Being in the U.S. Navy for 7 years ,I learned a lot of military traditions and military rules  that must be followed. If these rules and regulations were not followed I was subject to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So when  President Obama came down the steps of the helicopter and at the bottom of the steps a U.S. Marine saluted him the President gave him a half ass salute with a cup of coffee in his hand. The behavior of the President caused quite a stir. The Marine was saluting the office of the President . The return salute from the President was a tradition even if it was have ass. Upon some research the President is a civilian and not a member of the  military even through he is the Commander and Chief, only the members of the military are required to salute. So in all actuality the President really does not have to salute back. I was upset when I first saw the the half ass salute, but upon further research I must take it with a grain of salt.

Here is some information on saluting I found on the web. The first article was a real shock to me , due to the fact it was ingrained that a salute was always return . So check out this article.

http://www.texasgopvote.com/military-salute/it-proper-president-render-military-hand-salute-002816

Military personnel in uniform are required to salute when they meet and recognize persons entitled (by grade) to a salute except when it is inappropriate or impractical (in public conveyances such as planes and buses, in public places such as inside theaters, or when driving a vehicle).

Persons Entitled to a Salute

• The President of the United States (Commander-in-Chief)
• Commissioned Officers and Warrant Officers
• Any Medal of Honor Recipient
• Officers of Friendly Foreign Countries

A salute is also rendered

• When the United States National Anthem, "To the Color," "Hail to the Chief," or foreign national anthems are played.
• To uncased National Color outdoors.
• On ceremonial occasions (such as Change of Command, and Military Parades).
• At reveille and retreat ceremonies, during the raising or lowering of the flag.
• During the sounding of honors.
• When the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag is being recited outdoors.
• When turning over control of formations.
• When rendering reports.

Salutes are not required when

• Indoors, except when reporting to an officer or when on duty as a guard.
• Addressing a prisoner.
• Saluting is obviously inappropriate. In these cases, only greetings are exchanged. (Example: A person carrying articles with both hands, or being otherwise so occupied as to make saluting impracticable, is not required to salute a senior person or return the salute to a subordinate.)
• Either the senior or the subordinate is wearing civilian clothes (a salute in this case is not inappropriate, but is not required.)
• Officers of equal rank pass each other (a salute in this case is not inappropriate, but it is not required.)

Prisoners whose sentences include punitive discharges have lost the right to salute. All other prisoners, regardless of custody or grade, render the prescribed salute except when under armed guard.

Any military person recognizing a need to salute or a need to return one may do so anywhere at any time. 

    All Americans have a constitutional right to own a gun ( Bill of Rights, 2nd Amendment) and stricter laws and licensing will not effectively save lives.Guns don't kill people , people kill people. Many people believe that banning guns would solve all gun related crimes. Here is  a video from Australia on what happens when guns are banned there. Usually when it come to guns, most people can only think of Sandy Hook or Columbine. But in all actually are the two criminal acts related. If so, do guns lead to the crime and if that is true is taking away the 2nd Amendment going to change that, I think not. Also at the same time if all Americans that owned guns legally turned them in if there was a law , would the criminals give up theirs as well , I think not. According to the Federal Bureau Investigation stats on gun crime stats, violent crime in the U.S. has significantly gone down with figures. Knifes are used more often that not , because they are more readily available, along with body weapons( fists/feet) and blunt objects such as a baseball bat.
    Most crimes that are committed with a gun are obtained in many different ways , most are obtained illegally The Daily Caller list many different ways that guns are obtained to commit a gun related crime, but not by the law abiding gun owner.According to the National Crime Victimization Survey   almost 43.6 million criminal victimization that occurred in 1993 , 4.4 million were crimes of rape or some type of sexual assault and of those crimes 1.3 million stated their offender had a gun. Guns saves just as many lives as  the person behind the gun commits a crime. An with that guns are not just used in crimes they are used in sporting events like skeet shooting, Summer Olympics and for hunting of food that has been  done for ages.
    I'm not just preaching to the choir on this , I have first hand experiences with a gun related crimes. My own brother Eric was shot and killed by a person with a stolen hand gun. The persons reasoning behind shooting him ,was that he thought he was in a gang because of the clothes he would wear. Also had two very close family friends killed by their own son and his friend , because they were to strict of parents, according to him. Both of these two individuals are behind bars for life. With that said I still believe that no one or government should take away any persons right that has been given to them by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There are many sites out there against gun control, but here are a few that I found very interesting Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership, National Rifle  Association, New York State Rifle and Pistol and Gun Owners of America just to name a few.

Amendment 2

Gun control has not effectively shown that it actually has reduced the number of any gun related crimes