Yesterday Jennifer Pinckney the widow of SC Senator Clementa Pinckney went to the White House and stood directly behind President Barack Obama as he delivered one of the most stirring speeches of his presidency. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/05/obama-s-gun-speech-was-one-for-the-ages.html

President Obama invited Mrs. Pinckney and her daughters to join him as he announced executive actions to try to curb gun violence. The Pinckney’s  were among many victims families in the room, all of their lives torn asunder by mass shootings.

President Obama had tears on his face as he evoked the 1st grade victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I’ve waited years for this moment, when the president would square off against the National Rifle Association and it was worth the wait.
The moment President Obama took office the NRA has used his name to evoke fear among gun lovers that a massive purge of weaponry was imminent. No matter that Obama virtually ignored the issue of gun control for years after taking office. It took the deaths of 20 small children and 6 adults in Newtown, Connecticut to push Obama to act and those actions were in vain because the GOP dominated and NRA loving Congress voted them down.

The shooting in a church in Charleston ignited the movement once again. In his speech President Obama said people’s rights to freedom of worship and assembly were violated and he said those rights were at least equal to the right to bear arms.

What does it say about America that gun sales spike after mass shootings?

Two million guns were sold after the Sandy Hook shootings. While the rest of us grieve the victim’s, gun lovers go out and buy more guns. According to the NY Times 1.6 million guns were sold in December;

“More guns were sold in December than almost any other month in nearly two decades, continuing a pattern of spikes in sales after terrorist attacks and calls for stricter gun-buying laws, according to federal data released on Monday.

The heaviest sales last month, driven primarily by handgun sales, followed a call from President Obama to make it harder to buy assault weapons after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif.

Fear of gun-buying restrictions has been the main driver of spikes in gun sales, far surpassing the effects of mass shootings and terrorist attacks alone, according to an analysis of federal background check data by The New York Times.

During the previous record month, December 2012, President Obama called for new buying restrictions after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“President Obama has actually been the best salesman for firearms,” Brian W. Ruttenbur, an analyst with BB&T Capital Markets, a financial services firm, said last month.”

More and more guns are in the hands of fewer and fewer Americans. The acquiring and hoarding of weapons and ammunition has gone way beyond the needs of normal hunters or people wishing to protect their families. Gun sales have more than doubled in a decade to more than 15 million. A Congressional Research Service report in 2012 put the number of guns in America at 242 million in 1996, 259 million in 2000 and 310 million in 2009. Based on those projections there are now 357 million guns in circulation versus a total population of 317 million The Small Arms Survey estimates that there are currently 112 guns per 100 people in the United States.

Where does it end? Recent Gallup polls say that 55% of Americans support more restrictions on gun ownership. The silent majority need to stand up in support of our president and demand stricter oversight of gun sellers, more research into smart gun technology and more federally funded scientific research on gun violence.

To get involved in the fight to save lives and promote gun sense in America click on

http://momsdemandaction.org/