Obama Administration Pushes For Assault Weapons Ban Vote, But Says No National Gun Registry Needed

Despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control, President Obama still supports the ban.(George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Obama Administration says despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control for lack of votes, the President still supports it and urges the Senate to vote publicly on the proposal to eliminate “military-style weapons” from American streets as an amendment.

Speaking in today’s White House Briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said “it will be a question for all 100 members of the Senate to ask themselves about whether or not they think that voting for and supporting an assault weapons ban would actually do something to reduce gun violence in communities all across the country. So, we’re — – going to have that — we’re going to have that debate.” 

Related: Reid Pulls Assault Weapons Ban from Gun Legislation

Earnest also made clear that despite NRA fears, the President does not support a National Registry of legal gun owners.

“That is not something that the president has supported”, said Earnest.   He said the White House has no intention of taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.  ”What we want to make sure is that we’re keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, but without interfering with the ability of law-abiding citizens to get their guns that they would like to buy.”

The President does support background checks, but asked if those could be carried out without a national list of all those owning weapons in the United States, Earnest said, “He’s not seeking a registry.”

Over the weekend Republican strategist Karl Rove insinuated otherwise on ABC’s This Week.  Rove told George Stephanopoulos “if there’s one thing that scares a lot of people who believe in the Second Amendment, is the federal government keeping a national registry of gun sales, and gun purchasers, and gun owners.”

Related: Karl Rove on ‘This Week‘

The Senate is expected to debate and vote on extending background checks to gun dealers and private sales when it returns from Easter recess.  The NRA opposes the measure with Wayne LaPierre saying on NBC’s Meet the Press, “It slows down the law abiding and does nothing to anybody else”. 

Still the White House indicated today it not only wants the Senate to vote on “universal background checks,” it wants members of the Senate and House to vote publicly on the now-dead assault weapons Ban.

Related: Bloomberg, NRA Brace for Showdown on Guns

US Amb. Robert Ford Says ‘No Evidence’ Syria Using Chemical Weapons

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford testified today that the Obama administration has not uncovered any evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but he warned that if the Assad regime uses or loses any of its stockpile, “there will be consequences.”

“So far we have no evidence to substantiate the reports that chemical weapons were used yesterday,” Ford testified during an ongoing hearing at the House Foreign Affairs committee in Washington. “But I want to underline that we are looking very carefully at these reports. We are consulting with partners in the region and in the international community.”

RELATED: Drumbeat Grows Louder for Obama to Act on Syria

Ford said officials in the administration “have been very clear” since the beginning of the unrest “about our concern that as the Assad regime’s military situation deteriorates … it becomes ever more beleaguered that it might be tempted to use chemical weapons.”

He reiterated today President Obama’s “very clear” position about the use of chemical weapons in Syria: “If [President Bashar] Assad and those under his command make the mistake of using chemical weapons, or if they fail to meet their obligation to secure them, then there will be consequences, and they will be held accountable.”

Ford was recalled from Syria in October 2011 after “credible threats against his personal safety in Syria,” according to the State Department.

The precise scope of Syria’s stockpile is unclear but, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it has the biggest reserve of chemical weapons in the Middle East, and is thought to have the fourth-largest arsenal on the planet.

Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, called on the United States to “organize and empower,” including arming, the Free Syrian Army.

“We have let them down, and let down our strategic interests.” Royce, R-Calif., said of the Syrian opposition. “Everything should be considered, but the U.S. could have the greatest impact through training, intelligence and logistics.”

House Intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers Tuesday told CNN: “I have a high probability to believe that chemical weapons were used. … We need that final verification, but given everything we know over the last year and a half, I would come to the conclusion that they are either positioned for use, and ready to do that, or in fact have been used.”

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who have also pressed the administration to become more engaged in Syria, wrote a joint statement Tuesday that if the purported chemical weapon attacks are verified, President Obama is compelled to respond.

“If today’s reports are substantiated, the president’s red line has been crossed,” the duo wrote, “and we would urge him to take immediate action to impose the consequences he has promised.”