“President Barack Obama marked the anniversary of the Newtown school shootings today by calling for tighter gun control and expanded mental health care,” dailymail.co.uk reports. Only not in so many words. In his weekly video address [click here for text] the President asserted that “We have to do everything we can to protect our children from harm—except arm them against the evil people who would steal their lives.” OK, I added that last bit. But that’s how it is. And here’s how it ain’t . . .

“Real change won’t come from Washington,” the President demurred. “It will come the way it’s always come. From you. OK, yes, I have issued executive orders on gun control and changed the Affordable Health Care Act without Congressional authorization. But I blame you for the failure to pass universal background checks at the federal level. You and the NRA.”

Sorry if I seem flippant, but I’m pissed. The President should have offered condolences to the friends and family of Sandy Hooks victims, not used their pain as a platform to push a political agenda. What a small-minded man.

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92 COMMENTS

    • There is truth to this, but it risks eliminating the distinction between politicians. Obama is no Reagan or even JFK. His speech and actions here come from a lifelong following of leftist ideas, and a decades-long involvement with the Joyce Foundation which is dedicated to eliminating privately owned guns. (He gravitated to them because of philosophical compatibility; they did not “corrupt” him.)

      Obama distinctly dislikes Americans’ protected status; that we have rights guaranteed by (not created by) our Constitution. So he says: “We must change.”

      It occurs to me that “Hope and Change” are the two sides of the Obama see-saw. The more successful he is at Change, the more America loses Hope.

      His greatest virtue, from the standpoint of America, is his almost complete incompetence. In this way, too, he is not like Reagan or Kennedy — and for this we can be thankful.

      ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

      • He is not incompetent. He is doing exactly what he wants. If it looks like incompetence, then it is designed to look like incompetence. The only variable factor in if he succeeds or fails is how strongly the American people react to the outcome of his policies.

  4. Just a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit with no real plan of action. Time for EVERYONE in Washington to be voted out! Instill term limits for every representative and senator. One term then they must sit out for two terms before being eligible to run again. They shouldn’t get paid a salary. They get an office, $250 a week for food and expenses and free government health care. Time to make it a civic duty again and not a career. THEN change will happen.

    • I agree and the only way to do this is through the States. The senate would never pass a bill that limits their power but the States can pass an amendment to the constitution that does. Mark Levin has done all the research for us, we just need to put the plan into action. It’s all in his books and he talks about it daily on his how.

  5. I’m not surprised! Usually the bodies haven’t hit the floor before the Liberals are quipping about more gun control.

    What I’m afraid of is this buffoon of a president enacting gun control by executive action. Even with all our wins politically and legally the United States is nearer total confiscation of firearms now than at anytime in history!

    • not true the Brits tried taking firearms and ammo from Americans .. so Americans said no and ment it

  6. Background checks don’t work. Most of the recent mass shooter passed them.

    Mental health initiatives might help, but at some point someone will slip through the net.

    Gun free zones are an atrocity. They are a target painted on the backs of those who reside in them.

    The only solution is to have a gun readily available to meet the threat of an active shooter. That means armed civilians. As many as possible. In as many places as possible.

    I’d be willing to protect children, with my life if necessary. And so would most of you. So how about that national CCW permit, Mr. President? How about abolishing those gun free zones?

    If training is an issue, I’ll happily go through the same training regimen that cops do, and I’ll even pay for it out of my own pocket.

    • “Mental health initiatives might help, but at some point someone will slip through the net. ”

      No!!! No such thing will ever “help.” It’s not about “slip[ping] through the net,” it’s about there being a “net” at all – what happens when they decree that dissent is insane by [their] definition? “What? You don’t luuuuuv Our Glorious Beloved Infallible Leader? You must be crazy, a threat to society, and must be locked up as a danger to law and order!”

      The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. However, there is no right to commit crimes. Imprisoning people because they’re not “thinking right” is Evil. Let people be as crazy as they want to be, but stop them from doing any observable harm to others. As the sovereign owners of their lives, they even have a right to harm themselves, if they so choose.

      “Protecting people from themselves” is one of the most insidious agendas of what amounts to stealth tyranny.

      • I give you as proof the fact that several major city police departments (NYPD immediately comes to mind, but there are others) and the DHS are exploring the use of “crime predicting” software. Because “The computer can’t be wrong.”

