As Barack Obama nears the end of his presidency, his final “exit memo” reveals that he clings to gun control in a way that is reminiscent of his remarks back in 2008 on the campaign trail when he asserted that many people had become “bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them…”
The president substituted “safety” for “control” but in the lexicon of the anti-gunner – especially one who repeatedly insists “I support the Second Amendment, but…” – they mean the same thing.
According to a transcript from the White House, the president’s memo says this: “And for all that we’ve achieved, there’s still so much I wish we’d been able to do, from enacting gun safety measures to protect more of our kids and our cops from mass shootings like Newtown, to passing commonsense immigration reform that encourages the best and brightest from around the world to study, stay, and create jobs in America.”
This came after he wrote that “over the past eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland.” While that may be correct, the comment carefully avoided mentioning attacks in San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Orlando and Garland, Texas that were apparently inspired or motivated by foreign terrorist propaganda.
Where Obama may have failed, wealthy elitists such as Michael Bloomberg seem determined to push the same agenda of eroding the Second Amendment by selling the notion of “gun safety” via citizen initiatives in various states at several million dollars a pop.
Last March, writing for the American Thinker, Fay Voshell suggested that the so-called “bitter clingers” were out for revenge against both political parties for having seemingly dealt the average citizen out. Those “bitter clingers” have handed Congress to the Republicans and the White House to Donald Trump, and they expect something for it, such as jobs, an improved economy and a change of course away from the constitutionally erosive “gun safety” measures pushed by Obama and Democrats.
In short, these Americans want their lives restored; the feeling of individualism, self-reliance, liberty and privacy they feel has been lost. Where Second Amendment activists are concerned, they see so-called “universal background checks” as a poorly-disguised de facto gun registration scheme, not a “gun safety” effort. In short, it’s none of the government’s business who owns what kind of firearm, how many cartridges fit in the magazine, or how and where guns are stored, many activists contend.
These people visit weekend gun shows, or spend time at the gun range. In November, they voted in key states where Obama and would-be successor Hillary Rodham Clinton took them for granted. Trump didn’t make that mistake, and while Obama clings to his vision, it now becomes a fleeting one.
Trump has promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who will protect and abide by the Second Amendment. He can fill more than 100 vacancies on the lower federal courts with judges who interpret law rather than invent it from the bench. He has promised to undo Obama’s executive orders, and get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something truly affordable and less cumbersome.
Obama may be left clinging to an empty legacy, much the way he portrayed those Middle Americans nine years ago, and it finally caught up to him.
Related:
Obama, Aide ‘Delusional’ About ‘No Scandals’ In His Administration?
Trump Change: More Than 100 Federal Court Appointments Loom
Gun Control’s Biggest Backfires of 2016