Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
When it comes to the Second Amendment and guns, it seems that President Obama can’t make anyone happy. Ever since Obama announced his candidacy for the Presidency, the NRA has screamed that Obama will be taking away the guns. This scare tactic continued when Obama defeated John McCain for the Presidency. Just what has Barack Obama done to make the NRA and gun owners frightened for their guns? The simple answer to this question is nothing. The head of the National Rifle Association, Mr. Wayne LaPierre actually admitted recently that Obama has done nothing to attack gun owner’s rights to bear arms, but claims Obama’s inaction against guns is actually a conspiracy to take away guns!! ‘ “[The Obama campaign] will say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone,” LaPierre told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday. “In public, he’ll remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the Clinton [assault weapons] ban, he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws… The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment.” “But it’s a big fat stinking lie!” the NRA leader exclaimed. “It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and destroy the Second Amendment in our country.” ‘ Raw Story
Now, before anyone thinks I am making this stuff up, the linked site includes a video clip wherein Mr. LaPierre verbalizes this alleged reverse conspiracy. Mr. LaPierre makes a point of throwing in the necessary names of alleged liberal co-conspirators to rev up his base. ‘ “Sotomayor, Kagan, Fast & Furious, the United Nations, executive orders. Those are the facts we face today… President Obama and his cohorts, yeah, they’re going to deny their conspiracy to fool gun owners. Some in the liberal media, they are already probably blogging about it. But we don’t care because the lying, conniving Obama crowd can kiss our Constitution!” ‘
The lying, conniving Obama crowd as Mr. LaPierre labels them has not done anything to harm the Second Amendment rights that the NRA claims to be at risk. I was interested in the last few words of LaPierre’s quotation above. The phrase “kiss our Constitution” appears to lay claim that the NRA and its followers own the Constitution and its protections. I could have sworn that my law school Constitutional professors taught me that the Constitution protects all citizens, but maybe I heard them wrong. But, I digress.
As the Raw Story article suggests, President Obama has actually taken heat from his own supporters over his alleged conspiracy to not take away the guns. NPR Does Mr. LaPierre provide any evidence of this bizarre claim? None that I could find. Maybe you will have better luck than me in finding evidence of presidential actions to hide President Obama’s intentions and/or actions of stealing legal guns from their owners.
I have to admit that if you read the comments section of the NPR article that details how the Left is disappointed with Obama’s inaction on gun control, you will read almost nothing except gun owners claiming that Obama’s words of inaction are actually code words that the End is Near and the Sky is Falling for gun owners! Just what will it take gun owners to ask Mr. LaPierre for evidence of his wild claims? I, for one would love to hear his answer to that question. I understand that candidate and President Obama may have stayed away from the 2nd Amendment issues for political reasons, but where is the evidence of this alleged conspiracy? I would think Fox News would be sending Bill O’Reilly’s reporters all over the country to uncover such a heinous conspiracy.
If Mr. Obama has not written any executive orders or supported additional legislative steps to control or take away guns since he has become President, just what is the basis for these wild claims? I realize that the NRA has a financial interest in getting gun owners scared into buying more guns, but are there other, underlying reasons why the gun owners are frightened so easily, when the facts do not support the NRA’s claims?
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
Additional sources: Gun Owners of America; NRA-ILA; Pajamas Media;
Bron,
Sorry, but your straw man doesn’t hold up – I was neither cheering or complaining the NYT outing the Bush administration. I didn’t even notice (I didn’t follow politics very closely – I was working on my PhD). I have no intention of making money off of selling information gained from gravatar’s business plan – and this is part of a long-term project that is on a back burner in any case. Currently I’m working on making money off of my post-doc research (I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I?). I’m not the one who’s taking stands that lead to contradictions, except in straw man arguments from you and some anonymous asshats…
Thanks for telling us who you work for.
Blouise1, September 30, 2011 at 11:46 am
loota,
—-”The two women exchanged the kind of glance women use when no knife is handy.”** Blouise, how nice to see you this morning dear, you’re up early.”
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And now you have just scared every male on this blog out of his ever-lovin’ mind!
