While Clinton supports stricter gun control measures, she has never suggested a ban on Second Amendment - US Constitution&#39;s clause that enshrines the rights of Americans to bear arms. 
 
Members of Clinton&#39;s government-appointed guard detail should abandon their weapons because she wants to &quot;destroy your Second Amendment,&quot; Reuters reported Trump as saying. 
 
Stuart Stevens, a political consultant,&nbsp;who worked on Republican Mitt Romney&#39;s 2012 presidential campaign tweeted: &#39;The Secret Service should investigate this threat&#39;. 
&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Secret Service should investigate this threat <a href="https://t.co/XQuUkrU71U">https://t.co/XQuUkrU71U</a>
&mdash; stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) <a href="https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/776929108219535360">September 16, 2016</a></blockquote>

&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Campaigns always attract random nuts who have to be weeded out. It&#39;s just unusual to nominate one. <a href="https://t.co/UR8IIqPlDT">https://t.co/UR8IIqPlDT</a>
&mdash; stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) <a href="https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/776989872582172672">September 17, 2016</a></blockquote>

&nbsp;

 
Last month, Trump had suggested in a rally that gun-owners or the supporters of Second Amendment could stop Clinton from winning the White House. 
 
&quot;If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,&quot; Trump said. &quot;Although the Second Amendment people &nbsp;- maybe there is, I don&#39;t know.&quot; 
 
Trump also accepted in a statement today that President Barack Obama was born in the United States after claims that Obama&#39;s father, a Kenyan Muslim, founded the violent Islamic State group. He, however, blamed Clinton for starting the &#39;birther controversy&#39;. 
 
&quot;Her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean,&quot; Trump said. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

He said Clinton's guard detail should voluntarily disarm because she wants to 'destroy your second amendment'

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested on Friday that Clinton's secret service guards should disarm and ''see what happens to her''. Trump was speaking at a rally in Miami. "I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons," the real estate billionaire told his supporters. "I think they should disarm. Immediately. What do you think. Yes? Take their guns away. She doesn't want guns. Take them. Let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away, OK. It will be very dangerous." The presidential nominees are protected by secret service agents. "Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander-in-chief," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. "He is unfit to be President and it is time Republican leaders stand up to denounce this disturbing behaviour in their nominee." Trump has said in the past that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wants to ban all guns. While Clinton supports stricter gun control measures, she has never suggested a ban on Second Amendment - US Constitution's clause that enshrines the rights of Americans to bear arms. Members of Clinton's government-appointed guard detail should abandon their weapons because she wants to "destroy your Second Amendment," Reuters reported Trump as saying. Stuart Stevens, a political consultant, who worked on Republican Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign tweeted: 'The Secret Service should investigate this threat'. The Secret Service should investigate this threat https://t.co/XQuUkrU71U — stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) September 16, 2016 Campaigns always attract random nuts who have to be weeded out. It's just unusual to nominate one. https://t.co/UR8IIqPlDT — stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) September 17, 2016 Last month, Trump had suggested in a rally that gun-owners or the supporters of Second Amendment could stop Clinton from winning the White House. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said. "Although the Second Amendment people - maybe there is, I don't know." Trump also accepted in a statement today that President Barack Obama was born in the United States after claims that Obama's father, a Kenyan Muslim, founded the violent Islamic State group. He, however, blamed Clinton for starting the 'birther controversy'. "Her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean," Trump said. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Trump suggests Clinton's guards disarm, and 'see what happens to her'

President Barack Obama pledged on Saturday to seek ways to calm racial tensions and reduce divisions between police and minorities during his final months in office, but he warned that easy access to guns nationwide exacerbated the problem.

Obama spoke at the end of a week in which five policemen were killed by a sniper in Dallas and two black men&nbsp;were killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana. 
 
He said he would bring together civil rights and law enforcement leaders for talks at the White House next week after returning from a trip to Europe.

Obama, the first black US&nbsp;president, has spoken out on racial issues throughout his time in the White House. 
 
He has also tried but failed to reform American gun laws, stymied by Republicans in Congress who have opposed any measures that they seen as impinging on the Constitutional right to bear arms, despite a series of mass shootings in recent years.

Obama said the Dallas police force reduced murder rates and community complaints by taking the issue of race and police conduct seriously, and said he hoped that would inspire &quot;constructive actions&quot; in the coming weeks.

