As most of you are aware, we’ve been following the debacles known as “Gunrunner” and “Fast and Furious”, that are part of the of the Obama Administration’s multiple pronged assault upon what many see as the “lynchpin of Liberty”, the Second Amendment. At Thursday’s press briefing Carney (aka “Gibbs the younger”) spewed one of his most blatant mischaracterizations to date on the subject of the administration’s position on the Second. From the NRA-ILA:
“As you know, the President directed the Attorney General to form working groups with key stakeholders to identify common-sense measures that would improve Americans’ safety and security while fully respecting Second Amendment rights. That process is well underway at the Department of Justice with stakeholders on all sides working through these complex issues. And we expect to have some more specific announcements in the near future.”
This would appear to contradict statements from the staunch anti-gun Representative Carolyn McCarthy (NY-D) that appear in a related story at NPR.
One of the staunchest gun control advocates in Congress is New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York. A gunman killed her husband and wounded her son on the Long Island Railroad almost 20 years ago.
“I have spoken to the president. He is with me on it, and it’s just going to be when that opportunity comes forward that we’re going to be able to go forward,” she said.
Add this together with Sarah Brady’s statement back in March about her meeting with the President: “I just want you to know that we are working on [gun control] … We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
What is apparently holding the administration back from just attempting to “steamroller” is the looming election. Previous attempts at gun control have cost the Democrats, according to Dave Kopel, Research Director for the Independence Institute: “Bill Clinton himself said that the issue cost Democrats the House of Representatives in 1994 and cost them the presidency in 2000.” But this fact, well known to Democratic strategists, apparently has fallen on deaf ears when it comes to Rep.McCarthy and her anti gun ally in the Senate, Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).This from an April story in the Washington Post on Obama’s gun policy adviser, Steve Croley:
McCarthy and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) of New Jersey offered a bill that would ban the clips that hold large volumes of ammunition. The pugnacious McCarthy said that if the administration continued to stay on the sidelines, she and Lautenberg would get the job done themselves, but added that she “certainly had higher hopes with the administration.”
Lautenberg attempted to express optimism. The senator recalled that Attorney General Eric Holder visited him on March 29 “and tried to give us his assurance to help us with the legislation.”
The Washington Post article, while a tad dated, is quite revealing and contains some forgotten Obama policy statements from his election campaign. Statements in light of the upcoming election that I’m sure he’d just as soon keep under the radar, given his many recent consultations with “Slick Willy”, I’d bet he has been warned just how openly pursuing his agenda on the Second Amendment could prove to be the “fatal nail” on his prospects for a second term. However it seems that in his arrogance he intends to go ahead with it, no matter the cost.
—