Obama Linked to Gun Control Efforts
[Guest post by DRJ]
Now Obama says he supports gun ownership as an individual right under the Second Amendment. Then he authorized grants that supported the opposite position:
“Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.
But before he became a national political figure, he sat on the board of a Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions.
The [Joyce F]oundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”
The Obama campaign responded that the Joyce Foundation issued grants to fuel debate about guns:
“Obama’s eight years on the board of the Joyce Foundation, which paid him more than $70,000 in directors fees, do not in any way conflict with his campaign-trail support for the rights of gun owners, Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign, asserted in a statement issued to Politico this week.
LaBolt stressed that the foundation, which has assets of about $935 million, doesn’t take “detailed policy positions,” but rather uses its grants to “fuel a dialogue about how to address public policy issues like reducing gun violence.”
As with most foundations, Joyce did not record how individual board members voted on grants, but former Joyce officials told Politico that funding was typically approved unanimously.”
However, the Obama campaign’s claim that the grants were made solely to spur dialogue is contradicted by the details of a few of the grants:
“During Obama’s time on the Joyce board, though, the foundation gave seven grants totaling more than $2.5 million to a group that wants Congress to take much more proactive action: the Violence Policy Center.
The D.C.-based nonprofit, which calls itself “the most aggressive group in the gun control movement,” for years has argued for a national handgun ban.
n a 2000 study called “Unsafe in Any Hands: Why America Needs to Ban Handguns,” the group concluded that Congress could and should ban handguns nationwide “soon” and allocate $16.25 billion to buy back the 65 million handguns it estimated were then owned by civilians.
The study dismissed as “pure myth” the theory that the Second Amendment bars such strict gun control laws.”
In addition, Obama’s claim that he supports gun rights is not substantiated by his legislative record:
“In his appeal to gun owners, Obama has not emphasized his own legislative record, which includes supporting a ban on semiautomatic weapons and concealed weapons, and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. He has blamed his staff for indicating on a questionnaire filled out during his 1996 state Senate bid under his name that he supports banning “the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.”
Obama is trying to be all things to all people. As a general rule, that’s not a winning formula for Presidential candidates.
— DRJ
Fuel dialogue? That’s a silliness of the order I’d expect from Levi.
This is another example of the fact that the last thing Obama is, is “mainstream”.
SPQR (6cd738) — 4/20/2008 @ 8:20 pmEvery Handgun Is Aimed at You
Every black person might mug you!
Every penis might rape you!
Every gay person might seduce your child and turn them gay!
Every SUV might run you over!
Every immigrant might be smuggling drugs!
Every elected Democrat might raise your taxes!
Every carbon emission might raise your temperature!
Every voice in your head might be conspiring against you!
Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c) — 4/20/2008 @ 8:45 pmThe VPC was ( I think its now merged with the Brady compaign ) among the most dishonest of gun control advocacy groups – often making intentional misrepresentations and outright falsehoods to increase the hysteria of their claims.
SPQR (6cd738) — 4/20/2008 @ 8:50 pmSo he’s saying he has tolerance for gun owners, but demonstrating something else in his actions? Isn’t that the standard liberal fare – hypocrisy in word and deed. We want to reduce dependence on foreign energy and reduce energy prices, but we won’t let you drill off U.S. coasts, in ANWR, develop new coal mines, build refineries or nuclear plants, but other than that, go for it!
daleyrocks (906622) — 4/20/2008 @ 9:00 pmevery handgun is aimed at you…
yes, and because legislation can’t change this, i like to have one around to aim back if necessary.
16.25 billion for 65 million units (i suspect there’s more units than that) is $250 per, well below what name brand units go for in stores today. there won’t be any action at that level around here, and a foundation with 935 million dollars can easily test this proposition.
assistant devil's advocate (b716df) — 4/20/2008 @ 9:05 pmADA – i suspect there’s more units than that – If they tried to collect them, there most certainly would be.
Even so, let me get this straight. It would be impossible for us to “round up” 12 million illegal aliens, yet somehow possible to retrieve 65 million handguns “which are easily concealable” (which explains their danger)?
