“We recognise the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage,” said Obama during remarks made at a National Urban League Conference in New Orleans.
In reality, the founders put the second amendment in the bill of rights not to ensure Americans could enjoy hunting or target practice,
but as a protection against government tyranny.
As Howard University School of Law’s Thomas M. Moncure, Jr. explains, the right to bear arms was derived from English common law and was clearly focused around having an armed citizen militia to protect against abuses by the state.
As James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, the right to bear arms was seen as a means of protecting liberties against government intrusion. Madison noted that in “several kingdoms of Europe … governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
Patrick Henry also made it clear that firearms were for self-defense and not duck hunting when he stated, “Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?”
“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence,” said George Washington, adding that “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference.”Congressman Ron Paul has also outlined how the assault rifle ban is merely an end run around the second amendment.
Thomas Jefferson also succinctly outlined why gun control only serves to disarm the public while emboldening criminals.
“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man,” he stated.
After Obama was attacked by the likes of
Michael Moore and
Time Magazine for not hijacking the ‘Batman’ massacre quickly enough to push for gun control, he began his politicization of the tragedy last night in earnest, signaling a new effort to reinstate the assault rifle ban, which
as many gun rights activists have highlighted is merely a stepping stone to eventually outlawing all firearms and wouldn’t even reduce violent crime.
“I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities,” said Obama.
“I’m going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organisations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction,” he added.
However, second amendment groups fear that “violence reduction” is nothing more than a euphemism for eviscerating the second amendment.
Gun sales have spiked by double in the aftermath of the Colorado shooting because Americans know that should Obama secure a second term he will inevitably use his lame duck presidency to take a huge bite out of gun rights. Indeed, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre warned earlier this year that
Obama was planning to “destroy” gun rights and “erase” the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November.
LaPierre’s concerns are not without foundation.
During a March 2011 White House meeting, Obama told gun control advocate Sarah Brady that his administration was working “under the radar” to sneak attack the second amendment rights of American citizens. This conversation occurred just months before the Fast and Furious scandal broke, which many have surmised was a
deliberate plot to demonize gun owners.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
Obama Claims Second Amendment About