Rami Ungar The Writer

Thanks President Obama. You did a lot to set me at ease tonight.

This evening, the local Obama for America office and my campus group Buckeyes for Obama hosted an event at the local movie theater next to campus. You can guess the event: the second Presidential debate, hosted  by Hofstra University in New York (aka the school named after a spell from Harry Potter) and done town hall style, where undecided voters get to ask the questions to the candidates.

Well of course I’d gone. I support the President, I hadn’t seen any of the debates yet, and I wanted to see at least part of one. And around 10:15p, I decided I’d heard enough and I should head home. As I was leaving, the moderator called up a woman named Nina Gonzales to ask her question, and I stopped to listen.

The question was on gun control, particularly on military-grade firearms and assault rifles.

And like that, I had to listen.

Now as many of you know, during the summer there were a lot of incidents of gun violence where innocent people lost lives, particularly in Aurora, Colorado and in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Now at the time of the former, both President Obama and Governor Romney said they were going to follow previous gun control policies and stay along those lines.

It certainly helps.

Meaning they weren’t going to do a thing. And of course I was upset by this statement, having written several posts in the wake of those shootings asking for stricter gun control on assault rifles and laws against selling to those with criminal histories and/or serious mental health issues from the federal government.

But tonight, President Obama reassured me. He said he was going to push for stricter laws on assault rifles and try to keep guns out of the hands who shouldn’t. He would also take steps to help cut down on the other factors that create gun violence, including improving education so people don’t resort to crime and making health care more affordable so that people with mental health disorders can afford their medication.

Now I’m not going to go into what Governor Romney said, mainly because he contradicted himself and because he said something I found absolutely ridiculous (*cough cough” “marriage” *cough cough*). But I am going to tell you that that gun control question was the one question I’d been hoping to hear tonight, and I did get to hear it. And it made me so happy to hear the candidate I’m supporting give the answer I’d been hoping to hear.

Good luck to you, Mr. President. Good luck to you.