Obama has said gun control tops his agenda for his remaining time in office.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that he and his cronies are ratcheting up gun-control rhetoric and policy-moves.
Yesterday, the liberal magazine New Republic saw fit to publish a pro-gun control article titled, “It’s time to ban guns. Yes, all of them“.
The same day, the Obama White House is reported to be “finalizing” an executive order to expand background checks on gun sales without Congress’ approval.
The AP reports that at a vigil Wednesday (Dec. 9) evening for the alleged victims of the alleged Sandy Hook school shooting, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Obama has asked his team to complete the executive order and submit it for his review “in short order.” She said the recommendations will include measures to expand background checks.
After the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, Obama said his team was looking for ways to tighten gun laws without a vote in Congress. White House officials have said they’re exploring closing the so-called “gun show loophole” that allows people to buy weapons at gun shows and online without a background check.
Meanwhile, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut — the same state wherein the alleged Sandy Hook school massacre occurred — announced yesterday that he would sign an executive order barring people on federal terrorism watch lists from buying firearms in Connecticut.
Elizabeth A. Harris reports for the New York Times, Dec. 10, 2015, that Malloy said Connecticut would become the first state in the nation to have such a measure.
Malloy, a Democrat, said, “Like all Americans, I have been horrified by the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris. This should be a wake-up call to all of us. This is a moment to seize in America — and today I’m here to say that we in Connecticut are seizing it.”
Malloy said that across America, people on terrorism watch lists tried to buy guns and explosives 2,233 times between 2004 and 2014, according to FBI data. They succeeded 2,043 times. Malloy said, “I have previously written to Congress on this matter. But inaction is not an option. So here in Connecticut, we are acting.”
Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, including measures enacted in 2013 after the alleged Sandy Hook massacre. But on the federal or national level, mass shootings have failed to prompt any action on guns.
On Sunday, Dec. 6, in a televised address to American on the threat of terrorism, Obama called for federal regulations that would bar those on the federal no-fly list from buying guns: “What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.”
All of which led Texas police chief Randy Kennedy to issue a warning to Obama that trying to disarm Americans would “cause a revolution in this country”.
David Warren reports for the AP that Randy Kennedy, longtime chief in the small East Texas town of Hughes Springs, about 120 miles east of Dallas, says in a video posted this week on his personal Facebook page that the Second Amendment was established to protect people from criminals, terrorists, as wel as “against a government that has overreached its power.”
Addressing Obama, Kennedy says, “You are not our potentate, sir. You are our servant.” To the resident of Hughes Springs, Kennedy urges them to prepare themselves: “Be ready when the wolf comes to the door, because it’s on its way.”
Kennedy said his call to arms was the result of his disappointment with Obama’s Oval Office speech Sunday in which the president vowed the U.S. will overcome a new phase of the terror threat that seeks to “poison the minds” of people here and around the world. The police chief told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he’s not asking residents to turn into vigilantes or “become super action heroes.”
Kennedy said feedback on his video has been supportive for the most part, although “There have been a few extremely nasty comments, calling me basically a backwoods redneck hick creating monsters that don’t exist.”
John Moritz, spokesman for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said he assumes the comments from Kennedy, the Texas chief, reflect the views held in his community. But Moritz said caution should be used when giving such instructions to people who have no law enforcement training: “Most times citizens are going to be best served and best protected by calling trained law enforcement officers whenever they feel their lives or property are in danger.”
Law enforcement officials in Arizona, Florida and New York also have recently prompted citizens to arm themselves – some using similar comments aimed at terrorism:
- Wayne Ivey, the sheriff in Brevard County, Florida, said in a video post on the department’s Facebook page over the weekend that political leaders appear more interested in being politically correct than protecting people. He urged residents to arm themselves as a first line of defense against an active shooter because “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
- Another Florida sheriff, in Hendry County, this week encouraged more people to carry weapons because “we as a nation are under attack by radical Islamic terrorists.”
- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona issued a statement Tuesday asking “legally armed citizens to take a stand, and take action during a mass shooting/terrorist event until law enforcement arrives.”
- And last week, Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum in upstate New York called for licensed gun owners in his county to arm themselves when leaving home, citing mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
The FBI said last week that it processed a record number of firearms background checks on Black Friday, the busy shopping time the day after Thanksgiving. The agency processed 185,345 background checks – roughly two per second – the same day that three people were killed and nine others wounded in an attack at a Planned Parenthood office in Colorado.
The previous record for the most background checks in a single day was Dec. 21, 2012, about a week after Sandy Hook. In total, the FBI processed 953,613 gun background checks in the week after the alleged school massacre.
H/t FOTM’s Anon and “Barry Soetoro, Esq.”
For all the posts FOTM has published on Sandy Hook, go here.
After offering it for sale for about a month, Amazon.com banned Nobody Died at Sandy Hook — a book co-edited by Professor James Fetzer, with contributors who include Professor James Tracy, Dr. Eowyn, and other professionals. In order that Americans know the truth about Sandy Hook, the book is now available for free to anyone to read. To read/download the book in PDF format, click here: NobodyDiedAtSandyHook.
If you want a hard copy (sure to be a collector’s item!), Fetzer found an alternative printer/distributor for Nobody Died at Sandy Hook — Moon Rock Books. Click here. Check it out and let others know. The pdf will remain available to the public for free.
~Eowyn