If someone refused to hand over their handgun, then the authorities would. . . how would they remove the weapon? With weapons, of course, and we now have a situation whereby the “authorities” have weapons and the populace does not. The very thing the Founding Fathers warned against.
Apogee (366e8b) — 4/20/2008 @ 9:22 pmThey are welcome to try and take my weapons away from me.
I don’t recomment it, but they are welcome to try if they like…
Sen Obama’s part of the reason IL is one of two states with no conceal-carry permit law. He’s been anti-un in his voying from day one.
As a comparison: I’m white. Been white all my life. If I start telling people tomorrow that I’m full-blooded Cherokee, how much truth would be in my words?
If you answered “as much as are in Obama’s”, you would be correct…
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 4/20/2008 @ 9:43 pmI haven’t owned a gun in years. As a philosophy I support the Second Amendment, balls out. But I’m also a resident of a large city, one in which those murdered by gun comes to around two per night. It is quite natural for those who live in “high crime” areas that are basically a series of armories containing ten guns per household, many of which are automatic weapons with a thirty cartridge capacity, I’d be looking for some way to control ownership.
It’s interesting to note that “right to bear arms” advocates are huge majorities in rural areas. Gun control advocates are almost exclusively located in urban areas.
This is a conflict that has no “right” POV. Obama has represented “high crime” urban areas since he started in politics.
Howard Veit (cc8b85) — 4/21/2008 @ 7:49 amHoward, if you know people that are possessing automatic (machine gun) weapons, you should report them for violations of the National Firearms Act of 1934! But, if these are only self-loading (semi-automatic – one pull of the trigger = one shot), then your concern is misplaced.
Another Drew (f9dd2c) — 4/21/2008 @ 8:25 amMarksmanship is not dependant on magazine capacity. However, when confronted by the possibility of multiple threats, one would reasonably prepare himself with the capability of responding to those threats.
More information from Wikipedia on Barack Obama and gun control.
Wikipedia has a page on the Joyce Foundation as well.
Kevin P. (4740dd) — 4/21/2008 @ 10:01 amIs he going to pull off the same stunt JOHN KERRY tried back in 2004 and wear blaze orange? HE IS A LIBERAL TWO FACED DEMACROOK DONT LET HIM FOOL YOU
krazy kagu (a2e13d) — 4/21/2008 @ 12:44 pmAs I recall, the intent of our Founding Fathers was to insure that the “people” retain power over the “government.” It does not seem too strange that certain members of the “government” dislike that idea.
Of course, Obama and his cronies who advocate gun control have no plan for the numerous occasions where criminals with guns confront law-abiding citizens without the means to defend their businesses, families, and lives. The Courts have often found that Law Enforcement Agencies have NO obligation to protect the citizens.
I believe that non-felons in America should be allowed and encouraged to carry openly a handgun in a holster on their hip. This, coupled with good instruction provided by the NRA, US Military, Boy Scouts, and/or Blackwater in proper use, safety, and marksmanship would go a long way toward ending violent crime in our America.
Remember history. Think Europe during the 1900s.
Gun Control: Breath, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze.
1SG Bud (670a81) — 5/28/2008 @ 8:17 amHe is a charlatent a fruad and as athentic as a 3 dollar bill he blabbers all this popptycock about supporting the 2nd amendment but like John Kerry he is a fruad and a liar he is just trying to fool gun owners into voting for him but has said he dont trust armed citizens we dont need those demacreep in the whitehouse he is worse the clinton
Krazy Kagu (b76582) — 8/27/2008 @ 1:47 pmDRJ, is The Joyce Foundation only about anti gun laws or do they do other things?
Oiram (983921) — 8/27/2008 @ 1:57 pmYes, take all of our weapons so obamas terrorist friends can infiltrate our security again and slaugjhter us all on tv! He’ll already be findind ways to bring them up to speed with our artillary. His name even scares me obama Bin Laden.
stuart smith (ee54a5) — 10/14/2008 @ 12:37 pm