&quot;That&#39;s the spirit that we all need to embrace. That&#39;s the spirit that I want to build on,&quot; he said during a press conference in Poland.

But the divisive issue of gun control could not be separated from the tension between police and local citizens, he said.

Obama noted that Dallas police on Thursday had to protect themselves and citizens from sniper fire while deciphering who had guns among those taking part in a protest decrying police shootings of black men.

The presence of a gun in the car where Philando Castile, 32, was killed by police in Minnesota on Wednesday contributed to that event, he said.

&quot;In Minneapolis, we don&rsquo;t know yet what happened, but we do know that there was a gun in the car that apparently was licensed, but it caused, in some fashion, those tragic events,&quot; Obama told reporters.

&quot;We can&rsquo;t just ignore that and pretend that that&rsquo;s somehow political ... it is a contributing factor, not the sole factor, but a contributing factor to the broader tensions that arise between police and the communities where they serve.&quot;

Obama is very unlikely to succeed in reviving major gun control reform before he leaves office in January.

Lawmakers in Congress have fought over three rival gun measures since the June 12 mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Democrats promised to put pressure on Republicans next week to win votes for measures to expand background checks and allow the Justice Department to block gun sales to people on government watch lists.

Obama said on Saturday he hoped his legacy on the issue of race would be one of urging Americans to listen to each other and understand the country&#39;s difficult relationship with race.

&quot;The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination didn&#39;t suddenly vanish with the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act or the election of Barack Obama,&quot; he said.

He said he hoped his words as president had conveyed &quot;that things have gotten better, substantially better, but that we&#39;ve still got a lot more work to do.&quot; 
 
(Reuters)

It is however unlikely for Obama to succeed in reviving major gun control reform as he leaves office in January

President Barack Obama pledged on Saturday to seek ways to calm racial tensions and reduce divisions between police and minorities during his final months in office, but he warned that easy access to guns nationwide exacerbated the problem. Obama spoke at the end of a week in which five policemen were killed by a sniper in Dallas and two black men were killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana. He said he would bring together civil rights and law enforcement leaders for talks at the White House next week after returning from a trip to Europe. Obama, the first black US president, has spoken out on racial issues throughout his time in the White House. He has also tried but failed to reform American gun laws, stymied by Republicans in Congress who have opposed any measures that they seen as impinging on the Constitutional right to bear arms, despite a series of mass shootings in recent years. Obama said the Dallas police force reduced murder rates and community complaints by taking the issue of race and police conduct seriously, and said he hoped that would inspire "constructive actions" in the coming weeks. "That's the spirit that we all need to embrace. That's the spirit that I want to build on," he said during a press conference in Poland. But the divisive issue of gun control could not be separated from the tension between police and local citizens, he said. Obama noted that Dallas police on Thursday had to protect themselves and citizens from sniper fire while deciphering who had guns among those taking part in a protest decrying police shootings of black men. The presence of a gun in the car where Philando Castile, 32, was killed by police in Minnesota on Wednesday contributed to that event, he said. "In Minneapolis, we don’t know yet what happened, but we do know that there was a gun in the car that apparently was licensed, but it caused, in some fashion, those tragic events," Obama told reporters. "We can’t just ignore that and pretend that that’s somehow political ... it is a contributing factor, not the sole factor, but a contributing factor to the broader tensions that arise between police and the communities where they serve." Obama is very unlikely to succeed in reviving major gun control reform before he leaves office in January. Lawmakers in Congress have fought over three rival gun measures since the June 12 mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Democrats promised to put pressure on Republicans next week to win votes for measures to expand background checks and allow the Justice Department to block gun sales to people on government watch lists. Obama said on Saturday he hoped his legacy on the issue of race would be one of urging Americans to listen to each other and understand the country's difficult relationship with race. "The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination didn't suddenly vanish with the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act or the election of Barack Obama," he said. He said he hoped his words as president had conveyed "that things have gotten better, substantially better, but that we've still got a lot more work to do." (Reuters)

Obama says US gun rules heighten tension between police, citizens

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose father was murdered by a violent Islamic group in 1984, has made a passionate plea for stronger background checks on US gun purchases. 
 
