OPINION:
President Obama, feckless in the pursuit of the nation’s real enemies, is relentless in riding his spavined hobby horse to all the wrong places. He thinks the guns of the law-abiding are more to blame for crime and violence than mental illness, criminality and terrorism. He’s determined to do something about it even if he has to ride roughshod over Congress and the people.
The president clearly regards the Second Amendment, the guarantee of the “right to keep and bear arms,” as an obstacle to accomplishing the fundamental change he craves to impose on the nation. In his weekly radio address, Mr. Obama said he would announce soon his unilateral executive order to impose what he calls common-sense restrictions on that guaranteed right because Congress won’t do it for him.
To prepare for the promised announcement of restrictions, he and his staff have been meeting with certain of his constituents, but not with Congress, Republicans or those who own guns, sportsmen who use them or plain citizens who carry them to defend themselves and their families. He hangs out only with the like-minded, such a Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, and other lobbyists for disarming Americans. The lobbyists are the good guys who have a right to be heard, and everyone who doesn’t agree with him are not so good, so there’s no need to consult them about much of anything.
White House sources suggest that Mr. Obama won’t have anything meaningful to say or do in the fight against terrorism and violent crime. This will enable him to devote his full attention to his war on America’s gun owners. The Constitution, which he dismisses as irrelevant, will prevent his doing everything he wants to do, but he will persevere nonetheless. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a gun owner and a hunter, says he doesn’t know exactly what Mr. Obama is up to, but from what he’s heard none of the president’s orders are likely to have much impact on the problems he says he wants to resolve.
But there is one order he could issue that would make common sense. Dealing with gun crime is not advanced science. Arresting criminals with illegal guns and sending them to jail is already possible under federal law. The National Rifle Association has been reminding the president and the Justice Department of this for years. If the president simply orders his attorney general to prosecute violations of the law he will demonstrate common sense that gets things done. He could then dispense with the rhetoric designed to please Mr. Bloomberg and get on with dealing with the crime confronting the cities left to the not-so-tender mercies of brigands, assassins and thugs.
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