Obama's conspicuous silence on guns

[cowcommander]

Gun control is a perilous issue for President Barack Obama (Exhibit A: his infamous statement in the 2008 campaign that working class voters “cling to guns”) so the push for new restrictions following the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., puts the president in an especially tricky political predicament.

Obama has supported most major gun and ammunition control initiatives during a decade and a half in public life, including renewing the expired ban on semiautomatic assault rifles. But while he has an unambiguously liberal record on guns, he talks about the issue using muted, nonconfrontational tones engineered to avoid alienating gun-friendly voters, a huge proportion of the electorate that has steadily drifted away from Obama.

That pattern has held true, and then some, in the wake of the assassination attempt against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of six others earlier this month. White House officials have remained noncommittal about an effort by liberals in the House and Senate to restrict access to the kind of high-capacity ammunition magazines that allowed suspect Jared Lee Loughner to inflict mass casualties in a matter of seconds using a single, legal handgun.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47872.html

[maxsolomon]

1. He might say something after Jan. 20, 2013

But he can't DO anything about it legislatively, so what's the point? Not engaging the NRA and the Gun Absolutists is smart politics. There is nothing to be gained.

[TheWraith]

2. Because he's a smart man.

Gun control is a dead issue. Bill Clinton, the guy who pushed the "Assault Weapons Ban" in the first place, admitted that the House Dems were right back in 1994 when they told him that the AWB was stupid and would get them killed in the election. The Republican-run Brady Campaign is practically bankrupt. The SCOTUS has unanimously shot down the idea that the second amendment is not an individual right. Gun control is about as settled as Roe vs. Wade. Trying to go against the overwhelming majority of public opinion on the subject is just stupid and suicidal.

[Paladin]

5. As Long As Democrats Keep Taking Bullets In Their Heads......

....gun control is not a dead issue. Wishful thinking on your part, but thanks for playing......

[TheWraith]

6. The pro-lifers will never give up their pet cause, either.

But settled law and public opinion aren't going anywhere.

[JamesA1102]

16. Yet they still vote for the GOP

Who have been giving them lip service on the issue for 30 years.

[Thrill]

3. He actually wants to win PA, OH, and Wisconsin

in the next election. He would be smart to stay away from that issue

[hack89]

4. Smart man. nt

[Phoonzang]

14. +1

[Jakes Progress]

17. Smart = cagey, crafty, sly, careful, self-protective. Yep.

[hack89]

18. Educated into the importance of all civil rights. nt

[Jakes Progress]

19. Oooooh. Yah got me pardner.

The ability to kill at will with ease is such a civil right.

[hack89]

20. No - the ability to protect yourself and your family is a civil right

don't you think things might have been harder for the KKK if southern blacks hadn't been disarmed through racially motivated gun control laws?

Everything in the Bill of Rights is a civil right - if you don't like that basic fact than work to get the Constitution amended.

[Jakes Progress]

23. Yeah. The proliferation of guns

would have really advanced Dr. King's movement of non-violent resistance. Just think how great all those gun battles and door-to-door blood baths would have been. Really gets your heart a thumpin.

Of course you could protect your family best if you had grenades and a couple of uzi's. You got those. Or don't you care about your family.

As far as the Bill or Rights goes, I compromise on your obviously self-serving interpretation of what a militia is. You think we need a militia just the way they did in the 18th century. Okay. Then the guns you get to "bear" are those available in 1780. Muskets for everyone.

We're not going to agree on this. So I'll go hug my grandkids and you go hug whatever makes you feel good.

[hack89]

26. MLK kept guns for self protection. Good enough for me.

the Uzi and grenade argument is stupid - I am happy to be just as well armed as the criminals.

Section 10 of the US federal code says I am part of the militia - I suspect you are too.

Does the 1st Amendment only apply to printed matter and not electronic media? I don't recall the founding fathers posting the Constitution on their web site and holding a TV press conference.

So you are a strict orginalist when it comes to the Constitution? Interesting - does that mean you agree with the founding fathers that women and blacks can't vote, that homosexuality is a crime, that abortion is a capital crime? To they appeal to your desire to restrict others rights?

Check out the FBI crime statistics for the last 40 years - you will see that you have never been safer as all violent crime has hit historic lows and keeps declining. More guns yet fewer guns deaths - how is that possible?

[LeftyAndProud60]

7. do u know who took guns away from citizens? Hitler NT

[butterfly77]

8. So,this is the theme before the SOTU speech..

I heard David Gergen today with this same shit,they are trying to make him talk about this in the speech. I hope he doesn't. I get so tired of the media deciding on what the President should and shouldn't talk about as though they are running the whitehouse.

These same damn people don't listen to damn word we say,they will talk this up big time until the 25th..as though if he does it will change something,they love for the President to jump out there on the bullshit they throw out so they can then begin to attack him in this case it will be his fault because the nuts have guns,or want guns,or want to shoot him...

[dionysus]

9. yes, he secretly supports guns and death!1!11!!!!

:eyes:

[Arkana]

15. Didn't you hear?

Obama has to assure us daily that he wants to ban guns, keep Social Security EXACTLY the way it is now, and not even take a shit leaning the wrong way on the pot! Otherwise, we'll just assume he's a DEE ELL CEE CORPOFASCIST BANKSTER SELLOUT!!!!!!!

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. It is not worth expending any political capital on at this point

Any gun control legislation is DOA in the GOP-controlled House. Even the Democratic-controlled House of 2009-2011 refused to pass any gun control legislation.

[old mark]

11. HE must be aware by now that most Democrats do not favor more pointless regulation.

He must be aware that his remarks on gun control in the 2008 campaign in PA contributed to the Democrats loss of control of that state...

He should speak in favor of more enforcement of existing laws, and against more laws that have no real effect such as the "assault weapons ban".

mark

[JamesA1102]

12. The whole left is silence on guns.

I haven't been getting emails from organizations like Move On asking me to support stricter gun laws like I did during the healthcare debate. The left has walked away from this issue long ago.

[benEzra]

13. It wasn't the left that really pushed it in the first place, at least since the '80s/early '90s.

The "ban nonhunting guns" crusade from the late '80s/early '90s through 2006 or so was primarily a DLC/Third Way movement, and the AHSA, AGS, etc. all tended to self-identify as Third Way.

[boppers]

24. The left got all the local experiments it wanted, in multiple venues.

The ones that made sense became local and/or national law, and the ones that didn't work out faded away.

As far as new experiments go, I haven't seen a whole lot suggested.

[aikoaiko]

21. The silence is easy to understand -- he wants to keep his job,

80s and 90s style gun control is unpopular and usually ineffective.

If the Obama administration learned anything from the great gun and ammo rush of 2008-2009, its that a lot of Americans are committed to maintaining access to popular firearms. And he will be blamed for any overly restrictive gun control that does more to keep firearms or firearm accessories out of the hands of civilians than reduce gun violence.

[barbiegeek]

22. He should stay quiet & safe. Obama mean gun control & the nuts will try & kill him

The public can carry the no gun banner. This president has so much hate and death threats it is a bad idea.

[Name removed]

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