Obama's lies on guns

Version anglaise ; version française à paraître
Yesterday's shooting in a high school in Finland cruelly comes to remind us that this kind of tragedy regularly happens in American schools or universities.


Most of the time, the blame is put on the absence of gun control in America, due to the protection granted to gun-owners and bearers by the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which says as follows :

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The issue of guns is certainly important in this electoral campaign, especially as everybody remembers Obama's very awkward words, not to say gaffe, on rural Americans who "are bitter and cling to their guns".

This sentence, pronounced by Obama during the primary campaign and which probably cost him a lot of votes in the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, is in fact revealing of his total inconsistency on the subject.

In fact, Obama has kept contradicting himself and lying on the question of the constitutional right to own and bear a gun.

Firstly, let's examine what his position paper says on the topic :

Tens of millions of Americans hunt and fish. Millions more participate in a variety of shooting sports such as sporting clays, skeet, and target ad trap shooting that may not necessarily involve hunting. Barack Obama deeply respects America’s hunters and sportsmen, and he is committed to protecting their rights.

RESPECT FOR RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP
Respect the Second Amendment: As a former constitutional law professor, Obama understands and believes in the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms. While he believes that guns must be kept from criminals, the mentally incompetent, and others who may pose a threat, he also believes that the rights of legitimate hunters and other law-abiding Americans should be protected, including the right to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting and target shooting.

Recently, Obama declared :  "I believe in the Second Amendment"  but we may wonder where he really stands  on gun rights.
 
The problem is that if we examine the facts, and only the facts, we realize this statement is nothing but a lie.

Several examples prove it :

According to a 1996 questionnaire he filled out while running for the Illinois Senate, Obama promised to support a ban on "the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns."
Now, can you imagine how Obama justified himself ? His campaign claimed that he was not the one who filled it out ! They say his staff did it for him ! Incredible, isn't it ? So how does he explain that his handwriting appeared on this questionnaire ?  

Another example :
In 2004, while running for the U.S. Senate, he promised to bar citizens nationwide from receiving concealed-carry permits. The Chicago Tribune reported then that Obama "backed federal legislation that would ban citizens from carrying weapons, except for law enforcement." Obama explained his plan to pre-empt state concealed-carry laws with a federal bill: "National legislation," Obama said at the time, "will prevent other states' flawed concealed-weapons laws from threatening the safety of Illinois residents."

Senator Obama also supported the District of Columbia's comprehensive gun ban - he said so in a February television interview with Washington's WJLA, available on YouTube. The D.C. gun ban prevented district residents from owning handguns even in their own homes. It required that long guns, all of which had to be registered, be kept locked and disassembled. There wasn't even a provision allowing them to be reassembled in the event of an emergency.

There are other undeniable facts that show that Obama is lying when he says he wants the respect of the 2nd Amendment. For instance, he voted for an Illinois State Senate bill to ban and confiscate “assault weapons,” but the bill was so poorly crafted, it would have also banned most semi-auto and single and double barrel shotguns commonly used by sportsmen.

He has endorsed a 500% increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Of course, everybody is free to be in favour or against the right to own and bear a gun that all Americans have had since the creation of their nation.

Everybody is free to think that this amendment is responsible for the frequent tragedies which happen in American hign schools and universities.


But the real question is not to know if it is right or wrong : the problem is Obama's constant contradiction between his words and his acts. One day, he says something. The following day, he does something which is exactly the contrary of what he said the day before.

How can voters trust such a man who spends his time changing his mind, showing that he does not really know where to stand on the topics which affect his fellowcitizens' daily life ?