Lesley Clark: Obama Urges Congress to ban Assault Weapons

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to ban the sale of military style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips, and said Vice President Joe Biden would lead an effort to stem an epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every single day. Obama said he'd asked Biden to deliver his recommendations by next month, and the president pledged to move quickly to enact them. "This is not some Washington commission," Obama said, speaking at the White House five days after a lone gunman in Connecticut opened fire in an elementary school with a semi automatic rifle, killing 20 first graders and six adults. "This is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now. The Biden led team, which will include members of the president's Cabinet and outside organizations, also will look at improving access to mental health services and, Obama said, at a culture that, all too often, glorifies guns and violence. The president argued that there is a growing consensus for stepped up gun control, contending that a majority of Americans support banning the sale of military style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips. He said most Americans also supported background checks before gun purchases, including those at gun shows, and he urged the incoming Congress to vote on gun control in a timely manner. An ABC News Washington Post poll taken after the Connecticut shooting found that 54 percent of Americans favor stricter gun control laws in general. The powerful gun lobby has resisted most new regulations. Obama said he believed that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms, but he added that he also believes that most gun owners think the US should be able to keep an irresponsible, law breaking few from buying a weapon of war.