    • Here is a possible solution to the “Target painted on your back” in a gun free zone – start distributing T-shirts with the words on the front “I am not a victim!” and on the back “I MAY be carrying a concealed weapon!”

      If enough people wore these, whether or not they were carrying, the GFZ lovers, LEOs, and especially the bad guys would become so confused that they would have to either stop and search everyone with a shirt or just give up and look for victims elsewhere.

    • Id rather have another gun I “cant” afford now.
      Then send him any more of my taxes I cant afford.

    • Mission accomplished.

      As I walked out of the gun store with my new friend, I yelled “Suck It, Obama” and the owner said “that sounds like a Merry Christmas to me!”

  8. He’s a second term President that is losing his base support due to several issues that have come to light over the past year. In his political strategy, gun control is the single uniting issue for his base of Progressive ideologues. It will be intersting if he actually tries to use that issue as the DNC life raft going into 2014. It will also be interesting to see how his party may fracture more than the current RNC due to his failed policies and fabricated “truths”.

    • If he thinks he can paper over the Obamacare fiasco by uniting his supporters to push Gun Control he’s a fool.

      The midterms are going to be an electoral armageddon for the Democrats. There isn’t anything Obama is willing to do* to that will stop it. The big challenge is going to be making sure the Republicans understand that they won because the opposition shot itself in the foot, NOT because the voters are enthusiastically endorsing the (R) agenda.

      *Repeal might do the trick, but the man is to proud to put his own signature on a bill repealing his ‘signature accomplishment’.

  9. The NRA is one of the problems, the President should be proud to have them on his side. The NRA supported the recent extension for the undetectable weapons act. Hell, Gottlieb and the SAF tried to help out the president with universal background checks.

  10. Obama’s just pissed because his first covert attempt failed (Fast and Furious),and his overt attempt crashed and burned.

    It’s almost like he’s realizing what millions of us knew long ago-that hes a failure at life, and a failure as a President.

    • Unfortunantley, we live in an era where previous Presidents that wiped their asses with the Constitution are fondly remembered and held up as yard sticks for future Chief Executives.

    • He’s only failing if you believe him when he says he wants good things for America. If you believe his real motives are more in line with the ‘fundamental transformation’ peek behind the curtain, he’s painfully successful.

      • Please do. I heard it somewhere else a long time ago. So I am not the originator. But it fits Obama like a glove.

        • Bette Midler in the movie Beaches.

          I hate that I actually know that. I’m gonna have to do something extra manly today to make up for it.

        • “… something extra manly today”

          Treat your lady to an extra-classy romantic dinner followed by a foot massage/back rub/bubble bath, then make long, slow, sweet sweet love with her all night long. Tell her she’s your reason for living.

  12. Together! We can Change!
    (Hope and Change – part deux)

    So we have the following notes to achieve the goal of “walking the streets free from fear”:
    1) Keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people
    2) Love the children – care for everyone’s children like they are your own
    3) Heal troubled minds

    Now… who would like to guess which of those he would like to address first? Is he going to have “love the children – care for everyone’s children” legislation? “Heal troubled minds” legislation? Or… Gun control legislation?

  13. No surprise here. His political capital is spent an overdrawn, all he’s got left is trying to get a knee jerk emotional “call to action.”
    He blew his wad on healthcare and had the rest leeched off, thanks to the NSA scandals. Nobody’s listening.

  14. But I blame you for the failure to pass universal background checks at the federal level. You and the NRA. Because I’m a perfect immortal messiah. Therefor, nothing can be my fault. If I had the power to dominate you’re neighbors then I could have made everything better. But you insist on having rights and privacy, so you will be at risk. But remember it’s not my fault, it’s your fault.

  16. Small-minded is the nicest thing you can say about him. He’s some pathologic combination of incompetent, viciously divisive, and deceitful.

  17. He’s not worried about security so why should we?
    Kumbaya indeed.
    How about fixing the broke ass health care debacle and dealing with real problems about to bankrupt the country?

  19. Listening to Melisa Harris-Perry on MSNBC this morning (yeah, yeah, shut up already…) and the “discussion” turned to armed guards in schools…. Apparently this would be bad because “what if they defender missed the bad guy and shot a kid”. This is the inevitable “argument” they present, that 1 child shot by accident is worse than 26 KILLED ON PURPOSE. The empirical evidence thus suggests that Anti-defense people failed basic math at the elementary school level, and they have no empathy or basic humanity. Fornicate those useless bints with a cactus. They should all be put in a remedial third-grade class, completely undefended, of course.

