Biden Tells Boston Mayor That Gun Control Will be Implemented “by the end of January”

[Carpedium]

Article from the Boston Herald. Did a search and could not find a previous post.

Link

Vice President Joe Biden “guaranteed” Mayor Thomas M. Menino — a leading national gun control advocate — that President Obama will pass sweeping firearms reforms by the end of the month, the mayor said today.

“He said, ‘Tommy, I guarantee you, we’ll get it done by the end of January,’” Menino said at City Hall today. “They’re going to get it done.”

The mayor, who has been recovering from a host of ailments for the past two months, said Biden called him several times while he was in the hospital, including a call after the Newtown school massacre to discuss gun control.


Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg co-chair the 500-mayor-strong Mayors Against Illegal Guns and have called for national gun reform in the wake of last month’s Sandy Hook school killings.

“I understand the second amendment, the right to bear arms. But I don’t understand how young kids should be able to get guns,” he said, referring to the plague of urban gang violence largely involving young males.

Menino added that the president has “no excuse not to pass strong (gun reform) legislation,” since he is in his last term and doesn’t have to worry about angering pro-gun voters or the National Rifle Association.

“It’s time to get this moving and moving quickly,” Menino said. “Let’s do it now.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Menino also said he’s “feeling better than I have in nine months” and hinted he could seek an unprecedented sixth term.

“I still have the energy,” he said. “I still have a lot more things I want to accomplish . . . If I believe I can make a difference in this city and move this city forward, that’s my future.”

Menino was hospitalized in October and spent nearly two months in the hospital and a rehabilitation clinic. He’s still having difficulty walking but is in daily physical therapy.

He’s staying at the Parkman House, because it has elevators, but said he “can’t wait” to get back to living at his Hyde Park home. He said he’s also looking forward to getting back to a regular schedule, but may scale back his public appearances slightly.

“You can’t stop being who you are,” he said. “Once you stop being who you are, that’s when you get in trouble. I’m not going to stop being Tom Menino.”

 

[Carpedium]

It seems to me that the only way this is going to happen is through Executive order, no? Congress seems to be pretty busy with financial issues. Ideas?

 

[bikerdoc]

Menino's nickname among his detractors is "Mumbles". Twofold reasons, he does mumble, and he is regularly used to by others who mumble something to him to repeat.

Whatever the Biden group recommends it still has to be voted by congress.

 

[Carpedium]

I hope you are right!

 

[Carl N. Brown]

... he is in his last term and doesn’t have to worry about angering pro-gun voters or the National Rifle Association.

Democrats ought to be concerned after Obama's last term about being permanently identified as the gun ban party in the minds of the voting public. They do it by their own words and blaming NRA, "Faux News" (whose owner Rupert Murdoch is a gun ban supporter FCOL) does not shift the blame.

Democrats do need independent voters who are not necessarily fans of bans like D.C. or Chicago, or defacto bans like the way the Sullivan Act is implemented in New York City.

 

[hso]

Vice President Joe Biden “guaranteed” Mayor Thomas M. Menino — a leading national gun control advocate — that President Obama will pass sweeping firearms reforms by the end of the month, the mayor said today.

“He said, ‘Tommy, I guarantee you, we’ll get it done by the end of January,’” Menino said at City Hall today. “They’re going to get it done.”

The mayor, who has been recovering from a host of ailments for the past two months, said Biden called him several times while he was in the hospital, including a call after the Newtown school massacre to discuss gun control.

Does this mean the call is more recent than the Dec. appointment of VP Biden to head the presidential commission that is supposed to study the causes of violence and seek real solutions to those causes or was it before and is no just being reported by the Mayor?

 

[Carpedium]

No Idea. I would hope that a study on the causes of violence is not limited to gun control, though.

 

[beatledog7]

Here are several of the underlying causes of what's wrong with this country:

Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg co-chair the 500-mayor-strong Mayors Against Illegal Guns and have called for national gun reform in the wake of last month’s Sandy Hook school killings.

“I understand the second amendment, the right to bear arms. But I don’t understand how young kids should be able to get guns,” he said, referring to the plague of urban gang violence largely involving young males.[emphasis added]

Response: Kids get guns by stealing them, which they will keep doing regardless of any new laws. Criminals make their way through life breaking laws--any laws that stand in their way.

Menino added that the president has “no excuse not to pass strong (gun reform) legislation,” since he is in his last term and doesn’t have to worry about angering pro-gun voters or the National Rifle Association.[emphasis added]

Response: When re-election becomes the President's (or any politician's) most pressing issue, we've lost any hope of rational, patriotic leadership that is in any way of the people, by the people, and for the people. Politicians whose self interests outweigh the interests of the people they represent (re-election benefits the politician far more than the people) need to be voted out.

“It’s time to get this moving and moving quickly,” Menino said. “Let’s do it now.”[emphasis added]

Response: Knee-jerk, emotional outcries from media-saturated sheeple are not a rationale for legislation, but as we have heard from the current administration, we shouldn't let a good crisis go to waste.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

A couple of factual points: the Senate will not have the first day of its session until January 22nd - that just leaves 9 days for a gun control bill to clear the Senate. In the House, the head of the Judiciary Committe is NRA A-rated and has already said gun control is off the table - so no new gun control is likely to originate in the House.

For Biden to make good on his guarantee, they would need to originate a bill in the Senate, get it on the Calendar, pass it, get the measure to the House, get it on the House Calendar, pass it and have it signed in under 9 days. That would be difficult to do even with uncontroversial legislation.

Even if Biden did say something that outlandish, Menino knows enough about politics to know that he is being fed BS. So why is he selling it to the Boston Herald?

 

[Geneseo1911]

Must bills passed by the Senate be heard by House Committees before being brought to a floor vote in the House?

 

[Carpedium]

That is exactly what I am wondering. Just thought that it could be some "executive order" until the USSC knocks it down.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Typically a gun control bill passed in the Senate would have to go through the House Judiciary Committee, and then to the floor. There are exceptions to that; but most bills go through the same procedure.

 

[NormH3]

Biden is always putting his foot in his mouth. he's been doing it for years.

 

[Autolycus]

I hope you are correct about Biden.