By Wu Jin

On Dec. 21, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the U.S. National Rifle Association (NRA), strongly opposed U.S. President Barrack Obama's intended bill to ban assault rifles a couple of days ahead of Christmas Eve.

The possible legislation was advocated after the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook School shooting spree which saw a 20-year-old young man kill 20 elementary students and six adults including his own mother and a teacher who used her own body as a shield to protect her pupils from the bullets. Lapierre's deemed the proposed bill to be "phony."

According to an AFP report, Lapierre said the average U.S. citizen values his freedom and right to own a gun and doesn't care for the blame inflicted upon him by media and politicians.

The French news agency also quoted the official from the non-profitable organization, proven to have an influence on the lobbying in congressional elections, saying he would rather put police and armed security in schools in order to protect the children. "I would feel a whole lot safer," he said.

Outside the press conference, Lapierre's remarks were met with protest when a woman from Code Pink, a grassroots organization also dubbed "Women for Peace," held up a sign reading "Blood is on Your Hands!"

The U.S. is the global number one in terms of its individual gun ownership, with the overall number of privately owned guns totaling at 283 million, Chinanews.com reported. However, the news agency failed to specify where its official figures -- the 100,000 U.S. shooting victims annually -- stem from.

The gun control debate has been a hot topic in the U.S. ever since the Second Amendment was installed, protecting the rights of the people to keep and bear arms.

Several laws intended to control gun use, namely the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, were carried out by Bill Clinton during his term as U.S. president from 1993 to 2001. These legislations came at the cost of many democrats being ousted from Congress in the 1994 mid-term elections.

President Barrack Obama has now stated he will take meaningful action in the legislation of gun control, ABC News reported.

"The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful local children between the ages of five and ten. They had their entire lives ahead of them; graduations, weddings, kids of their own, and so on." Obama said upon receiving news of the tragedy.

12月21日，即在圣诞前夕之际，美国步枪协会执行副总裁韦恩·拉比尔对总统奥巴马禁止大杀伤力步枪的计划表示竭力反对。

12月14日桑迪·胡克小学爆发了大规模流血性枪击事件，该事件中的一名20岁男子持枪杀死了20名小学生和六位成人，其中包括他自己的母亲和一位以身体挡住子弹救自己学生于危难之际的年轻女教师。此后，美国有意立法加强枪支控制，但却被拉比尔先生称之为“矫揉造作，装腔作势”。

据法新社的一篇报道称，拉比尔先生表示美国普通民众珍视他们拥有枪支的自由权利，因而不会在乎媒体与政客强加于他们之上的责难。

法新社同时援引拉比尔的话称他更倾向于让警察和武装人员来保护学校的学生。“我认为这样更加安全，”拉比尔先生代表美国非盈利性组织的步枪协会说道。该协会致力于游说议会，影响选举。

在新闻发布会之外，一位来自“粉色代码”的女士高举抗议旗帜，其上写道：“血洒贵方双手之上。”“粉色代码”是一民间组织，它的另一别名为“为之和平的女性“。

据中国新闻网报道，美国是全球个人拥有枪支最多的国家，其总数为2.83 亿之多。该报道还称美国每年有10万人惨遭枪支杀害，但并未提及提供该数字的具体官方名称。

自美国二次修宪以来，对于抢控管制的争论便从未间断。该修正案赋予民众持枪的权利，意在保障个人权利得以实现。

美国曾出台过一些法案来控制枪支泛滥，这包括前总统克林顿•1993到2001年任期内的布来迪法案。然而这些立法的代价则是众多民主党人士离开议会。

据ABC电视台报道，美国总统奥巴马称他将在控枪立法问题上采取富有意义的行动。

他表示：“今天，那些大部分死于枪口之下的遇害者是年龄在五岁到10岁之间的儿童，正值美好年华。在他们面前本应展示着美好的生活蓝图，毕业，结婚，拥有他们自己的孩子……”