  20. “We have to change…” I’m pretty sure he means, “you” when he says that. Such arrogance and ignorance; not a pretty combo.

    So we are the problem, all the desperate “clingers” and gun-loving psychopaths – what our Founders referred to as “citizens” – are the reason America faces a “gun violence” problem. I guess if we just do what the president says, everything will be ok and the land will be forever filled with plenty and rainbows and unicorns will fill our skies. Wow. How could I have missed the truth of this?

    Mr. President, let me make this very clear: “we” are the solution because the only recourse in a world where evil raises its head every so often is to be personal prepared to deal with it when it comes. Bad things happen, even to good people. Such is life today, which is as life has always been. Yes, good people try to remove as much risk as possible. Smart, responsible people balance the risk with the cost in terms of freedom. Really smart, responsible people also commit to mitigating the effects of evil on good people. Such is how life will always be.

    You are correct in a way, Mr. President. Responsibility for fixing this does lay with us, the citizens, to protect ourselves and our loved ones and our communities from evil. It begins with commitment to personal responsibility. It continues with being a citizen – a free adult rather than a subject. As a citizen, I really wish you understood that.

  21. “I am not Newtown. Newtown refused to properly defend their children, and to take care of their community members, and I am not to blame simply because I own guns similar to those used in that incident. I am NOT Newtown.”

    I posted this to FB a few days ago. Anti’s lost their damn minds.

  22. My YouTube response:

    Another thinly veiled attempt at gun control, wrapped in a package of compassion. Mr President, your children are protected by armed secret service members, while most school children are defenseless in gun free zones. We believe “I’m not coming for your guns” just as much as we believe “If you like your current health insurance, you can keep your current health insurance.” When I’m out and about, the guns locked up in my safe won’t protect me from an armed psychopath. My cell phone will not protect me, nor will a police officer a mile away. Accurate return fire against an armed assailant is my best defense. That’s exactly what your secret service agents would do for you and your children, yet you would happily deny us that right.

    I have a feeling that my response will be “moderated” away into non-existence, so I’ll record it here.

    • If laws are subjected upon the people that are not required to be enforced by those who created the legislation… Doesn’t that make us /subjects/, not citizens?

  23. I live in CT. and have seen over the past few days that this state’s Senators, congresspeople and Governor are using the anniversary of this tragic event to further their political objectives. They all rushed to the scene to be seen on tv on the day of the event. It was almost comical at the time watching them jockey for position during the news conferences. Then used their access to the victims families to push for the preconceived plan. It is a very sad day today that the President stirs the blood of the victims to divert attention from the legacy of his policies.

  24. “The tragedies must end and we must change. Love will conquer evil. For that to happen, we must continue to subvert the very document that is the solution to the problem because it’s too fanatical.” Yeah, thats “change” alright. /s
    F’n amazing.

  25. To his credit in the video he didn’t mention banning “assault weapons” or mega-baby-child-capacity-seeking clipazines, just the mental stuff.

    Which, yes, slippery slope and tons of potential problems there to say the absolute LEAST, but frankly I’d rather be arguing on those grounds and arguing over that legislation than having to face more threats of outright bans and whatnot, and hopefully we can get some mental health reform out of this stuff.

  27. Dear Mr. Obama. Since there are children living in the Whitehouse, for their safety, I urge you to disarm the Secret Service bodyguards.

  29. Actually, not knowing anything about what all the affected Newtown parents are doing (I suspect that there are a few that support gun rights), one could interpret this address as a call to restore parents’ and teachers’ right to bear arms in schools. Of course you and I know that he’s heading in a different direction…
    Anarchy is looking better every day.

  31. As it turns out, Obama’s foray into gun control insanity derailed his entire second term and turned him into an instant lame duck. But you gotta hand it to Barry. He’s too stupid to know when to quit.

    • Uh, if I understand accurately, the two-term limit on presidents turned him into a lame duck. I’m worried that he’ll declare martial law and suspend the 2016 election, “For Your Safety™” or “For The Children™” or “For National Security™.”

      • While you’re technically you’re right about any term-limited politician, generally the term lame duck is reserved for those politicians who have lost influence and the ability to get things done based on their impending departure from office. It is in that spirit, “loss of influence,” that Ralph is using it.