Hell, let’s skip the cleaning part and just eat cake!
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this is sooooo sexycool…..
I was thinking I wasn’t going to learn anything new today… 🙂
Bron,
“So why are you now for the use of tracking devices? Because you developed something and now want to sell it?”
Yes, beyond the boundaries of this blog, I have often found this specific rationalization at the heart of many “sincere” changes of heart.
Money corrupts, although in this case, the means have been also justified by the end of a strike at the heart of Koch’s minions of sockpuppets plaguing this blog.
But yes, too, these guys would be the first screaming under the reverse conditions.
Blouise,
In the spirit of full disclosure, there was some “gray area”* precipitation a couple of days ago…
* could have been rain, maybe sleet, there was the occasional hail stone and possibly the odd snowflake or two… thankfully no freezing rain, though.
Blouise,
I love old houses, but it’s not looking like your attic has much to offer over mine…
As for becoming a Yupper – it’s beautiful up there, but not for the faint of heart. Us trolls have four seasons – construction, more construction, still construction, and winter. The Yuppers have: construction, almost winter, winter, and still winter… I’m happy that it looks like we’re going to get the cottage closed before the snow starts flying.
Blouise,
It’s Higgins Lake (or Majinabeesh which means “sparkling water” in Chippewa…):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_lake
And I’m generally adverse to nuts in my desserts (except baclava…), but I’ll make an exception for your torte – it sounds great!
Bron said, “[President] Obama is a collectivist”
What does that even mean? He is demonstrably to the right of Nixon on a great many issues – that’s not liberal to me…
Gene,
Excellent, and I wish I could claim the witticism but my honest nature demands the truth … a typo … 2 “t”s, not 2 “o”s
In all actuality, I’m trying to build raff’s numbers though I don’t think my efforts are going to bring the numbers on this thread anywhere close to your first thread.
Steal from cats!!! What kind of person do you think LK is, Blouise? 😉
lotta …. (sorry, I did it again)
loota,
—-”The two women exchanged the kind of glance women use when no knife is handy.”** Blouise, how nice to see you this morning dear, you’re up early.”
———————————————————————-
And now you have just scared every male on this blog out of his ever-lovin’ mind! 😉
Hell, let’s skip the cleaning part and just eat cake!
Bron,
You are mistaken as your identification of Obama as a collectivist as well. The majority of Americans wanted the Bush Administration held accountable for his actions. The majority of Americans wanted BP and Halliburton held accountable for their actions. The majority of Americans want Wall Street held accountable for their actions. If he doesn’t follow majority wishes in enforcing the law, he cannot be a collectivist either. He’s every bit the elitist George Bush was just as he’s a liberal/collectivist in name only. You should learn to think outside of that box Ayn built for you. You remember her. The woman who bemoaned collectivist programs like SSI and Medicare/Medicaid until she needed them and claimed the benefits under her married name so as to avoid the scorn of her followers for talking the talk but not walking the walk. The brainwashing of your religion aside, society by definition is a collective endeavor. If you outgrew your egoism and the inherent selfishness that engenders, you might be able to comprehend that simple fact.
*curtsies*
Slarti:
Nixon was a person who implemented wage and price controls and Carter got blamed for the ensuing economic devastation. Obama is a collectivist, I dont think Nixon was, he just didnt know much about economics.
Gene H:
I already know what kind of “thing” Obama is – a collectivist (which covers a multitude of evils). And in that respect you are right, compassionate conservatism is nothing but watered down collectivism.
Jo,
I hope you continue posting. You’re a hoot.
Bron,
Was Nixon a lib? Because President Obama is unquestionably to the right of Nixon…
Gene H, Obama is the best republican president we have had in a long time.
Bron,
You have forgotten Marcus Aurelius’ advice to “ask of each and everything what is it in itself.” You’re making the mistake of identifying the current administration as liberal and/or progressive and it is neither. It’s Bush-Lite.
raff,
FYI,
If you want them done right…its best to do it yourself…Especially when you are a type a personality….
Slartibartfast and Blouise,
Damn, now I have to do the windows myself!