WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama is honoring former baseball players in the Negro League, a haven for African-American players who for decades were prevented from competing with white players in professional baseball.
The White House says Obama invited about a dozen players to the White House on Monday to mark their contributions to American history, civil rights and athletics. The players competed for teams like the Philadelphia Stars, New York Black Yankees, Indianapolis Clowns and Boston Blues.
The Negro League thrived in the early part of the 20th century. Its decline started after Jackie Robinson in 1947 became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball in modern times, clearing the way for other black players to compete in the major leagues. The league disbanded a few years later.
The fight for stricter gun laws on Capitol Hill is proving to be a steep uphill battle and the Obama administration has yet to see a victory. Gun rallies are taking place all over the country in hopes to make a social change with the violence that has been associated lately with guns.
Recently the Senate shut down the plan to extend background checks to online and gun-show sales. The vote tallied 54 to 56 leaving the bill six votes short of the 60 votes needed for it to pass. The proposal to ban rapid firing assault weapons failed in the Senate as well.
Americans are praying for “gunsense” as the death toll is rising and the families of the slain are crying out for justice and help. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has taken to the fight of gun law reform and wants the nation to see what gun violence has done to America, families and children.
“I think it’s intolerable that we don’t have an up or down vote,” said Congresswoman Lee as she rallied for some type of vote to be rendered earlier in April.
The types of guns that the public should possess gives way to the contrition that is making the debate a fiery one, being that assault rifles are under immense scrutiny.
“We need a vote to eliminate assault weapons as well as registration standards,” said Constable Walker. “Only law enforcement need assault weapons.”
Constable May Walker of Precinct 7 approves of universal background checks and anti- gun trafficking law.
The ideology of right and wrong is one of the biggest factors in the gun reform debate as the nation’s conscious feels it is wrong when children are murdered yet it is right that Americans should hold their rights of bearing arms in tact. Congresswoman Lee’s stance is regulation as she reminds the public of the victims of gun violence.
America is the most “gunned” country in the world. In 2011 there were 89 guns for every 100 Americans which would make one presume America would be a safer country yet it’s not.
Legislators urged by their constituents are pushing for sensible gun legislation that will ban assault weapons; diminish the use of multiple round clips and the closing of the gun show loopholes. With the recent tragedies of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut, the theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado and statistics like 500 homicides linked to gun violence on the streets of Chicago in 2012, the American public have had lit fires that are burning under President Obama to make some type of reform with firearms.
With all the push for reform there are just as many if not more people who do not feel the same sentiment. The urgency for change is meeting opposition from legislators and organizations such as The National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA is fighting with all the fire power they have to keep the gun laws as is. In a statement released earlier in April the NRA said, that the amendment “would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution.”
The battle is far from over as politicians on both sides of the issue are not going to back down. The issue filibustered in the Senate and made many angry while causing the public to rally for a decision.
April 17, 2013 the Senate shot down the President’s gun legislation leaving a large majority of the country bitter and looking for a new direction.
