Obama's Continued Dissimulation

I've written about this before, but a quote I read in an article from yesterday has energized me to revisit this issue. Previously I had examined his statements relative to his past actions. Today I'd like to compare his campaign rhetoric to his published issue positions.

Here's what the Obamanator said recently as reported in "Working for the Working Class Vote":

“I just want to be absolutely clear, O.K.? I just don’t want any misunderstanding when you all go home and you talk with your buddies, and they say, ‘Oh, he wants to take my gun away.’ You heard it here, and I’m on television, so everybody knows. 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.

Here is what his official issue position says on the same topic:

As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

This is gun control bigger, better, more wonderful. A new AWB would be much more encompassing than the old one as its proponents have vowed to close the kind of loopholes that were in the old one. "Childproof" is an gun-ban code word for various proposed smart locks and individually coded interlocks that are fundamentally flawed in various ways. No such guns exist in the marketplace nor will they given their flaws. Closing the gun show loophole effectively means the end of private party sales driving up prices and enabling further gun control via dealer regulation.

His Tihart amendment position is flat out based on falsehood. Law enforcement does have access to all the gun trace information they need to trace guns used in crimes. What they, and this is primarily the BATF, do not have now is access to gun trace information for the purposes of harassing law abiding citizens, confiscation, dealer and manufacturer lawsuits and other anti-2A purposes.

I will grant that nothing in his position statement absolutely states that existing guns will be taken away from people, but making guns child-proof and reinstating the AWB would make the possession of certain guns illegal. The unanswered question is whether all of his gun control measures would contain grandfather clauses to "protect" existing owners. Without "grandfather" clauses his proposed legislation would make criminals of existing gun owners. I'm not willing to bet on that, particularly with regard to the AWB.

What is worse is what he does not say. According to his stated position American would no longer be able to buy many types of handguns, rifles and even shotguns that can currently be bought. People who have guns now likely would be able to keep them, but few new ones could be bought. Imagine a country where our children will be subject to a declining and increasing expensive number of firearms to protect themselves and their rights. And of course, criminals will always be able to get guns because they do not abide by the laws intended to restrict their acquisition of guns.

I continue to conclude that Obamarama is a liar in intent if not in letter. We've seen Joe The Plumber take him on regarding taxes. Now we need a Billy The Hunter to ask the same kind of hard question regarding the 2nd Amendment.