Rubio: Obama’s Gun Plan Wouldn’t Have Stopped Newtown Massacre

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM



IGOR BOBIC 12:58 PM EST, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16, 2013

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on Wednesday that President Obama's newly announced plan to reform the nation's gun laws would not have stopped the school shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn., accusing the administration of "targeting" gun owners.

“Nothing the President is proposing would have stopped the massacre at Sandy Hook," Rubio said in a statement. "President Obama is targeting the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens instead of seriously addressing the real underlying causes of such violence. Rolling back responsible citizens’ rights is not the proper response to tragedies committed by criminals and the mentally ill."

Rubio argued that the real problem with gun violence lay at the feet of the mentally ill who partake in it, and that the White House should focus on instead on keeping guns out of their hands.

One of Obama's proposals calls for more research on mental illness as it relates to gun violence.

-30-

Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rubio-obamas-gun-plan-wouldnt-have-stopped-newtown

[graham4anything]

1. So what is Rubio going to do when things come up for a vote in the senate?

he is right
all those rightwing gunstockpiling republicanlibertarianteaparty people have an irriational fear and need of a gun to protect them from boogie men the conspiracy theorists see 24/7/365

actually,they want to overthrow the government

memo to Rubio-they don't like you either.

[EC]

2. Well the only thing that would have stopped it

they won't do.

[SemperEadem]

3. Have you even read it, or were your comments written last night so that you

could be out of the gate 15 seconds after his news conference ended?

[Historic NY]

4. How do we know Senator? How do we know if any of those...

plans lobbied against by the NRA, would have worked. We don't because they weren't implemented. How much would one life be worth if they did?

[riderinthestorm]

5. Amazing! Almost verbatim to Perry's statement that came out at 1:04 EST. Rubio's out at 12:58 EST.

Do you think there's been a coordinated talking points memo circulated or what??

[bullwinkle428]

10. Rinse Penis is working overtime at the fax machine this afternoon!

[surrealAmerican]

15. They've outsourced their opinions.

Thinking for themselves is so hard.

[Squinch]

6. So Marco, are these rules rolling back the rights of "responsible citizens" like Mrs. Lanza? Cause

that's fine with me.

[SummerSnow]

7. Rubio blaming gun violence on just criminals and the mentally ill..

So what IF if if if someone goes out and kill people and they have no criminal record or a mental health issue? Of course after you go on your killing spree you will get a criminal record and a mental health evaluation AFTER the fact.How do you handle that?

What I don't get is when people make public how they will kill people if they feel their gun rights are violated, why don't people like Rubio call for their guns to be taken or license suspended and demanding a evaluation? Instead they sit quiet and defend their passions.

[DallasNE]

11. The Kansas City Chief's Linebacker Is Exibit A

We have since learned that he was legally drunk when he murdered his girlfriend and mother of his child but that is a complication and not a cause. Then NRA said that if she would have had a gun that maybe she would be alive today. Well, there was a 2nd gun there but she is just as dead.

[zellie]

8. STFU you little stupid twerp.

I really hate Marco ... Almost as much as Bachmann.

[DallasNE]

9. The Problem With Demogagues Like Rubio

Is that they always revert to the strawman argument. Nobody is claiming that new gun measures could have "stopped" Sandy Hook. The purpose of new gun measures is to lessen the carnage. The shooter at Sandy Hook fired over 100 rounds before law enforcement arrived and he took his own life. Had he been able to get off only 75 rounds before officers arrived just think the teacher, Mrs. Soto, may have been able to hide away 2-3 more children plus the officers would have arrived while he was still in the act of shooting up that classroom. Time is the most critical issue in these situations and anything that slows down the number of rounds fired in a given length of time saves lives. It is just that simple. That and being able to better identify and document those that pose a danger to society. The Aurora shooter fit that description yet he was able to purchase his arsenal legally because he was not in a database. (The tough part will be in assuring that people don't wrongly get on this list or others are kept off because of their "standing" in the community). Nonetheless, action needs to take place and take place now.

[markpkessinger]

16. Exactly . . .

I saw an interview about this with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC (not typically my favorite politician, but he's on the right side of this issue). He pointed out that while it is true that it cannot be said that any particular piece of legislation, or any particular regulation or even set of regulations could be guaranteed to have stopped any particular incident, but that such regulations can make a dent in the aggegate number of gun deaths, by making high-capacity weapons significantly less available, doing a better job of keeping guns out of the hands of people who really shouldn't have them, and indeed by making weapons harder to obtain.

[xxqqqzme]

12. Can we have a time stamp on

this asinine quote? Rick Perry said nearly the identical thing. Just wondering who was the fastest at getting to a media person/outlet?

[truebrit71]

13. I'm sorry, but how is that not a factually correct statement?

A federal background check wouldn't have flagged the shooter because they weren't his guns, registering the guns would simply mean that the Feds would have know that his mom had bought the guns, using 10-round clips instead of 30-round clips wouldn't have made a difference because he was changing them out before he had used all the ammo in each magazine anyway, and the fact that it was an 'assault rifle' doesn't make it any more deadly than any other semi-auto rifle...

I am NOT saying the President shouldn't do anything, or that these rules are ineffective/bad/worse than useless (yeah we need MORE fucking cops - really?) but don't say that these are in response to the Newton tragedy because NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE PREVENTED that god-awful event from happening...

[and-justice-for-all]

14. So Rubio has a crystal ball? nt