Misspell a Word? Blame Your Pencil.
Using a backdrop of children, grieving parents, gun control advocates, Vice President Biden’s task group, and key liberal lawmakers, Barack Obama recently outlined 23 measures he wants implemented into federal, state, and local gun control laws and ordinances. Relying on the power of his bully pulpit, the President launched the most sweeping gun control campaign in decades with preliminary cost estimates in the range of $4 billion to $5 billion.
Many of the components of the President’s proposals will impede the ability of law-abiding gun owners to purchase additional firearms and ammunition. Most of the proposals involve increasing the complexity and scope of federal involvement in regulation of gun purchases and ownership.
But make no mistake: ALL of the President’s proposals aim at limiting Americans’ right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. The negative reaction to this latest federal power grab is centering on its expansion of executive power and its obvious disdain for the Constitution.
The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) statement following the broadcast got straight to the point…
“Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation.”
The NRA’s release went on to say that the only people who would be affected by the new proposals are “honest, law-abiding gun owners” while children will “remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy.”
Let’s not forget this classic example of gun law insanity.
The President’s extensive use of statistics concerning handgun violence in Chicago and other jurisdictions was particularly questionable since thugs and gang members would not be affected in any way by his proposals. Further, those who aren’t obeying current laws will certainly not obey new ones.
Also quite telling was this week’s White House reaction to a new NRA ad noting that the President’s daughters attend a private school employing armed security guards.
Denouncing the ad as “repugnant and cowardly,” the administration continues to mock the NRA’s position that the best preventive measure in school systems would be to have firearms in the hands of responsible adults to deter attacks.
It’s clear that these dramatic gun control measures have been part of the President’s plan from the beginning and, sadly, he has chosen to use the Sandy Hook tragedy as a “launch platform” for a pre-existing political agenda that was merely waiting for a flashpoint.
As former presidential advisor and now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel famously said, “You never want a good crisis go to waste.” This cynical strategy seems to be the core rational of the Obama administration’s intense new offensive to subvert the Second Amendment.
