If responsible gun owners don't want stricter gun laws, what about stricter punishments for irresponsible gun owners? You want your assault rifle, fine. You use it safely for sport and protection, fine. But if your weapon is used by a family member, friend or neighbor to kill or injure, you head to prison for a minimum of twenty years. How does that sound?

Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Virginia today to make the case for more gun control measures. Biden met with lawmakers and law enforcement experts who responded to the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. The White House is looking to win support for an effort to tighten the FBI's background check system, reinstate the assault weapons ban, and limit the number of rounds in a gun magazine.

The White House faces stiff opposition from gun lobbyists and Republicans in the GOP-controlled House. The Vice President said he hopes to win over opponents with "persuasion and information." Attorney General Eric Holder echoed that sentiment during a keynote address in Manhattan today. Holder said the Obama administration is "more determined than ever to help bridge longstanding divides, to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of dangerous people, and to take the national fight against gun violence to a new level." What do you say?

Do you support the White House's effort to reform gun control laws in the wake of the massacre in Newtown? Is the Obama administration doing enough? Do you support closing background check loopholes, banning military-style assault weapons and limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines? Will that make our schools and streets safer, or does more attention need to be paid to mental health services?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

Americans of every political stripe who support stronger gun laws in the wake of Newton and other such massacres need to stand up and not allow the gun lobby and their collaborators in the House and Senate to defeat comprehensive and sensible gun control measures.

Felix
Bay Ridge

Mayor Bloomberg has become an unattractively cantankerous and stubborn old man, who needs to stop whining at everyone who doesn't agree with him. He has forgotten that he is a public servant who is supposed to represent and help ALL of the people in the city...not just those who have incomes in the upper brackets. It's more and more obvious every day that he doesn't care about us average folk.

Richard
Upper West Side

John,

I am opposed to all government efforts, local, state and federal to regulate gun ownership. Those who advocate such seem unable to see that guns don't shoot people, people shoot people. All of the current actions are a prelude to confiscation thus disarming every American.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

P. S. Quoting George Mason, "I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them."

Hi John,

Shame on these people playing off the sympathy of these children in Newtown. Why is it that no one went to Virginia Tech in 2007? The only ones that went there were the New York Yankees and they surely do not need any publicity. YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF PHONIES= None of these people that are all of a sudden going gung ho on this subject look very foolish because it's just another subject know nothing about including what your all getting paid for. What you all are trying to propose or do will not help the situation should it arise again and it will.

YOU ALL LOOK BAD !!!

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

Only 4% of murders in the USA are committed with rifles & shotguns. The real problem is handguns. Why doesn't Cuomo and Obama focus on handguns? Why don't they focus on the real problem? It very very stupid.

Haa!! even Commissioner Kelly understands that a new Federal assault-weapons ban will have little effect on crime in NYC. He mostly just supports universal background checks which WILL effect the amount of handguns in circulation.

-Dan

Start with measures that are sure to pass constitutional muster; e.g., universal background check.

Jack

Why would anyone not in the military or on a police force need an assault weapon? Why would anyone need a magazine that holds dozens of bullets? Why would anyone not support universal background checks to prevent criminals and disturbed people from purchasing guns? It boggles the mind that these issues have not been addressed in our country and that it takes intense tragedy to bring these issues forward.

Henry from Bayside

Why not protect our schools much like the courts are protected? While some may say that having armed members of law enforcement may distract our students, I have to disagree. Students of any age have the ability to adapt to any situation. Have a member of law enforcement in school can be no more of a distraction than seeing law enforcement in the street.

Wil from the Bronx

Hi John;

I believe that we should hire retired NYPD Officers and put them in schools that fit their demographics...in other words the officers will blend in. In our culture of crime, children need protection.

Best regards
kate
retired NYPD
neighborhood activist
midtown east

Until a solution is found to control this rampant gun violence everywhere, I support armed guards at school.

Carmen, Bay Ridge

Dear John,

The gun proponents are using the mental health issue to try to ignore the lunacy of being able to own assault rifles. On another note, John, doesn't the city have any agencies that could have helped that poor dolphin? I just can't get past that poor thing trying to survive all day long...

Shelley from Park Slope, thanks!

no prison to cost us money deport them to afghanastan or iraq no lenientcy

EFB