Obama Calls for Assault Weapons Ban; Chastises Congress for Serving Gun Lobby

In a White House press event, the president called on gun owners to support gun control, called out opponents for ginning up fear, and signed gun-safety executive orders.

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"The PCCC is all in for this fight, investing time and money in Republican and Democratic districts until Congress passes major gun legislation that includes an assault weapons ban," wrote Stephanie Taylor, the group's co-founder, in a statement. (You can see the PCCC petition here.)

The Courage Campaign, best known for its effort to repeal California's anti-marriage equality referendum, Proposition 8, weighed in with its own petition supporting the assault-weapons ban championed by Sen. Diane Feinstein, who succeeded George Moscone when the San Francisco mayor was gunned down along with City Supervisor Harvey Milk. (Courage Campaign petition is here.)

And MoveOn announced its sponsorship of more than 230 community events that will take place on Thursday, January 17, across the nation where citizens will discuss next steps for taking action against gun violence at all levels of government. (A briefing page on the events is here.)

ABC News has a full transcript of today's White House Press event, here.

Adele M. Stan is AlterNet's Washington correspondent. She co-edited, with Don Hazen, the AlterNet book, Dangerous Brew: Exposing the Tea Party's Agenda to Take Over America. Follow her on Twitter: www.twitter.com/addiestan . Send tips to: adele@alternet.org