In the Comments, Bantam juxtaposed a couple of recent articles, so I'll run with his lead. First, President Barack Obama penned an Op-Ed for the Arizona Daily Star calling for a calm, rational discussion of the need for more gun control:

President Obama: We must seek agreement on gun reforms by Barack Obama It's been more than two months since the tragedy in Tucson stunned the nation. It was a moment when we came together as one people to mourn and to pray for those we lost. And in the attack's turbulent wake, Americans by and large rightly refrained from finger-pointing, assigning blame or playing politics with other people's pain. But one clear and terrible fact remains. A man our Army rejected as unfit for service; a man one of our colleges deemed too unstable for studies; a man apparently bent on violence, was able to walk into a store and buy a gun. ... But since that day, we have lost perhaps another 2,000 members of our American family to gun violence. ... I know that every time we try to talk about guns, it can reinforce stark divides. People shout at one another, which makes it impossible to listen. ... I'm willing to bet that responsible, law-abiding gun owners agree that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few - dangerous criminals and fugitives, for example - from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.

In contrast, from today's New York Times:

Washington in Fierce Debate on Arming Libyan Rebels

WASHINGTON-The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya ...