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Locals Anticipate President’s New Gun Regulations

President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday before he is expected to unveil executive actions on gun regulations. Here in our area, ...
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President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday before he is expected to unveil executive actions on gun regulations.

Here in our area, that has people on both sides of the issue wondering how big of a difference this will be.

When it comes gun violence, the pain is still very real for Carol Golden of Wilkes-Barre.

"It's hard," she said. "It's hard to try to explain."

Back in April of 2012, 14-year-old Tyler Winstead was shot to death in Wilkes-Barre. At first, it was reported to be a drive-by shooting. Later, investigators learned that Winstead was "accidentally" killed by a friend.

Now, nearly four years later, Winstead's grandmother is hoping that people can finally get behind tougher gun regulations as she sees more and more victims of gun violence across the county.

"Maybe my grandson didn't die in vain," she said. "Maybe none of these people have died in vain if they can structure and make it harder."

The President announced in his weekly address that his new year's resolution is to wrap up unfinished business, including tighter gun control.

"We know that we can`t stop every act of violence," said President Obama. "But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something - anything - to protect our kids from gun violence?"

But for gun owners, like those Newswatch16 spoke with in Archbald, they believe it doesn't matter what restrictions the President puts on; it's not going to stop the problem of gun violence in this county.

"It's going to make people panic more and it's going to be nothing but crazy," said Todd Mosher of Carbondale. Mosher works at a gun distributor. He's seen how the country has reacted to the President's past announcements on gun regulations.

For him, this new announcement is no different because he doesn't believe new regulations will help address the problem of keeping guns out of the wrong hands.

"Criminals don't obey laws," Mosher added. "They break them. If they take guns away from us, they're putting us in more danger than they are doing good for us."

The President has tried to implement stronger gun regulations before, but a bipartisan bill was defeated in the U.S. Senate in 2013 in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook.

It's unclear when exactly the President will issue any executive orders, but President Obama has planned a Town Hall on guns for Thursday.

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