The President’s Plan to Protect our Children and our Communities

[Drache]

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

January 16, 2013

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO TAKE COMMON-SENSE STEPS

1. CLOSING BACKGROUND CHECK LOOPHOLES TO KEEP GUNS OUT OF DANGEROUS HANDS

Most gun owners buy their guns legally and use them safely, whether for self-defense, hunting or sport shooting. Yet too often, irresponsible and dangerous individuals have been able to easily get their hands on firearms. We must strengthen our efforts to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.

REQUIRE BACKGROUND CHECKS ON ALL GUN SALES: Felons, fugitives, and others who are legally prohibited from having a gun should not be able to use loopholes to get one. Right now, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to run background checks on those buying guns, but studies estimate that nearly 40 percent of all gun sales are made by private sellers who are exempt from this requirement. As the President said following the Newtown tragedy, keeping guns out of the wrong hands starts with legislation to require background checks for all gun sales, with limited, common-sense exceptions for cases like certain transfers among family members and temporary transfers for hunting and sporting purposes. In addition, the Administration will provide licensed dealers with guidance on how they can run background checks on private sales today.

FOUR EXECUTIVE ACTIONS TO STRENGTHEN THE BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM: The background check system is highly efficient and effective; during its 14 years in existence, the system has helped keep more than 1.5 million guns out of the wrong hands. The system is able to make 92 percentn of background check determinations on the spot. But we must do a better job ensuring the background check system has access to complete information about potentially dangerous individuals. Today the Administration is taking four actions to strengthen the system:

o Addressing unnecessary legal barriers in health laws that prevent some states from making information available about those prohibited from having guns.
o Improving incentives for states to share information with the system.
o Ensuring federal agencies share relevant information with the system.
o Directing the Attorney General to work with other agencies to review our laws to make sure they are effective at identifying the dangerous or untrustworthy individuals that should not have access to guns.

[Ponch ®]

Arent you Canadian?

[Drache]

2. BANNING MILITARY-STYLE ASSAULT WEAPONS AND HIGHCAPACITY MAGAZINES, AND TAKING OTHER COMMON-SENSE STEPS TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE

We need to do more to prevent easy access to instruments of mass violence. We also need to provide law enforcement with additional tools to prevent gun violence, end the freeze on gun violence research, make sure health care providers know they can report credible threats of violence and talk to their patients about gun safety, and promote responsible gun ownership.

GET MILITARY-STYLE ASSAULT WEAPONS AND HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINES OFF THE STREETS: Several recent mass shootings involved high-capacity ammunition magazines that were prohibited from 1994 to 2004. Many of the mass shooters used the type of semiautomatic rifles that were the target of the assault weapons ban. It is time for Congress to renew the 10-round limit on magazines, and reinstate and strengthen the assault weapons ban.

PROTECT POLICE BY GETTING RID OF ARMOR-PIERCING BULLETS: The President also is calling for legislation to finish the job of getting armorpiercing bullets off the streets by prohibiting the possession and transfer of this dangerous ammunition, in addition to its manufacture and import.

GIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT ADDITIONAL TOOLS TO PREVENT AND PROSECUTE GUN CRIME: We owe law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe. The President will:

o Call for Congress to pass the Administration's $4 billion proposal to help communities keep 15,000 cops on the street.
o Call for Congress to pass new gun trafficking laws, which will impose serious penalties on those who help get guns into the hands of criminals.
o Take executive action to enhance gun tracing data by requiring federal law enforcement to trace all recovered guns.
o Propose regulations that will enable law enforcement to run complete background checks before returning seized firearms
o Nominate, and call for Congress to confirm, a director for the ATF.
o Call for Congress to remove restrictions that require ATF to authorize importation of dangerous weapons simply because of their age.
o Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
o Direct the Department of Justice to analyze information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
o Provide effective training for state and local law enforcement, first responders, and school officials on how to handle active shooter situations.

END THE FREEZE ON GUN VIOLENCE RESEARCH, INVESTIGATE THE CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE, AND EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF VIOLENT MEDIA IMAGES AND VIDEO GAMES: For years, Congress has subjected the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to restrictions ensuring it does not "advocate or promote gun control," and some members of Congress have claimed this restriction prohibits the CDC from conducting any research on the causes of gun violence. However, public health research on gun violence is not advocacy. The President is directing the CDC and other research agencies to conduct research into the causes and prevention of gun violence, and the CDC is announcing that they will begin this research. The Administration is calling on Congress to provide $10 million for the CDC to conduct further research, including investigating the relationship between video games, media images, and violence.

Conduct research on the causes and prevention of gun violence, including links between video games, media images, and violence: The President is issuing a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control and scientific agencies to conduct research into the causes and prevention of gun violence. It is based on legal analysis that concludes such research is not prohibited by any appropriations language. The CDC will start immediately by assessing existing strategies for preventing gun violence and identifying the most pressing research questions, with the greatest potential public health impact. And the Administration is calling on Congress to provide $10 million for the CDC to conduct further research, including investigating the relationship between video games, media images, and violence.

Better understand how and when firearms are used in violent death: To research gun violence prevention, we also need better data. When firearms are used in homicides or suicides, the National Violent Death Reporting System collects anonymous data, including the type of firearm used, whether the firearm was stored loaded or locked, and details on youth gun access. Congress should invest an additional $20 million to expand this system from the 18 states currently participating to all 50 states, helping Americans better understand how and when firearms are used in a violent death and informing future research and prevention strategies.

PRESERVE THE RIGHTS OF DOCTORS TO PROTECT THEIR PATIENTS AND COMMUNITIES FROM GUN VIOLENCE: Doctors and other mental health professionals play an important role in protecting the safety of their patients and the broader community. The Administration is clarifying that no federal law in any way prohibits doctors or other health care providers from reporting their patients' threats of violence to the authorities, and issuing guidance making clear that the Affordable Care Act does not prevent doctors from talking to patients about gun safety.

Clarify that no federal law prevents health care providers from warning law enforcement authorities about threats of violence: Doctors and other mental health professionals play an important role in protecting the safety of their patients and the broader community by reporting direct and credible threats of violence to the authorities. But there is public confusion about whether federal law prohibits such reports about threats of violence. The Department of Health and Human Services is issuing a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits these reports in any way.

Protect the rights of health care providers to talk to their patients about gun safety: Doctors and other health care providers also need to be able to ask about firearms in their patients' homes and safe storage of those firearms, especially if their patients show signs of certain mental illnesses or if they have a young child or mentally ill family member at home. Some have incorrectly claimed that language in the Affordable Care Act prohibits doctors from asking their patients about guns and gun safety. Medical groups also continue to fight against state laws attempting to ban doctors from asking these questions. The Administration will issue guidance clarifying that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit or otherwise regulate communication between doctors and patients, including about firearms.

[Drache]

ENCOURAGE GUN OWNERS TO LIVE UP TO THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO STORE GUNS SAFELY: The President believes that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms, and he respects our nation's rich hunting and sport shooting traditions. But this right comes with a responsibility to safely store guns to prevent them from accidentally or intentionally being used to harm others. To that end, the President will launch a national responsible gun ownership campaign. The Administration will also encourage the development of new technology that will make it easier for gun owners to safely use and store their guns, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission will assess the need for new safety standards for gun locks and gun safes to make sure they actually work to keep guns safe.

Launch a national responsible gun ownership campaign: The Administration will encourage gun owners to take responsibility for keeping their guns safe with a national campaign. The campaign will promote common-sense gun safety measures like the use of gun safes and trigger locks, separate storage of guns and ammunition, and the reporting of lost and stolen weapons to law enforcement.

Review and enhance as warranted safety standards for gun locks and gun safes: We also need to make sure that gun locks and gun safes work as intended. Several gun locks have been subject to recall due to their failure to function properly; that is not acceptable. The Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) intends to review the effectiveness of gun locks and gun safes, including existing voluntary industry standards, and take any steps that may be warranted to improve the standards as well as to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death that arise when those products within the CPSC's jurisdiction fail.

Encourage the development of innovative gun safety technology: Despite rapid advances in technologies in recent years, there are few readily available firearms that utilize these new technologies to help guard against unauthorized access and use. The President is directing the Attorney General to work with technology experts to review existing and emerging gun safety technologies, and to issue a report on the availability and use of those technologies. In addition, the Administration will issue a challenge to the private sector to develop innovative and cost-effective gun safety technology and provide prizes for those technologies that are proven to be reliable and effective.

