The President delivered the first state of the union address of his second term tonight before a packed house that included members of both houses of Congress, conspicuously sprinkled with gun violence survivors. And many in the crowd were ostentatiously wearing kelly green Sandy Hook remembrance ribbons for the cameras’ benefit. Among the many pet initiatives and a sotto voce declaration of ‘mission accomplished,’ Mr. Obama made sure to include a call for Congress to vote on new gun control laws . . .

On his wish list of civilian disarmament measures were, as expected, “commone sense reforms” like eliminating “weapons of war” from the streets and universal background checks because “this time it’s different.” Because our “police are tired of being outgunned.” Gabby Giffords and the families of Newtown and Aurora, he shouted over applause, “deserve a vote.”

Also as expected, the President’s call for the abrogation of the people’s Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms was greeted with an enthusiastic standing ovation by members of his own party along with a practiced look of concern and dutiful applause from his Vice President behind him. In short, nothing about the speech — firearms-wise — will come as a surprise to the People of the Gun. Plus ça change . . . .

Transcript excerpt of President Obama’s Remarks: [via CNN]:

Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource – our children.

It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans – Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment – have come together around commonsense reform – like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because they are tired of being outgunned.

Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. If you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun.

One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.

Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.

Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.

The families of Newtown deserve a vote.

The families of Aurora deserve a vote.

The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote.

Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. Indeed, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

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106 COMMENTS

  3. The last time I checked, the Newtown and Aurora incidents occurred in Gun Free Zones, where the most strict gun control we have is already in effect. Shockingly, signs and laws were ineffective in stopping deranged killers. To Obama, the clear response is to enact more signs and laws, and millions of dollars in EO’s. I thought he wasn’t a good choice in 2008 and my opinion has not changed. Incidentally, I started stocking up on guns and ammo the first time he was elected.

    • A81, BHO is following the AH playbook, marginalizing your enemies. We gun owners and more specifically black gun owners are responsible for the mayhem wrought by others.We have been systematically positioned by virtue of ownership and are by definition irresponsible and therefore dangerous to our fellow citizens.The paint brush BHO and others use will leave the uninformed with the inescapeable conclusion that we too must be reined in. BHO is a dangerous concoction of populist,progressive and despot in training . Sir,your intuitive distrust is well validated. Be Safe down there.

      • I bought my first Semi-auto rifle in 2009. It was a 400 Dollar Saiga in 7.62×39. I got a few goodies for it too. Then I bought a bunch of ammo and didn’t fire the gun once because ammo was in short supply. I deployed and I have still yet to fire it and moved to the occupied territories. (MA) Ammo is still scarce!

    • ‘a guy i know’ was hoping nugent would live up to his promises. Can i say that online? Is that a drone? Wait, my cabin is on fire.

      • [I know the above was a joke]

        I would condemn any attempt on anyone’s life, but I’m a bit surprised that someone has not tried it. Probably shows that the secret service are doing a wonderful job, and I hope they continue to do so.

        Putting aside moral issues, removing BHO like that might hurt the country more than help. First, Biden would then take over. That’s probably enough said right there, and Valerie Jarrett and crew would probably retain the real power anyway. Second, the bastard would then become a martyr, eternally powerful.

        BHO needs to be taken down, but with logic, with reason, and with the ridicule he so richly deserves.

    • It doesn’t seem possible. The level of apathy in the U.S. is Obama’s biggest ally. An entire country is allowing a Chicago crook to piss all over the Constitution and applauding him for it. He adeptly capitalizes on the current era of child worship and no one seems to notice. And these same children he purports to care about will have to live on in the fascist country he’s creating. A snake charmer—-you betcha. Don’t look him in the eyes.

      • Apathetic? I think his supporters and voters are very enthusiastic about getting more stuff, and keeping their guns until the suburbs don’t have any. They went to the polls, unlike so many ‘conservative’ but ambivalent people. There’s apparently enough stupid to go around.

        • Fair enough. I was a little careless with how I worded that. Yes, Obama’s active supporters are very enthusiastic–I agree 100%. The apathy I’m referring to is practiced by those who don’t even know that their rights are diminishing daily. These people aren’t paying attention and are not voting. By default they become Obama’s allies without even knowing it. Their apathy enables this crook to remain in office.

      • We as a nation have been primed for this push for generations by the public school system and the teacher’s unions which control it.

        Teach your kids the Constitution and what it means, so they don’t just accept the status quo. Help them understand the Alinsky tactics of the enemy, not only to shrug them off but also to use them (to the extent our morals allow; like it or not we are more limited here than are the leftists if we want to keep our souls).

        These are the days of the Empire. Plant the seeds of liberty in the mind of your little Luke or Lea.

    • Lone Ranger: “Tonto, Tonto, the Indians have us surrounded!”
      Tonto: “What do you mean “we,” white man.
      What do you mean “we,” Ralph?

  7. “conspicuously sprinkled with gun violence survivors”
    Gun Violence?
    GUN violence?

    Really Dan, you’re buying into the rhetoric too? Tools don’t matter and as long as we create/accept and propagate the red-herring category of “gun” violence (guns being the focus) rather than addressing the real problem of just plain old “violence” we’re never going to get anywhere.

  8. Police Usually carry handguns and only long guns when they are expecting trouble. If someone attacks a police officer with a long gun when the officer is not expecting it, the officer will be outgunned. Does president Obama want to ban all semi-auto rifles, even rifles that are equivalent to rifles used by law enforcement because officers can be surprised and temporarily outgunned.

      • If the officer is expecting a fight, the officer can bring a long gun from the car. If however, the officer is surprised while on foot by an attacker with a long gun, the officer will be outgunned. The latter is the type of situation I think president Obama is referring to when he talks about “criminals outgunning cops”.

        • The logical end result of your hypthetical is that we have police officers on foot patrol in full miltary kit with rifle at the ready. At that point, the difference between our society and German society before and during WWII will be nonexistent. I pass.

      • Mark,
        Obama said that citizens should not be allowed to own firearms that can let them outgun police officers. Since he is not suggesting that officers patrol with rifles, I believe he wants to ban all firearms that a criminal can use to outgun a police officer who is armed with a handgun.

        Obama essentially said that he wants to ban all semi-auto rifles.

  9. every person in LA county that has been raped, beaten, robed, or killed deserves a vote on wether or not it should be possible to get a ccw permit BEFORE you are a victim of a violent crime.

  10. Bing Pulse showed that Obama bottomed out with Independents and Republicans on his gun control shpiel … And also on “comprehensive immigration reform”.

    He didn’t really go positive, even with Demonrats on ANY topic he spoke to.

    • His attempts to split the Republicans might well backfire here, and split the Democrats instead. How much do you want to bet that red and purple state (D) senators are sweating when they contemplate facing their constituents after pushing some of this agenda?

      Well, that could be wishful thinking on my part. The percentage of voting-age sheep have been steadily increasing.

  11. Obama runs a great election organization. Nobody can mobilize young low information voters like him. However, when it comes to dealing with pros he falls flat on his face. He folded a winning hand on taxes and the budget in December to an unappreciated bluff by John Boehner. He now has his minions admitting that sequestration was a ploy to trap the House Republicans but he is the one who is cornered on the budget. Does he really think that the House Republicans are going to give him the time of day on gun control? Reid will never move a Senate bill that won’t pass the House and Barry knows it. It’s all theater.

    • Scary theater nonetheless. Kinda theater of theater this time. You see the sycophantic audience cheering its own destruction. Yippee!

      Washington really is a bubble. Powerful dingbats the lot of them.

      • While ‘promoting’ a gadfly to the position where they can do the least damage might seem like a good strategy at the state level, when every state does it, you end up with Congress.

        We need term limits. At least then we would have new people to be annoyed at every few years.

      • Even if it’s theater, this bubble effect is scary and potentially damaging. The beltway bubble might well have contributed to Chief Justice Roberts doing his bizarre turn-around on Obama Care. I can’t think of any other likely explanation (unless he received a picture of a loved one taken through a rifle scope, a picture of him tied up by a hooker in an S&M dungeon, or something similar).

    • Probably so, but some of us are still going to lose our rights at the State level.

      Hell, we already have a [cosmetic] AWB, mandatory registration of all purchases at the State and local level, waiting periods (unless you have a pistol permit) and background checks for all transfers. We only beat NY, MAss and NJ because we don’t/didn’t have a mag cap limit.

      So the antis almost have to go the whole hog – they’ve painted themselves with the blood of children and they think they deserve some victories.

