Randi’s on vacation this week...

Today, President Obama tapped Vice President Biden to lead a task force on gun violence. Fully aware of skeptics to such an announcement, Obama stressed this is not just going to be a typical ‘study & bury’ government commission, stating flatly “This is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside.”

To that end, Biden’s task force’s task is to deliver “concrete proposals” to Obama’s desk by January. The President hinted that he plans to use his State of Union address on Jan. 29 to begin the bully-pulpit phase of driving something meaningful through Congress.

Obama bristled somewhat when questioned about his first-term record on gun control, but was quite firm on where he is at today... “The fact that this problem is complex, can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence, doesn’t mean that we can’t steadily reduce the violence and prevent the very worst violence.”

Obama added that he expects the NRA will “do some self-reflection” (we’ll all find out what the gun lobby’s next move will be this Friday) as he answered questions from the press ranging from gun control to fiscal cliff negotiations today from the Brady Briefing Room at the White House. Full video below. 

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