Kerr spoke on Friday on a podcast by San Jose Mercury News sports columnist Tim Kawakami about the Warriors` loss to Cleveland in the NBA Finals then took the conversation into politics. 
 
&quot;Our government is insane,&quot; Kerr said, for failing to pass gun control legislation. 
 
Democratic members of the House of Representatives staged a 24-hour sit-in Wednesday and Thursday to protest the inability to even have a vote on gun restriction proposals. 
 
Kerr`s father, Malcolm, was the president of the American University of Beirut.&nbsp; 
 
He was gunned down in the hallway outside his office in 1984 while his son was a freshman basketball standout at the University of Arizona. 
 
&quot;When 90 per cent of our country wants background checks on gun purchases and we&#39;ve got our Senate and our House not only voting it 
down but using the Bill of Rights as a reason for people to have rights to carry these automatic weapons, and we`re getting people murdered every day at an alarming rate -- I just have to get this off my chest -- our government is insane. We are insane.&quot; 
 
Kerr&#39;s call for arms control came two weeks after a terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, left 49 dead and 53 others wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in US history, a massacre that came the night before Kerr`s Warriors lost game five of the NBA Finals on their way to squandering a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, the worst collapse in finals history. 
 
&quot;What bugs me is this adherence to the right to bear arms,&quot; Kerr said. &quot;That was back in 1776. People didn`t own automatic rifles.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;You had to have a musket in case the Redcoats were coming, the British were coming. And the beautiful thing about the Constitution is they left open amendments to change things because things change over time. 
 
&quot;I kind of think that our forefathers would not have OK`d automatic weapons to be sold to everybody if they existed back then. Let`s have some checks. It`s easier to get a gun than it is to get a driver`s license. It`s insane.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;And as somebody who`s had a family member shot and killed, it devastates me every time I read about this stuff -- like what happened in 
Orlando -- and then it`s even more devastating to see the government just cowing to the NRA (National Rifle Association) and going to this totally outdated Bill Of Rights, right to bear arms.&quot; 
 
Kerr, who spent much of his youth overseas, called for political change to toss out those who back the NRA`s desire to avoid any limits on gun ownership. 
 
&quot;If you want to own a musket, fine, you know, but come on. The rest of the world thinks we`re insane. We are insane,&quot; Kerr said.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;And until we vote these senators and congressmen and women out of office, the same thing is going to happen. And it`s infuriating.&quot; 
 
Kerr wondered how US lawmakers might react if their family members were at greater risk of being slain in mass shootings. 
 
&quot;You wonder if any of these senators and congressmen and women who are so opposed to even holding a vote on not only the right to 
buy an automatic weapon but just the background checks and the lists and all the stuff, how would they feel about this if their own child, their own mother, their own father, sister, brother, wife, husband was murdered. Mass murdered,&quot; Kerr said. 
 
&quot;How many times do we have to go through this before our government actually does something about it?&quot; 
 
(AFP)

'Our government is insane' for failing to pass gun control legislation, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr says

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose father was murdered by a violent Islamic group in 1984, has made a passionate plea for stronger background checks on US gun purchases. Kerr spoke on Friday on a podcast by San Jose Mercury News sports columnist Tim Kawakami about the Warriors` loss to Cleveland in the NBA Finals then took the conversation into politics. "Our government is insane," Kerr said, for failing to pass gun control legislation. Democratic members of the House of Representatives staged a 24-hour sit-in Wednesday and Thursday to protest the inability to even have a vote on gun restriction proposals. Kerr`s father, Malcolm, was the president of the American University of Beirut. He was gunned down in the hallway outside his office in 1984 while his son was a freshman basketball standout at the University of Arizona. "When 90 per cent of our country wants background checks on gun purchases and we've got our Senate and our House not only voting it down but using the Bill of Rights as a reason for people to have rights to carry these automatic weapons, and we`re getting people murdered every day at an alarming rate -- I just have to get this off my chest -- our government is insane. We are insane." Kerr's call for arms control came two weeks after a terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, left 49 dead and 53 others wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in US history, a massacre that came the night before Kerr`s Warriors lost game five of the NBA Finals on their way to squandering a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, the worst collapse in finals history. "What bugs me is this adherence to the right to bear arms," Kerr said. "That was back in 1776. People didn`t own automatic rifles. "You had to have a musket in case the Redcoats were coming, the British were coming. And the beautiful thing about the Constitution is they left open amendments to change things because things change over time. "I kind of think that our forefathers would not have OK`d automatic weapons to be sold to everybody if they existed back then. Let`s have some checks. It`s easier to get a gun than it is to get a driver`s license. It`s insane. "And as somebody who`s had a family member shot and killed, it devastates me every time I read about this stuff -- like what happened in Orlando -- and then it`s even more devastating to see the government just cowing to the NRA (National Rifle Association) and going to this totally outdated Bill Of Rights, right to bear arms." Kerr, who spent much of his youth overseas, called for political change to toss out those who back the NRA`s desire to avoid any limits on gun ownership. "If you want to own a musket, fine, you know, but come on. The rest of the world thinks we`re insane. We are insane," Kerr said. "And until we vote these senators and congressmen and women out of office, the same thing is going to happen. And it`s infuriating." Kerr wondered how US lawmakers might react if their family members were at greater risk of being slain in mass shootings. "You wonder if any of these senators and congressmen and women who are so opposed to even holding a vote on not only the right to buy an automatic weapon but just the background checks and the lists and all the stuff, how would they feel about this if their own child, their own mother, their own father, sister, brother, wife, husband was murdered. Mass murdered," Kerr said. "How many times do we have to go through this before our government actually does something about it?" (AFP)

