The White House said today that President Obama is “actively supportive” of bringing back the ban on assault weapons, adding a bit more momentum to a potential shift on gun control. “It’s clear that as a nation we haven’t done enough to address the scourge of gun violence,” said spokesman Jay Carney today, echoing Obama’s comments on Sunday and offering some of the first specifics about what the president has planned.
Obama “wants to move in the coming weeks,” Carney said, and would back the bill laid out by Senator Dianne Feinstein to limit the sale of superpowered guns, as well as any effort to close the gun-show loopholes for purchasing weapons. The president also spoke with Senator Joe “Dead Aim” Manchin, the conservative Democrat and NRA favorite who came out against assault weapons after the brutal deaths in Newtown. The New York Post and the private-equity firm behind Adam Lanza’s gun joined Manchin today in taking a few steps back.