        By strict definition, a two-term president becomes a lame duck the moment he is elected for his second term. In practice, you generally only hear it during the last 6-8 months of a presidency. Hearing it less than a year (in this case only about 6 months) into his second term is what sets Obama apart in this case.

      • I’ve heard this claim about every president after Reagan–the other side worried he’d refuse to step down.

        I don’t lend it much credence.

        • Well, you have to admit the guy is getting away with more unprecedented unconstitutional crap than any president in history – he’s made his agenda quite clear; who knows what he’s capable of?

          In any case, keep your powder dry.

  33. As an exercise in rhetoric, this video announcement amounts to an appeal to the emotions stirred by a long distant, year ago event in which a lone nutter decimated a small school.

    Barry didn’t actually say anything, he just created a mood to reflect on what can be done to prevent a recurrence. I think he is waiting for feedback to decide which way to jump. If there is an outcry in answer to his question, demanding the stripping away of gun rights, he will probably climb aboard the bandwagon.

    If as I suspect, there is a deafening silence, he will be powerless to act.

    As the leader of the “Free World” he is now an impotent eunuch. He requires the authority of mass numbers to work out his position on anything. He seems to have no mind of his own.

    I thought I was ashamed of my own Prime Minister, John Key, who was listed as an “unidentified man” at Mandela’s pre funeral celebration. America, you have voted for the quintessential politician, an utterly hollow, vacant space of a man.

    He uses one or two mottos that persuade people he is capable of action, when clearly he is not. Perhaps your political system needs reinvention.

    • “America, you have voted for the quintessential politician, an utterly hollow, vacant space of a man.”

      Well and eloquently put. We noticed that. More notice every day.

  34. Good luck to any so called “police” officer who try to violate the constitution and disarm me. Hope they bring a lot of body bags. I’m not saying I amgoing to go out and shoot anyone. However if they come to my door, well it’s on them.

  36. Simple-minded?

    Negative ghost rider, he’s a Harvard educated lawyer, not some bumbling fool.

    He knows exactly what he is doing, to underestimate him would be a mistake.

  37. We need to change? Who is this “we” he speaks of? What change are the progressives making under his vision of the future? Are they pushing for armed security for our kids (well, not mine, he’s homeschooled and mom and dad are both armed…)? Giving up the failed “gun free zone” experiment? Backing off the idiotic demonization of a tool and an exceptionally law abiding segment of society who own said tool? Of course not. The change they are willing to make themselves: None. The translation (for which no arm waving schizophrenic faux sign language interpreter is required) is “YOU need to change, and I’m here to try and force it down your throat.” No thanks.

  38. The Obama Administration – where the balance between tyranny and incompetence exist in complete harmony.

    That a– clown is so quick to stand on the graves of children to exploit their deaths for his political aims. Obama is truly a despicable human being.

  39. So I’m just noticing that a year after Sandy Hook, a shooter was able to toss a Molotov cocktail at a school, then casually stroll through the door with a shotgun and shoot someone.

    A year later and the kids and teachers of this nation aren’t the slightest bit safer.

    • If they eliminate the “gun free zones” and actually make our kids safer, they will have fewer bloody shirts to wave. Then where will they be?

  40. Well Im not surprised the lead fascist in Chief wants to have all who oppose him to lose all rights. Im sick he sits smug on those children’s graves for his Hitler agenda. He gives up on Congress wants all towns to pass gun bans. Well as RF said this isnt going out well in the state of RI where some City staff are now recalled. We won federally and we must keep fighting the fascist on local levels too.

  41. In regards to obama, “Small-minded” is an understatement, while calling him a “man” is an insult to men.

  42. Hey, Mr Farago,

    I dont know if they taught Debate at your high school, but in my school is was mandatory for graduation.
    If you have to lie about what your opponent actually said, then you really dont have an argument. Obama may very well be trying to steal our guns, but your article here probably hurts us more than it hurt him. These are exactly the kind of things gun-grabbers use against us in these arguments. Its not helping us.

    • Curiously, I am missing your point entirely. The writer above noted that, beyond the first part, he was making up the later quotes for emphasis. I do not see where he “had to lie about” what President Obama said.

      Perhaps the “here’s how it ain’t” was subtle, but the phrase is another channel marker: Those quotes, too, are part of the writer’s fabricated additions. You could say that the presidential quotes are a Farrago of fact and fancy, and are called out as such.

      As you fancy yourself a debate-trained commenter, I expect such details will be dispositive to you once pointed out.

      ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

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