[Drache]

3. MAKING SCHOOLS SAFER

We need to enhance the physical security of our schools and our ability to respond to emergencies like mass shootings, and also create safer and more nurturing school climates. Each school is different and should have the flexibility to address its most pressing needs. Some schools will want trained and armed police; others may prefer increased counseling services. Either way, each district should be able to choose what is best to protect its own students. The Administration is proposing to:

GIVE LOCAL COMMUNITIES THE OPPORTUNITY TO HIRE UP TO 1,000 SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS AND SCHOOL COUNSELORS: School resource officers, school psychologists, social workers, and school counselors all have a role to play in keeping our students safe. We can help schools fill these roles by using this year's COPS program to provide incentives for more police departments to hire school resource officers. And today, the President is proposing a new, comprehensive school safety initiative to help local school districts hire up to 1,000 school resource officers and school-based mental health professionals, as well as make other investments in school safety. The Department of Justice will also develop a model for using school resource officers, including best practices for working with students.

ENSURE EVERY SCHOOL HAS A COMPREHENSIVE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN: Many schools have plans for responding to emergencies like mass shootings, but too often, their plans are incomplete and their students and staff are not trained to follow them. The Administration will help schools, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education develop these plans, call on Congress to provide the resources for schools to implement them, and require those receiving safety funding from the Department of Education to have high-quality plans in place for all of their schools.

Take executive action to provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers: COPS Hiring Grants, which help police departments hire officers, can already be used by departments to fund school resource officers. This year, the Department of Justice will provide an incentive for police departments to hire these officers by providing a preference for grant applications that support school resource officers.

Put up to 1,000 new school resource officers and school counselors on the job: The Administration is proposing a new Comprehensive School Safety program, which will help school districts hire staff and make other critical investments in school safety. The program will give $150 million to school districts and law enforcement agencies to hire school resource officers, school psychologists, social workers, and counselors. The Department of Justice will also develop a model for using school resource officers, including best practices on age-appropriate methods for working with students.

Invest in other strategies to make our schools safer: School districts could also use these Comprehensive School Safety Grants to purchase school safety equipment; develop and update public safety plans; conduct threat assessments; and train "crisis intervention teams" of law enforcement officers to work with the mental health community to respond to and assist students in crisis. And the General Services Administration will use its purchasing power to help schools buy safety equipment affordably.

ENSURE EVERY SCHOOL HAS A COMPREHENSIVE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN: In the unthinkable event of another school shooting, it is essential that schools have in place effective and reliable plans to respond. A 2010 survey found that while 84 percent of public schools had a written response plan in the event of a shooting, only 52 percent had drilled their students on the plan in the past year. We must ensure that every school has a high-quality plan in place and that students and staff are prepared to follow it.

Give schools and other institutions a model for how to develop and implement reliable plans: The Departments of Education, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security will release—by May 2013—a set of model, high-quality emergency management plans for schools, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education, along with best practices for developing these plans and training students and staff to follow them. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Department of Justice, will assist interested schools, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education in completing their own security assessments.

Help schools develop and implement emergency plans: Congress should provide $30 million of one-time grants to states to help their school districts develop and implement emergency management plans. But schools also need to take responsibility for getting effective plans in place. Going forward, Congress should require states and school districts that receive school safety funding from the Department of Education to have comprehensive, up-to-date emergency plans in place for all of their schools.

CREATE SAFER SCHOOL CLIMATES: Making our schools safer is not just about cops and security cameras; we also need to improve the climate of our schools to reduce violence and bullying (which sometimes precedes a mass casualty event). The Administration is proposing to help 8,000 schools put in place proven strategies to reduce bullying, drug abuse, violence, and other problem behaviors, and to gather and share best practices on school discipline.

