Better background checks on gun buyers? Agreement.

Reinstating bans on assault rifles and high-capacity ammo magazines? No agreement.

Tougher laws against gun trafficking? Agreement.

It turns out, firearm violence is a lot like many other issues these days.

Consensus is hard –– but not impossible –– to find.

A spot survey of local and state public officials and other interested parties produced mixed reviews on the sweeping gun-control program announced Wednesday by President Barack Obama.

With the officials, disagreement followed political lines.

Democrats endorsed the president's entire legislative plan.

Republicans did not support outlawing specific guns or ammo clips, but generally talked up school safety and mental health system improvements, tougher gun trafficking laws and better screening for gun buyers.

Still, a month after the school massacre that left 28, including the gunman, dead in Newtown, Conn., everyone was still ruing the violence.

No one dismissed the issues –– or the chance to find some common ground.

Those contacted were asked to comment on Obama's legislative centerpiece.

(The president also rolled out a separate list of 23 related executive actions.)

Here's how opinions on the legislative proposals stacked up:

Assault rifle

and clip bans

The bans are the most ambitious part of the Obama plan.

CeaseFirePA Executive Director Shira Goodman supports them.

Outlawing military-style assault rifles is "one small piece of the puzzle," said Goodman, whose organization is based in Philadelphia, but it's a vital one.

"We know that we have a tremendous gun violence problem in this country."

The assault rifle ban that expired in 2004 was faulty because it "defined weapons ... on what they looked like rather than what they do," she said. "I think this time around people are going to be looking to define these weapons differently."

State Rep. Mike Sturla of Lancaster and Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray agreed.

"I've been a supporter of an assault weapon ban for years," said Sturla, who said the framers of the Constitution originally wanted to allow people to bear arms to protect themselves from tyrannical governments.

But rational boundaries need to be established for modern weapons, he said.

"Some of this has to happen at a national level," added Sturla, who said state-to-state variations in gun laws provide loopholes for criminals to exploit.

Gray and Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer had called publicly on Monday for the president and Congress to strengthen firearm regulation.

The legislative measures they asked for were virtually the same as those announced Wednesday by Obama.

"They all seem to be pretty commonsensical, really," said the mayor, who has long advocated cracking down on illegal guns.

But other officials either made no mention of the bans or questioned their practicality.

Firearms used at the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in Connecticut and the July 2012 movie theater mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., were legal under the previous ban, pointed out Scott Martin, chairman of the Lancaster County commissioners.

"Gun violence went down" in the state after the ban expired, said Martin, a point also made by state reps Bryan Cutler, David Hickernell and Steve Mentzer.

Martin said that one of the shooters at Columbine High School in Colorado carried multiple clips that each held 10 rounds, the cutoff number recommended by Obama and others.

Martin compared limiting ammo to limiting soda.

"What good is banning a 30-ounce soda when you can still buy two 16-ounce sodas? I still think it's missing the point."

State. Rep. Mindy Fee agreed.

"We have bigger problems" that a weapons ban alone won't solve, said the freshman legislator from Manheim. "I think everyone's just looking to gun laws to fix everything."

Better background checks

Nobody came out against this one.

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said in an emailed statement that he believes "we should make sure that federal agencies are providing good information to the background check system and we should make the rules about reporting individuals to the authorities clear for doctors and hospitals."

U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, representing the newly drawn 7th Congressional District, was of like mind.

"As I've said before," noted the former U.S. attorney in an email, "I agree with the president that we can and should strengthen the nation's background check system, filling the current holes and also requiring background checks at gun shows, regardless of whether the seller is a licensed dealer or not."

Better mental

health care

Everyone agreed that there is room for improving this system.

Meehan praised the administration for placing "renewed focus on mental health" and care for troubled young people.

Cutler wrote in an email that better mental health treatment is one of the two most important goals in the gun violence debate, along with aggressive enforcement of existing laws.

"I am again introducing my bill, former HB1317, to increase access to mental health drugs and streamline the access to the proper medication for patients," Cutler said.

Goodman said Pennsylvania "has not done a good job" of getting mental health records into the federal data base.

Mentzer, a new member of the House Health & Human Services Committee in Harrisburg, said identifying potential mental health problems "does really get to the root of the problem."

The pro-gun National Rifle Association said in a statement that it would continue to focus, among other things, on "fixing our broken mental health system."

Martin said Americans must take the next step by having "a serious conversation about what has changed in our culture" to spark mass shootings. "We've gotten to the point where either life is devalued or we're desensitized to death."

New gun trafficking law

Obama's move to make gun trafficking across state lines a federal crime met little resistance.

According to Meehan, "We should consider stronger, federal measures to prevent gun trafficking and straw purchasing, like we have done at the state level in Pennsylvania."

Making schools safer

This part of the Obama plan was surprisingly contentious, even within party lines.

Mentzer said security is a big concern with school administrators he's talked to.

He added that it might help to beef up drills to teach kids and teachers how to respond to a shooter.

"I think everybody would be on the same page" with more safeguards, he said.

But not everyone agrees on who should be responsible, or how to proceed.

Putting armed resource officers in schools has met with some criticism, Martin said.

He's not against the practice –– but said its effectiveness is limited.

"Listen," he said, "unless you put an armed police officer on every doorstep you're not going to prevent" another shooting down the road. "By the time law enforcement comes it's usually a reactive thing."

Pitts said school security is "outside the purview of the federal government. States and school boards should be making the call on what level of security they need."

Several legislators did not return requests for comment for this story, including state reps. Lloyd Smucker, Ryan Aument, Gordon Denlinger and Keith Greiner.

State Sen. Mike Brubaker said through a spokeswoman that he declined comment.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said in an emailed statement that he was "carefully reviewing" Obama's proposals.

"Second Amendment rights are important to many Pennsylvanians and must be protected," Toomey said, "but there may be areas of agreement with the White House that can be addressed to improve public safety."