Post date: Jan 20, 2013 12:41:25 PM
Thousands of people in the United States gather in different cities across the country to rally against stricter gun control laws.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 19, 2013) (NBC) - Pro-gun activists gathered in cities across the United States on Saturday (January 19), to rally against stricter gun control laws.
The U.S. debate over gun control flared in mid-December when a man armed with an assault rifle killed 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown,Connecticut - the deadliest in a string of U.S. shooting rampages last year.But pro-gun activists say that banning guns isn't the answer.
"No law put on law-abiding citizens has ever deterred crime. You know, they are going to take my gun so I can get shot," said Marvin Otterman, a pro-gun demonstrator inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
President Barack Obama and gun control advocates have begun a push to re-institute a ban on assault weapons in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre. A number of other states have taken up gun legislation, and New York, which has among the strictest gun control laws in the country, broadened its assault weapons ban on Tuesday (January 15).
Obama has also called for a ban on high-capacity magazines and more stringent background checks for gun purchasers.
The reaction has been fierce from gun supporters such as the National Rifle Association, who point to a right to bear arms that is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which they do not want to see watered down.