Help 8,000 schools create safer and more nurturing school climates: With technical assistance from the Department of Education, 18,000 schools have already put in place evidence-based strategies to improve school climate. These strategies involve certain steps for the whole school (like consistent rules and rewards for good behavior), with more intensive steps for groups of students exhibiting at-risk behavior, and individual services for students who continue to exhibit troubling behavior. The Administration is proposing a new, $50 million initiative to help 8,000 more schools train their teachers and other school staff to implement these strategies. The Administration will also develop a school climate survey, providing reliable data to help schools implement policies to improve climate.

Share best practices on school discipline: Students who are suspended or expelled are far more likely to repeat a grade, not graduate, or become involved in the juvenile justice system. As a result, effective school discipline policies are critical to addressing school and community crime and violence issues. The Department of Education will collect and disseminate best practices on school discipline polices and help school districts develop and equitably implement their policies.

[Drache]

4. IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Though the vast majority of Americans with a mental illness are not violent, we need to do more to identify mental health issues early and help individuals get the treatment they need before dangerous situations develop. As President Obama has said, "We are going to need to work on making access to mental health care as easy as access to a gun."

MAKE SURE STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS GET TREATMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES: Three quarters of mental illnesses appear by the age of 24, yet less than half of children with diagnosable mental health problems receive treatment. To increase access to mental health services for young people, we should:

o Provide "Mental Health First Aid" training to help teachers and staff recognize signs of mental illness in young people and refer them to treatment.
o Support young adults ages 16 to 25, who have the highest rates of mental illness but are the least likely to seek help, by giving incentives to help states develop innovative approaches.
o Help break the cycle of violence in schools facing pervasive violence with a new, targeted initiative to provide their students with needed services like counseling.
o Train 5,000 more social workers, counselors, and psychologists, with a focus on those serving students and young adults.

Reach 750,000 young people through programs to identify mental illness early and refer them to treatment: We need to train teachers and other adults who regularly interact with students to recognize young people who need help and ensure they are referred to mental health services. The Administration is calling for a new initiative, Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), to provide this training and set up systems to provide these referrals. This initiative, which would reach 750,000 young people, has two parts:

o Provide "Mental Health First Aid" training for teachers: Project AWARE includes $15 million for training for teachers and other adults who interact with youth to detect and respond to mental illness in children and young adults, including how to encourage adolescents and families experiencing these problems to seek treatment.

o Make sure students with signs of mental illness get referred to treatment: Project AWARE also includes $40 million to help school districts work with law enforcement, mental health agencies, and other
local organizations to assure students with mental health issues or other behavioral issues are referred to the services they need. This initiative builds on strategies that, for over a decade, have proven to decrease violence in schools and increase the number of students receiving mental health services.

Support individuals ages 16 to 25 at high risk for mental illness: Efforts to prevent school shootings and other gun violence can't end when a student leaves high school. Individuals ages 16 to 25 are at high risk for mental illness, substance abuse, and suicide, but they are among the least likely to seek help. Even those who received services as a child may fall through the cracks when they turn 18. The Administration is proposing $25 million for innovative statebased strategies supporting young people ages 16 to 25 with mental health or substance abuse issues.

Helping schools address pervasive violence: Twenty-two percent of 14 to 17 year olds have witnessed a shooting in their lifetime. Research shows that exposure to community violence can impact children's mental health and development and can substantially increase the likelihood that these children will later commit violent acts themselves. To help schools break the cycle of violence, Congress should provide $25 million to offer students mental health services for trauma or anxiety, conflict resolution programs, and other schoolbased violence prevention strategies.

Train more than 5,000 additional mental health professionals to serve students and young adults: Experts often cite the shortage of mental health service providers as one reason it can be hard to access treatment. To help fill this gap, the Administration is proposing $50 million to train social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals. This would provide stipends and tuition reimbursement to train more than 5,000 mental health professionals serving young people in our schools and communities.

Launch a national conversation to increase understanding about mental health: The sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness prevents too many people from seeking help. The President is directing Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan to launch a national dialogue about mental illness with young people who have experienced mental illness, members of the faith community, foundations, and school and business leaders.

ENSURE COVERAGE OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT: The Affordable Care Act is the largest step to increase access to mental health services in a generation, providing health coverage for 30 million Americans, including 6 to 10 million people with mental illness. The Administration will take executive actions to ensure that millions of newly covered Americans, and millions more who already have health insurance, get quality mental health coverage by:

o Finalizing regulations to require insurance plans to cover mental health benefits like medical and surgical benefits.
o Ensuring Medicaid is meeting its obligation to cover mental health equally.

