Even before he sought public office, Barack Obama was on a mission to subvert the Second Amendment and deprive gun owners of their constitutional rights. In law school, he was mentored by liberal legal scholar Laurence H. Tribe, who at the time was a fervent opponent of gun rights. Obama, Tribe recalled, was “the best student I ever had.”4 In 1994, Obama joined the board of the Joyce Foundation, a liberal-leaning organization so active in advocating restrictions on gun ownership that it is known as “the anti-NRA.” Community organizer Obama was also associated with the Independent Voters of Illinois—Independent Precinct Organization,5 a group that supports “gun control and the right of municipalities to ban sales or possession of handguns and assault weapons.” Another director of the group was the Obamas’ close friend Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett was deputy chief of staff to Chicago mayor Richard Daley, and was a major supporter of the city’s handgun ban. As a politician in Chicago, Obama racked up a consistent record of supporting restrictions on gun ownership. For instance, in 1999 Obama was quoted by the Chicago Defender newspaper at an “anti-gun rally” proposing a 500 percent increase in federal taxes “on the sale of firearm ammunition.”6 In 2000, as an Illinois state senator, Obama co-sponsored legislation to limit law-abiding citizens to the purchase of one handgun a month. In 2003, Obama voted for a bill banning the private ownership of hunting shotguns, target rifles, and black powder rifles in Illinois.7 In 2004, the Illinois state legislature passed a law that permitted citizens to defend themselves and others with a gun at their home or business even if local ordinances prohibited gun ownership. The bill came in response to a celebrated case where a father, at home with his children, had shot at a burglar who had broken into their house. Fifty-four-year-old Hale DeMar was charged with violating a local ordinance after shooting a burglar who was in the process of robbing his Chicago-area home. The intruder, a convicted felon named Mario Billings, had entered his house through the kitchen door, tripping an alarm system. Mr. DeMar, a local restaurateur, was in the house at the time with his two young children. When DeMar came across the man attempting to steal a flat-screen computer monitor, he opened fire with a .38-caliber pistol, shooting the burglar in the shoulder. Billings made his way out of the house and into one of DeMar’s vehicles and drove himself to a hospital, where he was arrested. Mr. DeMar was also charged with a crime: violating a local ordinance that prohibited handgun ownership. The action sparked controversy across Illinois. In response, the state legislature passed a law, S.B. 2165, ordering that local gun bans could not be enforced in cases where the gun owner could prove the weapon was being used in self-defense or the defense of another while in his home or place of business. That legislation passed the Illinois State Senate by an overwhelming margin. Barack Obama, then a state senator, voted against the law—twice.8 Obama has long believed one of the best solutions to crime prevention is the reinstatement of the Clinton-era assault weapons ban. Despite the politically inflammatory name, guns under the category of “assault weapons” have existed for more than a century and have been used by millions of Americans for target shooting and, in some cases, self-defense. During his campaign for the United States Senate in 2004, Obama called President Bush’s refusal to renew the ban a “scandal.”9 Once in the U.S. Senate, Obama voted against legislation to protect firearms distributors, manufacturers, and local gun dealers from lawsuits for crimes committed with guns and ammunition they lawfully sold.10 In his second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, Obama expanded on his views. “I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers’ lobby,” he wrote. In his run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Obama tempered his rhetoric on gun rights, though he still voted to find ways to “stem the flow” of guns by “unscrupulous gun dealers.”11 His campaign website also promised that Obama “will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns.”12 Nonetheless Obama’s true views kept finding their way into the headlines. After Barack Obama’s “clinging to their guns” gaffe, the Clinton campaign began sending out fliers in midwestern states accusing Obama of a full-scale assault on Second Amendment rights. The front of the mailing asked the following: “Where does Barack Obama really stand on guns?” The answer was: “Depends on who he is talking to.”
Pavlich, Katie (2012-04-16). Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up (Kindle Locations 194-214). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition. |