NBA: Warriors coach Kerr makes emotional gun control plea

President Barack Obama travelled to grief-stricken Orlando today, meeting loved ones devastated by a shooting rampage and using his bully pulpit to demand that the Republican-controlled Congress pass gun control. 
 
Four days after the worst mass shooting in US history, Obama made a solemn pilgrimage to meet staff at the Pulse nightclub, emergency responders and some of the dozens of families shattered by gunman Omar Mateen. 
 
Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded when the 29-year-old Mateen -- a Muslim American of Afghan descent -- ran amok in a packed gay nightclub early Sunday, armed with a legally bought assault rifle. 
 
Mateen -- who pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group during the attack -- was killed in a police raid. 
 
But his assault has fueled America&#39;s poisonous partisan culture wars, prompting new salvos in bitter election-year rows over immigration, counterterrorism and guns. 
 
After meeting the victims&#39; families, Obama said &quot;our hearts are broken too&quot; and insisted the tone of the country&#39;s hyper-partisan debate on firearms &quot;needs to change.&quot; 
 
Relatives of the victims &quot;don&#39;t care about the politics. And neither do I,&quot; he said. 
 
The Republican-controlled Congress has steadfastly refused to pass any gun legislation, saying to do so would infringe on the constitutional rights of gun owners. 
 
Frustrated Democrats took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to launch a procedural obstruction, known as a filibuster, to pressure Republicans to accept so-called &quot;no-fly, no buy&quot; legislation that would bar those on watch lists or no-fly lists from purchasing firearms. 
 
The move was a success, and votes were set for next week. 
 
- Can&#39;t catch every &#39;deranged person&#39; - 
Understanding of the shooting has been muddied by witnesses who say Mateen was a regular at the gay club and used gay dating apps. Investigators were looking into Mateen&#39;s social media activity for more clues. 
 
Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said in a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg that his investigators had found Mateen apparently made a post sometime during the attack that he was pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group&#39;s leader, and &quot;America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state.&quot; 
 
He also allegedly posted: &quot;The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west&quot; and &quot;In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa.&quot; 
 
Johnson was asking Zuckerberg to share details of five accounts apparently used by Mateen. 
 
&quot;The motives of this killer may have been different than the mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown,&quot; Obama said, listing two in the litany of mass shootings that have marked his presidency. 
 
&quot;But the instruments of death were so similar. And now another 49 innocent people are dead. Another 53 are injured. Some are still fighting for their lives. Some will have wounds that will last a lifetime.&quot; 
 
Obama insisted the military would tackle the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in their hideouts, and intelligence services would work to disrupt such networks. 
 
But, he warned, the government could not catch every &quot;deranged person.&quot; 
 
&quot;We can do something about the amount of damage that they do,&quot; he said. 
 
&quot;Unfortunately our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons and they can do so legally.&quot; 
 
- Rare bipartisanship - 
The day was meant to be about unity. 
 