Finalize requirements for private health insurance plans to cover mental health services: The Administration will issue final regulations governing how existing group health plans that offer mental health services must cover them at nparity under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. In addition, the Affordable Care Act requires all new small group and individual plans to cover ten essential health benefit categories, including mental health and substance abuse services. The Administration intends to issue next month the final rule defining these essential health benefits and implementing requirements for these plans to cover mental health benefits at parity with medical and surgical benefits.

Make sure millions of Americans covered by Medicaid get quality mental health coverage: Medicaid is already the biggest funder of mental health services, and the Affordable Care Act will extend Medicaid coverage to as many as 17 million hardworking Americans. There is some evidence that Medicaid plans are not always meeting mental health parity requirements today, an issue that will only become more important as Medicaid is expanded. The Administration is issuing a letter to state health officials making clear that these plans must comply with mental health parity requirements.

[Drache]

CALLING ON ALL AMERICANS TO DO MORE

None of these problems can be solved by laws alone. All Americans must do their part. Gun owners have a responsibility to make sure their guns are safely stored. If a gun is lost or stolen, it is important to report it to local authorities. Parents, teachers, and school counselors need to stay involved in young people's lives, and if they need help, show them how to get it. A trained professional who concludes that a patient poses a serious threat to himself or others has a duty to report it. The entertainment and video game industries have a responsibility to give parents tools and choices about the movies and programs their children watch and the games their children play. As President Obama said, "This job of keeping our children safe and teaching them well is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community and the help of a nation." The President, the Vice President, and other Administration leaders will continue to work with Americans from all walks of life to look for more ways to help.

Gun Violence Reduction Executive Actions

Today, the President is announcing that he and the Administration will:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/120650029/White-House-Gun-Proposals

[Drache]

Arent you Canadian?

Yeah. Why?

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Canadians need guns to protect their beer.

[JB400]

Presidents' plan short version:  Declare everyone mentally incompetent so they can't have guns

[skip68]

Cash deals only gentlemen.   

[4cruzin]

Policitical posts don't usually end friendly . . . should stick to cars!   

[Ponch ®]

Arent you Canadian?

Yeah. Why?

well, not that you are not entitled to your opinion on this issue, but how does the United States President's plan protect "[y]our" children and communities?

[Drache]

Arent you Canadian?

Yeah. Why?

well, not that you are not entitled to your opinion on this issue, but how does the United States President's plan protect "[y]our" children and communities?

That was the title of the White House document....

[jar1292]

Policitical posts don't usually end friendly . . . should stick to cars!   

So true but considering what the U.S. of A. elected officials are doing right now is touching probably every single person in North America one way or another, I really like reading about what others have to say. How we react to this is going to show the government how we will react when they decide to ban all fuel driven engines and because more folks a year are dying from air contamination health issues. We will go all electric when the officials see that there votes going that way.  

[4cruzin]

So true but considering what the U.S. of A. elected officials are doing right now is touching probably every single person in North America one way or another, I really like reading about what others have to say. How we react to this is going to show the government how we will react when they decide to ban all fuel driven engines and because more folks a year are dying from air contamination health issues. We will go all electric when the officials see that there votes going that way. 

I do agree that some of it is interesting but if I want to read about it . . . I don't visit the Charger site . . . I go here.

http://www.politicalforum.com/forum.php?s=b00ffab511df3fb869f39953141e81ee

I tried to talk about MOPARS there once and was told that this is not the place to talk about cars . . . .

[AKcharger]

YES WE CAN!.......

[Tilar]

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

January 16, 2013

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO TAKE COMMON-SENSE STEPS

The most common sense step they could take is to take that worthless prick out of office.

I do agree that some of it is interesting but if I want to read about it . . . I don't visit the Charger site . . . I go here.

I generally go where friends/aquaintances are... I don't care to go debate something with people I never communicate with on other subjects, simply because I really don't give a crap what their opinion is.

I may need to go check out that site though, problem I have with some of those sites like that is there are so many stupid people that they tend to drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.