The New York Times editorial page calls President Obama’s op-ed about guns two months after the Tucson shootings “a promising start toward a sensible discussion of gun violence,” but says that Obama “owes the country muscular White House leadership to make sure his reforms happen.”
The newspaper notes that Obama’s “to-do list omitted banning the big volume ammunition magazines that figured in the Tucson massacre and a long line of other mass shootings.”
The Times urges a discussion of a proposal by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) to withhold federal money from states that don't submit the required reports to the national database that determines whether a would-be gun buyer is legally prohibited from purchasing a weapon. The measure also would close the gun show loophole.