In a rare symbolic show of bipartisanship, Obama arrived with Republican one-time presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and was greeted on the tarmac by Republican Florida governor Rick Scott and Vice President Joe Biden. 
 
But any goodwill was blown apart when Senator John McCain said Obama -- his general election rival in 2008 -- was &quot;directly responsible&quot; for the massacre. 
 
McCain later said he had meant to suggest that Obama&#39;s policies in the Middle East were to blame, not the president personally. 
 
In response to the shooting, Republicans have called for tougher counterterrorism measures and for the Obama administration to do more to fight the Islamic State group. 
 
FBI agents believe that Mateen was radicalized by following extremist propaganda online. 
 
The White House says coalition forces and allies are making gains against the group&#39;s strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Libya. 
 
But Republican arguments were given credence by Obama&#39;s own CIA director John Brennan, who warned today that the group retains the ability to conduct attacks around the world. 
 
&quot;Unfortunately, despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group&#39;s terrorism capability and global reach,&quot; he told US lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill. 
(AFP)

Meets grief-stricken families, Pulse nightclub staff, says 'our hearts are broken too'

President Barack Obama travelled to grief-stricken Orlando today, meeting loved ones devastated by a shooting rampage and using his bully pulpit to demand that the Republican-controlled Congress pass gun control. Four days after the worst mass shooting in US history, Obama made a solemn pilgrimage to meet staff at the Pulse nightclub, emergency responders and some of the dozens of families shattered by gunman Omar Mateen. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded when the 29-year-old Mateen -- a Muslim American of Afghan descent -- ran amok in a packed gay nightclub early Sunday, armed with a legally bought assault rifle. Mateen -- who pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group during the attack -- was killed in a police raid. But his assault has fueled America's poisonous partisan culture wars, prompting new salvos in bitter election-year rows over immigration, counterterrorism and guns. After meeting the victims' families, Obama said "our hearts are broken too" and insisted the tone of the country's hyper-partisan debate on firearms "needs to change." Relatives of the victims "don't care about the politics. And neither do I," he said. The Republican-controlled Congress has steadfastly refused to pass any gun legislation, saying to do so would infringe on the constitutional rights of gun owners. Frustrated Democrats took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to launch a procedural obstruction, known as a filibuster, to pressure Republicans to accept so-called "no-fly, no buy" legislation that would bar those on watch lists or no-fly lists from purchasing firearms. The move was a success, and votes were set for next week. - Can't catch every 'deranged person' - Understanding of the shooting has been muddied by witnesses who say Mateen was a regular at the gay club and used gay dating apps. Investigators were looking into Mateen's social media activity for more clues. Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said in a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg that his investigators had found Mateen apparently made a post sometime during the attack that he was pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group's leader, and "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state." He also allegedly posted: "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west" and "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa." Johnson was asking Zuckerberg to share details of five accounts apparently used by Mateen. "The motives of this killer may have been different than the mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown," Obama said, listing two in the litany of mass shootings that have marked his presidency. "But the instruments of death were so similar. And now another 49 innocent people are dead. Another 53 are injured. Some are still fighting for their lives. Some will have wounds that will last a lifetime." Obama insisted the military would tackle the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in their hideouts, and intelligence services would work to disrupt such networks. But, he warned, the government could not catch every "deranged person." "We can do something about the amount of damage that they do," he said. "Unfortunately our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons and they can do so legally." - Rare bipartisanship - The day was meant to be about unity. In a rare symbolic show of bipartisanship, Obama arrived with Republican one-time presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and was greeted on the tarmac by Republican Florida governor Rick Scott and Vice President Joe Biden. But any goodwill was blown apart when Senator John McCain said Obama -- his general election rival in 2008 -- was "directly responsible" for the massacre. McCain later said he had meant to suggest that Obama's policies in the Middle East were to blame, not the president personally. In response to the shooting, Republicans have called for tougher counterterrorism measures and for the Obama administration to do more to fight the Islamic State group. FBI agents believe that Mateen was radicalized by following extremist propaganda online. The White House says coalition forces and allies are making gains against the group's strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Libya. But Republican arguments were given credence by Obama's own CIA director John Brennan, who warned today that the group retains the ability to conduct attacks around the world. "Unfortunately, despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach," he told US lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill. (AFP)

Obama travels to Orlando, says gun debate 'needs to change'

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