Free Republic

While most of the nation is still reeling from the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and continues to mourn the innocent victims, others are already working to exploit the horrific event for political gain. After all, as President Obama's former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once infamously said, "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste" because a crisis provides an "opportunity to do things that you think [sic] you could not do before."

Casual visitors to Barack Obama's website might be misled about the position on gun control held by the U.S. Senate's most liberal member - that is, if they can even find it. One has to first click on "Issues" - then on "Additional Issues" - and then on "Sportsmen" to locate it. Even then, ones gets this rather nebulous paragraph: Barack Obama did not grow up hunting and fishing, but he recognizes the great conservation legacy of America’s hunters and anglers and has great respect for the passion that hunters and anglers have for their sport. Were it not for...

BARACK OBAMA Obama, After Saying He Won't Wear a Flag Pin, Says He Never Said He Wouldn't Wear One Obama, last night: "I have never said that I don't wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins." Obama, October 4, 2007: "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on...

Obama Says All Gun Buyers Should Face Checks By JARED A. FAVOLE WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Wednesday said all gun buyers should be subject to background checks, offering his most specific proposal in the wake of the shooting spree at a Connecticut school and setting up a potential fight with gun-rights advocates. "This time words must lead to action," Mr. Obama said from the White House, where he also announced that Vice President Joe Biden would oversee an effort to get ideas for changing gun and mental-health laws to Congress. "The fact that this problem is complex can no longer...

Ok for states & cities to determine local gun laws Q: Is the D.C. law prohibiting ownership of handguns consistent with an individual's right to bear arms?A: As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right, in the same way that we have a right to private property but local governments can establish zoning ordinances that determine how you can use it. Q: But do you still favor...

I’m really really getting tired of the whole “gun nuts are paranoid about President Obama” meme that the antis are pushing. And pushing. And pushing. The latest culprit is Pat Wray, a columnist for the High Country News who wrote in a piece titled A Conversation I Am Looking Forward To Having With The NRA: "So, even when President Obama does exactly what you guys want, signs laws that you had a hand in writing, you still don't give him credit. Did all of you intern at Pravda, or what? Here's what I think. I am truly worried about gun...

Back in January, 2006, the Bush Justice Department released a 42-page memo arguing that the President had the power to ignore Congressional restrictions on domestic eavesdropping, such as those imposed by FISA (the 30-year-old law that made it a felony to do exactly what Bush got caught doing:  eavesdropping on the communications of Americans without warrants).  That occurred roughly 3 months after I began blogging, and -- to my embarrassment now -- I was actually shocked by the brazen radicalism and extremism expressed in that Memo.  It literally argued that Congress had no power to constrain the President in any way when it came to national security matters...

To judge from his surly demeanor and defiant words at his press conference Monday, Barack Obama begins his second term with a strategy to defeat and humiliate Republicans rather than a strategy to govern.-SNIP-The push for gun control is more a symbolic gesture than a serious attempt at governing.Something better can be said about Obama's call for immigration law changes. The need for some change is clear.That was also true in Obama's first two years, when he did nothing to advance legislation on the subject when Democrats had a solid majorities in Congress.The question is whether Obama wants legislation or...

With the signing of an under-publicized amendment to Executive Order 12425, Barack Obama has fundamentally altered your constitutional rights. His actions are undermining your rights to protect personal privacy from a foreign internationalist police agency named Interpol. A one-paragraph executive order may seem inconsequential to many, but this action has far-reaching implications and threatens the sovereignty of America. Obama's secretive executive order amended an order issued by President Reagan in 1983. Reagan's order recognized Interpol as an international organization and gave it privileges and immunities commonly extended to foreign diplomats. Reagan opened the door to allow Interpol to operate in...

CNS News has a pretty good moment here for Barack Obama from yesterdays’ presser with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, after a reporter from Mexico challenged Obama on why he doesn’t just “veto” the 2nd Amendment. Obama patiently explains that American Presidents have to work within the Constitution and don’t have the power to veto its provisions, and then explains that the 2nd Amendment isn’t the problem in gunrunning between here and Mexico. We can and should curtail that through enforcement of existing law, Obama says, rather than infringing on the “legitimate” uses of firearms by American citizens: “The Second Amendment...

DENVER (TheBlaze/AP) — Ratcheting up pressure for Congress to limit access to guns, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that recent steps by Colorado to tighten its gun laws show “there doesn’t have to be a conflict” between keeping citizens safe and protecting Second Amendment rights to gun ownership. “I believe there doesn’t have to be a conflict in reconciling these realities,” Obama said in Denver, where he stepped up his call for background checks for all gun purchases and renewed his demand that Congress at least vote on banning assault weapons and limiting access to large-capacity ammunition magazines. The president...

Obama is quoted saying this during last night's debate: "I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right," he said.

The Biblical concept of binding and loosing pertains to the degree to which actions are constrained by law. To illustrate, by way of secular example section 92.06 of the Akron, Ohio, city ordinances states: “No person shall dye or otherwise color any rabbit or baby poultry, including, but not limited to, chicks and ducklings.” This law has been bound and is thereby enforceable in Akron, Ohio. The Akron citizen is constrained from coloring baby ducks. However, since there are no laws in Akron, Ohio about painting your pet elephant, citizens are loosed (not constrained) in doing so. All citizens of...