Big Gun Control’s political clout had virtually faded into the wallpaper before the unbalanced Jared Lee Loughner tried to assassinate Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a constituent meeting in a Tucson, Ariz., parking lot, shooting 19 people — six of them fatally — with a high-capacity-equipped handgun.
The White House, held at bay by a Congress hostile to weakening Second Amendment rights, heeded the old dictum “never let a good crisis go to waste” and began figuring ways to mend fences with Big Gun Control egos, soured by President Obama’s inaction on their behalf.
So, last month Obama wrote a commentary on the Giffords shooting titled “We must seek agreement on gun reform” for the Arizona Daily Star, saying:
“It’s been more than two months since the tragedy in Tucson stunned the nation. It was a moment when we came together as one people to mourn and to pray for those we lost. And in the attack’s turbulent wake, Americans by and large rightly refrained from finger-pointing, assigning blame or playing politics with other people’s pain.”
The next day, Obama played politics with other people’s pain. The White House, the vice president’s office, and the Justice Department joined with prominent Big Gun Control groups in a Giffords brainstorming session described by a Huffington Post commentator as “Obama looking for ways around Congress on gun policy.”
The talk was of “executive orders or agency action” to “explore potential changes to gun laws that can be secured strictly through executive action,” according to administration officials.
Going around Congress and ruling by autocratic fiat has become Obama’s signature abuse of constitutional separation of powers, pervasive in nearly all his agencies.
Honesty has become an issue as well: The Department of Justice made a point that the Giffords brainstorming meeting would include “a broad spectrum” coalition for reform, including pro-gun groups.
Exactly one pro-gun group received an invitation to the Giffords brainstormer, the National Rifle Association, which refused to attend on several grounds, one of them the bedrock issue that the meeting was rigged to make them “agree on gun reform” instead of “criminal control reform” or “mental health reform.”
But no invitation came to the Second Amendment Foundation, according to communications director Dave Workman. SAF was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s landmark McDonald decision, which ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right.
No invitation came to Gun Owners of America, said Director of Federal Affairs John Velleco.
No invitation came to the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, but as Gun Rights Examiner contributor David Codrea noted, CCRKBA chairman Alan Gottlieb said his group “would be eager to talk with the White House, especially about the ‘Project Gunrunner’ and ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ scandals, where federal agents facilitated gun sales to suspected gunrunners for Mexican drug cartels to supposedly trap high-level bosses.”
Had any gun group been present at the Giffords brainstormer, neither those scandals nor Obama’s plan to make an end run around Congress for gun control would have been discussed.
Despite Obama’s campaign talk about respecting gun rights and recent deferential pronouncements, recall that he was on Chicago’s Joyce Foundation board of directors (1994-2002), premier funder of dozens of gun control groups.
According to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner, the Joyce Foundation has given at least 134 grants totaling $16.6 million to gun control groups.
George Soros’ Open Society Institute also gave the Tides Foundation over $1.3 million for its Funders’ Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention.
Obama has set formal Giffords talks on “gun reform.” Looks like Big Gun Control is finally getting its end run around Congress.
Examiner Columnist Ron Arnold is executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.
