Posted on 03/18/2011 4:11:16 PM PDT by Graybeard58
President Obama recently penned an op-ed on gun-control for The Arizona Daily Star. The piece was interesting for its sensible content, but also was another example of Mr. Obama advertising his centrist credentials for 2012.
The president took pains to make sure his readers were aware of his belief "that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms." To this end, he pointed out that in May 2009, he signed legislation making it legal for licensed gun owners to carry firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges.
Mr. Obama described most gun owners as "highly responsible."
The president went on to write that in the aftermath of the Jan. 8 Tucson, Ariz., shooting, he favors stricter enforcement of existing gun laws rather than adding new ones, with the goal of keeping "those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun." With this in mind, he called for strengthening the National Instant Criminal Background Check System because it relies on data from the states and is often incomplete; rewarding the states that provide the best data; and providing "an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers who want to do the right thing" in an effort to prevent an unbalanced individual from purchasing a gun after being denied at another venue.
Mr. Obama called on gun owners to support and be patient with enhanced background checks, saying this will benefit gun owners in the end.
This "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" approach is appropriate. Crazy people have gotten their hands on guns and used them to commit unspeakable horrors, but attempts to ban guns as a reaction to tragedies set a dangerous precedent by putting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans at risk.
Having said this, the president wasn't always so realistic about gun control.
In 1996, while running for state Senate in Illinois, Mr. Obama indicated on a questionnaire that he favored legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns." During the 2008 campaign, the Obama campaign explained this by saying it was a staff member's writing on the questionnaire (Yeah, right).
Once in the state Senate, Mr. Obama voted for legislation to ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons, and according to a 2007 CBS News report "opposed letting people use a self-defense argument if charged with violating local handgun bans by using weapons in their homes."
In 2004, while a candidate for U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama described George W. Bush's decision not to renew the assault-weapons ban as scandalous.
Finally, despite the op-ed's assertion that America has a "strong tradition of gun ownership," presidential candidate Obama famously chided struggling small-town Americans as "bitter" people who "cling to guns," among other things.
The president is talking a good game on this important front, but it appears to be no more than that as his re-election draws near.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this ping list, let me know.
Applications, permits, licenses, registration, b/g checks......all of which simply lets ‘em know where the guns are when they feel like coming to get them. Google “nazi gun laws” and see what you get. It’s ruin your weekend.
Applications, permits, licenses, registration, b/g checks......all of which simply lets ‘em know where the guns are when they feel like coming to get them. Google “nazi gun laws” and see what you get. It’ll ruin your weekend.
President Gunwalker Pretends To Write a Letter...
Odd, he told john Lott when they were both at the University of Chicago that he didn’t think people should own guns.
And he was damned snotty about it...
I personally think golf balls should be illegal.Those things are dangerous projectiles that could kill someone when beaned by one of them.We must pass golf ball control laws immediately to make sure that never happens.
President Obama recently penned an op-ed on gun-control for The Arizona Daily Star. The piece was interesting for its sensible content, but also was another example of Mr. Obama advertising his centrist credentials for 2012. -- Waterbury American-Republican
Another RiNO newspaper from New England misses the point, which is that Obama was actually arguing for additional measures that would a) make it impossible, practically speaking, to buy or sell a firearm except through a FFL, papering the sale and allowing b) FedGov to compile an (illegal, expressly forbidden by Congress IAW 2A RKBA) instantaneous register of all firearms owned by citizens nationwide.
Odd, he told john Lott when they were both at the University of Chicago that he didn’t think people should own guns. And he was damned snotty about it...
Exactly, because he is a doctrinaire Communist and demands that all instruments of power-projection be owned by the State and only by the State (under the firm control and guidance of the Communist Party, of course).
His views are diametrically opposed to the Framers', and his article is intended to mask that fact while giving effect to his own views at the expense of our rights.
My brother was knocked down and out by a golf ball that hit him in the side and broke a rib. (He’s never been shot with a gun though)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.