Bed Wetters and the Second Amendment

Remember how Barack Obama was going to take away all our dogs and ban all hunting?

Remember how Barack Obama was going to take away all the guns?

Back during the election season, I battled a never-ending tribe of know-nothings, right-wing wackos, wink-and-nod racists, paranoid conspiracy theorists, professional thumb suckers, and amateur bed wetters -- the people who have now coalesced into what is called the "Tea Bagger" arm of the Republican party.

They spewed this kind of stuff like an open sewer, hoping the toxin would catch fire like the Cuyahoga River did back in '69.

At the time I noted that anyone who really believed in the Second Amendment (and who actually knew their ass from their elbow) would "lock and load" in opposition to John McCain and Joe Lieberman, both of whom have long and well-documented histories as gun-controllers.

I noted that Barack Obama believed the Second Amendment was an individual right and that he had no intention of restricting it.

Now The Chicago Tribune has come out with an article noting that Obama is not anti-gun -- he is anti-gun control!

No surprise here, of course, but apparently this is quite a surprise to those on the far right and the far left who intentionally blinkered themselves in order to profit from massive direct mail campaigns designed to separate the American people from their money.

Notes The Chicago Tribune:

Among the many groups that opposed Barack Obama's presidential race, few were more certain or vehement than gun-rights organizations. "Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history," the National Rifle Association announced. "Obama is a committed anti-gunner," warned Gun Owners of America.

So it's no stunner that after a year in office, the president is getting hammered by people who have no use for his policy on firearms. The surprise is that the people attacking him are those who favor gun control, not those who oppose it.

Obama's record on this issue has been largely overlooked — except by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which recently issued a report card flunking Obama on all seven issues it deems important. Said President Paul Helmke, "If I had been told, in the days before Barack Obama's inauguration, that his record on gun violence prevention would be this poor, I would not have believed it."

Had he listened to the candidate in 2008, he would have believed. At a September campaign rally in rural Virginia, Obama declared unequivocally, "I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won't take your handgun away. .. There are some common-sense gun safety laws that I believe in. But I am not going to take your guns away."

.... [Obama] has proposed nothing in the way of new federal restrictions on firearms. Even the "assault weapons" ban signed by President Bill Clinton — and allowed to expire in 2004 — has no visible place on Obama's agenda.

Not only that, he's approved changes that should gladden the hearts of gun-rights supporters, a group that includes me. He signed a law permitting guns to be taken into national parks. He signed another allowing guns as checked baggage on Amtrak. He acted to preserve an existing law limiting the use of government information on firearms it has traced.

Still, the NRA is not rushing to recant.

Well, of course the NRA is not rushing to recant.

The National Rifle Association knows its membership is mostly comprised of right-wing gullibles who have responded to "fright factory" direct mail written for only one purpose: to winkle another $20 out of the pockets of those who are easily frightened and who are emotionally volatile.

The good news is that gullible fools represent a small percentage of hunters and an even smaller perentage of total gun owners.

There are more than 12 million hunters in America, and more than 50 million gun owners, but the NRA counts its membership at 2 million, and of those only 1 million are hunters.

To put that another way, 91% of all hunters and 96% percent of all gun owners are not NRA members!

Of course, even a smaller percentage of those who voted for Obama in the last election were members of any type of "gun control" organization.

And, to put a point on it, groups like the Brady Center are also professional "liars for hire," the same as the NRA.

The only real difference is one group seeks to pluck dollars from gullibles on the fringe left, while the other trolls for gullibles on the fringe right.

The Obama Administration is saluting neither fringe. Instead, it is saluting the U.S. Constitution, and it is saluting all of it, not just one Amendment.

How refreshing is that?

• Related Links:
  ** The Liberal Case for Gun Ownership
  ** Straight Shooting on the Second Amendment?
  ** Hunting and Fishing at the Polls in November
  ** The National Rifle Association Lies ... Again
  ** Crying Wolf in Dog and Hunting Debates
  ** Hacking at the Roots of Violence
  ** Support Mental Health or I'll Kill You
  ** Cass Sunstein Is OK with Me
  ** Obama Administration to Ban Hunting
  ** Liars, Fear Mongers and Murder
  ** The Internet Fuels Extremists and Fools

From Toothpaste for Dinner