  13. I dislike this man so much. How does a free nation elect a spineless hypocrite twice?
    What have the millions of law abiding citizens done to this man and the Democratic party to be assailed and hated so much? Why do our rights have to be compromised?
    Oh yeah, because individual freedoms is what scares them the most.
    I am so ashamed that this nation reelected this poor excuse of a man. A dishonest, arrogant power hungry awful man. We must vote everyone of these losers out of office. They are a disgrace.

    • “How does a free nation elect a spineless hypocrite twice?”

      You answered your own question.

      We’re not a free nation.

  14. Obama has been saying the same BS lies for the lat 5 years. Studies show, experts all agree, polls show, overwhelming Americans agree all followed by a big fat lie. In fact the latest Gallup polls say the exact opposite of what Obama wants on pretty much everything, including gun control. I maybe can understand falling for his lies in 08 but you have to be a complete idiot to vote for him again in 12.

  15. He also spoke about sensible spending cuts, and then lists a dozen new programs. Explain that one to me??
    They deserve a vote, that is the best you can come up with? Seriously???

    • Actually, it is politically smart. Gun control measure has been proposed, he knows some agree and some don’t, but let Congress decide (and take the heat). Put it to a vote and let the chips fall where they may. Folks, we are playing a winner take all end game. If these measures go down to defeat, they are not likely to reappear in the next four years. And if hey pass,they will be tied up in litigation for the next four years. He can’t lose on this one, politically speaking, a rare opportunity indeed.

      • Though HE might not lose, its up to us to hold many of his peers accountable in 14′. Cant believe so many voted for ‘Barry the turd’ for the SECOND time.
        Crazy libtard morons.

      • Yep. And the mere advocacy on the gun issue solidifies his base for the 2014 mid-terms. This country isn’t so complicated. IF the Republican party voting base could accept the freedom of women to choose, they would have won the last election and would be carrying every other issue in the legislature. I don’t get it. It isn’t my fault.

        • Conservatives must leave social issues alone. While I aint crazy about abortion, as long as I am not forced to pay for it, with tax dollars, I say let the trend (abortions going down) continue. I think that crazy SOB (howling) Howard Dean said (on Bill Maher show) it aint a baby until its delivered….(wow).

        • So, we have to accept mass infanticide to emass enough votes to prevent gun control that leads to democide?
          Sounds like Election Day … Choose the “lesser” of the evils.
          No thanks, I’ll fight for what’s morally correct on both issues.

        • They don’t even need to accept it. Take a lesson from the enemy and adopt an incremental approach. One thing at a time and build momentum.

          Of course, that approach will alienate the conservatives for whom abortion is the most important issue. I certainly don’t have the data and resources to know what is best here.

        • The problem is, when many conservatives talk about some of these issues, it blows up in their face and we lose house seats (like legitimate rape or whatever).

  16. Not different this time polls show and the march of gun owners is prof this is not different. We must keep the pressure up on congress to kill DiFis bill!!!!

  18. Rise up people. Make a stand or they are going to take our rights away. They want to make criminals out of us, so they can impose their rule. They will have way, keep us repressed so we have to depend on them for everything. Wow raise the minimum wage all the way up to 9 bucks so we can be upper poverty. Play on the emotions to get the disarmament thing started, because if they get the inch they’ll go for the whole arsenal leaving them protected by the LEO who if they feel out gunned they just call in for more backup so they’re not out gunned anymore. He is a great speaker, I almost believed him, NOT. They are coming after the guns, all of them you can bet on it. They don’t want to work for us they want to work on us, to turn our way of life into a new one world order, and they can’t do that if we are still free.

  19. This man is ever so confusing…he says claims people deserve a vote, but denies the vote by spewing executive orders. That’s it. I give up. Which line do I get in for my loaf of bread?

    • How many EOs has Obama issued, and how does that compare to historical averages?

      How many of his EOs have been reversed in court for exceeding Presidential authority?

      How many of his EOs directly affect firearms ownership?

      If you actually knew the answers to these questions, you wouldn’t make idiotic statements like the one above. How are we supposed to fight this stuff if people get distracted by BS like this?

      • His EO tactics are only the beginning of his ‘game’, my friend. This POS plays on ALL levels, and he plays for keeps. Many believed he wouldnt touch guns with a ten foot pole before the school shooting. Hell, many effing morons on THIS VERY FORUM voted for the pig (no clue about economics, or Barrys ‘game’). You just wait for the next shooting. These pigs play for keeps, and they can move on a dime or do things over a decade ‘Chinese Commie style’.

  20. Alpha, he has a point. He’s not Conceding defeat, but rather pointing out the utter hypocrisy in very simple and clear terms. I doubt James has any plans for a bread line in his future. A sense of humor is a wonderful thing, you know. Check it out some time.

    • I just get tired of the “Emperor Obama rules by 900 EOs per day” meme that seems to endlessly circulate among people who dislike him, when it’s so fscking easy to spend 5 minutes learning the truth.

      Dislike him for his policies, and for how his party’s extremists are doing their level best to gut the 2nd Amendment. Don’t waste our time repeating distracting bullshyt that’s provably false.

      I will freely admit that I’m humor-impaired tonight. Possibly because I’m too muscle-sore to go get the spiced rum out of the cabinet, and I’m all out of ginger ale…

  21. How in Gods name are semiauto rifles ‘weapons of war’ and 11-30 round standard magazines ‘massive’? Crazy, psychotic, libtard turd can go to hell…..in the name of the effing ‘children’. Ah, but we allowed them to frame the madness with the term ‘assault rifle’ being put into the popular lexicon, and the sheeples brain. How did an intermediate powered machine gun that is effective in full auto and at shorter ranges (where most modern engagements occure) become lumped with the semiauto rifle that most civilians and police use? This is the triumph of the evil leftist mind. Law enforcement who wish to remove these semiauto rifles and standard pistol magazines from the hands of the citizenry are traitorous morons who must be destroyed.

    • Yep. Lots of gun guys thought “assault weapon” sounded pretty cool. Lots of manufacturers thought so, too. I still believe the first use of the term applied to a semi-auto AR was by Guns & Ammo magazine. You know, the guys sexing up the Third Reich-defeating Nip-vaporizing 1911 howitzer. It worked. It sold guns.

      • In any case, the ‘assault rifle’ meme is the anti-gunners most deadly card. What makes me lose my effing mind is when law enforcement use it to defang the citizenry and thereby remove the teeth of the 2nd amendment. It really makes you hate and distrust the cops when it should be a partnership because there is no way they can be there when you need them (and they damn well know it). They mainly clean up the mess and find the culprit after the fact.

        • Always remember that cops, with few exceptions, don’t want anyone to have guns except for themselves and their fellow officers. Guns in the hands of non-LEOs make them nervous. Further, police are trained to control every situation–and having uncontrolled guns around is not part of that equation.

        • I get that Mark, but cops are citizens too and should realize that the law abiding vast majority make their jobs easier in keeping crime down and the republic safer from a potential tyrannical ‘Big Gov’.

  22. Well, seeing as Jackson thinks the AR-15 is a particle beam cannon, it’s not hard to see how easily these guys can be sold on stupid.

  23. The war against America has begun
    Winging about How or Where death comes, weather your loved ones will survive,,,the Nation survives, buy a shove,l and use it!
    Buy a shovel, and use it

  25. Rubio did rebuke Obama’s gun comments, but not very much. Then again, he was clearly very thirsty, maybe we should’ve sent him one of those AK Bottles?

  28. Politicians are rabid, mean-spirited dogs. They can’t help it. They’re born evil and power-hungry and do their best to follow that twisted lifestyle.

    The people who deserve the blame are the American people for being despicable, idiotic, morally-bankrupt morons asleep at the wheel and unwilling to be defenders of liberty.

    So, Obama, no sense hating you. You’re a dog, unworthy of the consideration.

    But, America, F— you. The only comfort I get is knowing you’ll all suffer and eventually die in misery, finally appreciating the truth of the adage that says those who have never been without freedom can’t possibly know how vital it is to defend.

    • I agree with the emotion, with one correction. Even if the absolute worst of everyone’s fears eventually come true (e.g., collapsed dollar > riots > martial law > People’s Socialist Republic of North America), many idiots (like San Fransisco yuppies for instance) will dig their own mass graves, kneel in front of them, and take a bullet in the back of the head blaming the wrong people the whole time.

