Mr. Andy Mullins, executive assistant to the chancellor, recently responded to a column of mine in a letter to the editor.
In this letter, Mr. Mullins asked, “What recent attempts to pass gun control legislation have there been?” Since I have been challenged to provide information on government attempts and desires to limit Second Amendment rights, I will do such in this setting.
If you have been paying attention at all to the new administration, you should be quite aware that gun control is a high priority.
Ok, so President Obama has said he doesn’t want to discuss the assault weapons ban at the moment.
This isn’t because Obama doesn’t want such legislation to pass. Instead, it is simply because he doubts the legislation could pass Congress at this time.
Essentially, President Obama and his administration favor vast gun control legislation. If given the opportunity, Obama will sign away our Second Amendment rights with the stroke of a pen. If you don’t believe me, examine the evidence for yourself.
President Obama has long been in favor of extremely restrictive gun ownership laws.
As a candidate for the Illinois Senate, Obama responded to a questionnaire which asked if he supported using state legislation to ban handguns and assault weapons and to institute waiting periods and background checks.
To each of these questions, Obama answered, “yes.”
While serving in the Illinois Senate, Obama opposed legislation which would allow citizens to defend themselves against home invaders, regardless of whether their city had ordinances against handgun possession.
In 2000, he co-sponsored a bill which would have limited Illinois residents to only one purchase of a handgun per month.
It is no secret that both President Obama and Vice President Biden want to overly restrict our right to bear arms.
Even the White House Web site asserts that both support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
Obama’s appointment of Attorney General Eric Holder also serves as a guide to the true feelings of the new administration on the issue of gun ownership.
Attorney General Holder believes the right to bear arms is not individual in nature. Instead, the right applies only in the collective sense.
He said such in a brief supporting the District of Columbia in a Supreme Court case.
This does get us to the D.C. handgun ban doesn’t it?
During the debate over the constitutionality of such a ban, Obama’s campaign stated that Obama believes we can recognize and respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and the right of local communities to enact common sense laws to combat violence and save lives.
Obama believes the D.C. handgun law is constitutional.
Not surprisingly, public outrage led him to backtrack.
Even after backtracking, Obama still couldn’t say he opposed the D.C. handgun ban.
When asked about it at a debate in Philadelphia by moderator Charlie Gibson, Obama responded, “Well Charlie, I confess I obviously haven’t listened to the briefs and looked at all the evidence.”
What evidence is there to examine, besides the fact that D.C. legislated away its residents’ rights to own handguns and to protect themselves from home invasion?
Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to uphold the Second Amendment by overturning the outrageous handgun ban.
President Obama, Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder and several prominent Democratic senators are in support of legislation which would excessively limit gun ownership rights. This issue has not been moved to the forefront because there is still enough opposition in Congress to pass such restrictive legislation.
The Republicans certainly aren’t the only ones in opposition to such legislation. Recently, 65 House Democrats announced their opposition in a letter to Holder.
We possess an individual right to keep and bear arms, they said.
This right should not be legislated away as some have already attempted. It is a fact that, in recent months, legislation has been introduced in Congress which would, among other things, allow the federal government to require all gun owners to obtain a federal license.
Another restrictive portion of the legislation would allow the attorney general to inspect any place, during business hours, where guns are manufactured or sold.
Perhaps, the most outrageous provision is the practical outlawing of gun ownership for individuals with children.
So Mr. Mullins, over the last few years there have been many different attempts to legislate away our right to own guns, or at least certain types of them.
The founders of these great United States of America understood that we, as citizens, need to maintain the right to “keep and bear arms.” We cannot allow our rights, or our guns, to be taken from us.
We must always stand against the attempts of government to legislate away our rights.
--As Appeared in The Daily Mississippian on Monday, April 27, 2009
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