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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Press Association Images

After Newtown massacre, Obama backs ban on assault weapons

The US president has thrown his support behind a Democratic senator’s attempts to reintroduce a ban on certain types of guns, a ban which expired eight years ago.

US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has thrown his weight behind a bill to reintroduce a ban on civilians owning assault weapons, in the wake of a gun massacre in an elementary school that shocked the nation.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would support a law proposed by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to prohibit the arms, defined as certain types of semi-automatic firearm with removable magazines.

“He is actively supportive of, for example, Senator Feinstein’s stated intent to revive a piece of legislation that would reinstate the assault weapons ban,” Carney said, when asked what Obama would do about gun control.

Carney said Obama would also support any move to ban high-capacity clips — magazines that hold dozens of rounds — and close the so-called “gun show loophole” that allows unlicensed individuals to sell guns privately.

Feinstein vowed on Monday to bring the bill forward, telling CNN: “It’s going to be strong, and it’s going to be definitive. And it’s going to ban by name at least 100 military-style semi-automatic assault weapons.”

Expired in 2004

A previous ten-year ban on military-style assault weapons was allowed to expire in 2004, and many US citizens have since rushed to arm themselves with semi-automatic versions of rifles like the Kalashnikov or the AR-15.

On Friday, a 20-year-old man used a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle in an attack on a Connecticut elementary school, killing six staff and 20 children aged six or seven in a hail of high-velocity .223 rounds.

The slaughter has revived calls for stricter controls on arms in civilian hands, but Obama and Feinstein may encounter tough opposition from America’s legions of shooting enthusiasts and a well-funded pro-gun lobby.

Obama has long supported a return of the assault weapons ban, but did nothing in his first term to put his own political muscle behind attempts to revive it.

America has suffered an epidemic of gun violence over the last three decades, including 62 mass shooting sprees since 1982, three of the deadliest in the second half of this year alone.

The vast majority of weapons used have been semi-automatic handguns or military-style assault weapons obtained legally by the killers.

There were an estimated 310 million non-military firearms in the United States as of 2009, one for each citizen. People in America are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than is someone in another developed country.

- AFP, 2012

Read: Dogs sent to Newtown to comfort school shooting survivors

Read: Obama tells Newtown: “We will have to change”

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    Mute Pat Casey
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    Feb 21st 2022, 8:10 AM

    A big thank you to the ESB crews out there working in atrocious conditions to get power reconnected around the country.

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    Mute ed w
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    Feb 21st 2022, 2:19 PM

    @Pat Casey: definitely. but powercheck just said my house has gone from the power due back at 12.30pm to 10pm hope they get it on a bit sooner !

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    Mute Barty
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    Feb 21st 2022, 8:20 AM

    Strongest winds out of the three storms goes to Franklin.

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    Mute Gabriel Holmes
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    Feb 21st 2022, 8:32 AM

    @Barty: Depends on were you are.

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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Feb 21st 2022, 8:34 AM

    @Barty: definitely. Wind from the NW is the new norm.

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    Mute ed w
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    Feb 21st 2022, 11:39 AM

    @Gabriel Holmes: nope, highest recorded mean wind speeds were higher at 107kmh for mace head vs 93kmh roches point for eunice.

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    Mute Joe_X
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    Feb 21st 2022, 2:53 PM

    @Barty: definitely but were Met Eireann caught on the hop? We seemed to have a couple days notice Dudley and Eunice, but there seemed to be no mention of Franklin until after it had made landfall! Was it how it did not affect the east coast or what that they took their eyes off the ball!

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    Mute Shane Fleming
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    Feb 21st 2022, 8:05 PM

    @Barty: Not in Kerry it wasn’t. Friday morning was absolutely horrendous.

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    Mute Locutus Of Borg
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    Feb 21st 2022, 1:43 PM

    A big shout out to those poor souls relying on electric heat pumps to heat their homes. It must be freezing with no power

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    Mute Darren Byrne
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    Feb 21st 2022, 2:56 PM

    @Locutus Of Borg: I’d imagine any system that is relying on a pump to push hot water around the radiators in a house is going to have a problem.

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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Feb 21st 2022, 3:01 PM

    @Locutus Of Borg: As opposed to a gas boiler which requires no electricity at all and runs on magic?

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    Mute Locutus Of Borg
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    Feb 21st 2022, 3:28 PM

    @Reuben Gray: well I was thinking more along the lines of those who built houses last year or had houses builtl for them and were denied the opportunity to put in a chimney to allow for the use of a stove or open fire so as to at least have a fire to sit around when the inevitable power outages do happen

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    Mute Quiet Goer
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    Feb 21st 2022, 3:15 PM

    Global warming

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