    • Well, yes, but many will go down still blaming the wrong people. They’ll wait in bread lines at midnight on the way home from their crappy state-assigned jobs, cursing the Republicans for ruining the country. They’ll sit around poorly finished tables in their tiny assigned apartments and curse the greedy 1%. And they’ll raise their glasses of caustic state-produced whiskey in a toast to Obama, who will be far from the congested urban sprawl into which the plebes have been concentrated in the name of sustainability. And Obama, kicking back at his spacious dacha, will laugh his ass off.

    • dont insult dogs…

      obama is neither loyal or good.

      he is lower than a dogs excrement. somewhere along the lines of scum on a truckstop bathroom toilet alongside his other globalist, banking buddies.

      “But, America, F— you. The only comfort I get is knowing you’ll all suffer and eventually die in misery, finally appreciating the truth of the adage that says those who have never been without freedom can’t possibly know how vital it is to defend.”

      This sounds cold but i actually agree. Americans will reap the rotten seeds they have sewn. the only thing i dont like is that, like crabs in a bucket, theyll pull me down with them despite me doing everything in my power to do the right thing.

  29. If Hadiya gets a vote, and Gabby Giffords gets a vote, and Mark Kelly gets a vote, I wonder how he thinks Chris Kyle would have voted?

  30. The part about the girl being shot in Chicago is a lie, plain and simple. It never happened because guns are not allowed in Chicago. How could anyone get a gun into the city of Chicago when there is a piece of paper saying that law-abiding peop…. ahh, I bet it was a criminal, only those who do not abide by the laws can have guns in Chicago, ahh, now it makes sense. All right, never mind.

  31. “Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. ”

    Indeed Mr. President, your proposed measures will in fact cause a net increase in senseless acts of violence.

  32. I no longer use the term “assault” as anything other than a verb. When referring to AR-15 type rifles I call them “really scary looking black rifles.”

  33. How about asking the people in new york or chicago if they want to defend themselves instead of being a victim?

  34. “Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun.”

    Wow. That must be some bullet.

  35. “Overwhelming majorities of Americans – Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment – have come together around commonsense reform – like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun.”
    THE ONLY WAY WE COMBAT THIS BULL IS TO CONTACT OUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS AND LET THEM KNOW IT ISN’T JUST THE NRA. THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY IS BEING IGNORED. IT IS THE SQUEEKY WHEEL THAT IS GETTING THE ATTENTION. CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS NOW. BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

    • I find it amazing (not surprising) that the President would invite survivors of Newtown and Aurora, yet not invite one of the countless citizens that used guns for self defense. In this month alone the self-defense numbers have dwarfed last year’s homicide rate (regardless of what was used). And whether ‘Universal Background checks’ will make it harder for criminals to get guns is debatable. It is however not debatable that ‘Universal Background Checks’ will make it more difficult for private citizens to sell their property to other private citizens. The Police are certainly not outgunned, just ask Dorner. And a semi-automatic sport version of the M-4 (AR-15) certainly isn’t a weapon of war. It may look like one, but if you are going to ban things on their appearance then I guess we need to arrest all women who wear miniskirts and look seductive going to the club, because they are prostitutes because the “look” like one to some people. If you are on this website I’m probably preaching to the choir. Sorry venting….

  36. Police tired of being outgunned? I suppose those police don’t have automatic ARs or MP5s, truly high powered sniper rifles, flack jackets, gas masks, clubs, stun guns, pepper spray and now as a gift from DHS, they have been given tanks, armored personnel carriers and other high power TRULY military weapons, not military “style”. They also have the authority, as given by the government (a minority, not the majority…. of citizens) to use all of their arsenals against American citizens. Outgunned? That’s the most ridiculous statement I’ve heard in a long time but comes as no surprise. This gun control stuff is an obvious precursor to tyranny. Just think about all the “little” things Obama has done in plain sight. Patriot Act renewal, NDAA, drones patrolling our skies, limiting free speech, etc. All in the name of a a nebulous terror threat. A little bit of over reaction compared to the amount of actual terrorist acts we’ve seen on our soil. These are all precursors to tyranny as well. The final step is disarming the population. Obama either wants to start a civil war or doesn’t realize he will start a civil war if he tries to take guns from Americans. In order for his plan to work he must pit citizen against citizen. Have we seen anything more divisive than this whole gun control issue? Mission accomplished.

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