US gun culture: Movie theater bloodbath puts pressure on Obama

At least 12 people were killed and around 40 wounded when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado cinema, in one of the nations worst acts of gun violence since the Virginia Tech bloodbath in April 2007 in which 33 died.There are some shootings that basically make the American public stop and look at gun violence, and this may be one of them, Josh Sugarmann, chief executive of the Violence Policy Center think tank in Washington, told AFP.New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who favors more gun control measures such as thorough background checks, swiftly called upon Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to speak out immediately on the issue.Maybe its time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country, he said.White House spokesman Pat Carney said: The president believes we need to take common sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans (to keep and bear arms) while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing laws do not get them.Were making progress in that regard in terms of improving the volume and quality of information on background checks (on gun purchasers), but I have nothing additional on that for you, he told reporters.The well-funded US gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), accuse Obama of favoring a United Nations treaty as a ruse to limit Americans constitutional right to own as many guns as they wish.The Arms Trade Treaty, now under negotiation in New York, is intended to bring order to the global trade in small arms, but the US gun lobby alleges it will lead in time to stricter domestic gun laws.Gun control campaigners, on the other hand, have been less than impressed with Obamas track record on guns, with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence giving him an severe F grade for failing to lead on the issue.Citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, it says around 100,000 people in the United States are shot over the course of a year, many of them children, and that more than 31,500 die as a result of gun violence.Weve been very disappointed with the presidents action on the gun issue, agreed Sugarmann, who favors a ban on sales of handguns and assault weapons. We hope he moves beyond sympathy (for the Colorado victims) to action.Sugarmann predicted the Colorado shooting would prompt a discussion on how to beef up security at movie theaters -- just as the Columbine high school massacre in April 1999 prompted other schools to install metal detectors.The distressing thing is that nobody steps back and says, Whats the common thread we should be looking at? -- gun availability and the types of guns being sold in this country, he said.The town of Columbine is less than 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Aurora, the scene of Fridays bloodbath.Its nightmare -- two students cut down 13 peers before killing themselves -- was the focal point of Michael Moores Oscar-winning 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine.Too sad at the moment to comment, Moore, a fierce critic of American gun culture, said Friday on his Twitter account.Buying a gun is remarkably easy in most American states.In Virginia, for instance, rifles and shotguns can be purchased by anyone over 18, and handguns by those over 21, so long as they are not illegal immigrants and have no criminal record.With the exception of machine guns, firearms are not registered in Virginia, says the Virginia state police on its website.