On January 5, President Obama announced various executive actions to tighten gun control measures. Most of the news led with the fact that Obama cried during the press conference. The Scrapbook takes no stand on whether the tears were sincere. We believe the president cares about victims of gun violence, even if his preferred solutions are unworkable or unconstitutional.
What we can’t abide is the president’s belief that people who disagree with him don’t care about preventing violence. “The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids,” Obama said in his January 1 radio address.
We know Obama is fond of straw men, but even for him this is over-the-top demonization. Do 4.5 million NRA members really think “effortlessly available guns for anyone” are more important than the safety of children? The NRA has never come close to taking a position that guns should be effortless to obtain or that just anyone should be able to buy them. As recently as August, the NRA supported a bill by Sen. John Cornyn that would enhance the national background check system by giving states more funding to keep track of mental health records.
Obama didn’t stop there. After he announced his executive actions the misleading rhetoric piled up. “A violent felon can buy the exact same weapon over the Internet with no background check, no questions asked,” he said. It is illegal for a violent felon to buy a gun, period. And one can’t buy a gun online without going through a licensed firearms dealer who ensures background checks are done.
Now a felon could arrange a purchase online, but that’s not really an “online” sale, because by this standard—where the Internet is simply a tool to connect people who meet up later—you can arrange literally any illegal transaction online. There’s no way to make such transactions impossible short of shutting down the Internet. We’d better stop right here, lest we give the president any ideas.
