“The president’s found that disappointing and frustrating, principally because he believes it’s bad public policy for us to not take commonsense steps to address what I think we all acknowledge is a pretty significant problem. The president has also been disappointed that our political system hasn’t responded in the way that he would like. There’s clear majorities in both the Democratic and Republican parties, according to many polls, for these policies. There are even some polls that indicate that there are clear majorities of gun owners that support some of these commonsense steps, but yet we haven’t seen Congress take action and that has been the source of significant frustration.” – White House spokesman Josh Earnest in White House renews calls for gun control after Virginia TV shooting [at guardian.com]

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105 COMMENTS

      • Yes Don , Barry Obama has not displayed one iota of common sense since he was elected . Common sense says , arm the reporters or have someone there to watch their back who is armed or capable of stopping or thwarting an attack by a nut case . Someone to protect them , since they are now legitimate targets for more nut cases to attack . If Barry O. does not believe this is a common sense approach then he should fire all the secret service agents that guard his communist ask , after he disarms law abiding citizens .

  2. Of the thousands of laws on the books, none of them prevented that sick SOB from murdering those two innocent people. None can.

    • While you are correct, make no mistake: THESE are the bloody shirts they’ve been waiting for. It has it all to play on the national screens (televisions and computers) for as long as they need it to: attractive white women, a black guy using a gun to kill white people, live video, social media postings, the nutj ob even recording his own actions, a president who is not up for re-election. It’s the perfect set of circumstances. The only reason you haven’t heard much, much more (yet) from the anti-gun crowd is because they’re in conference rooms and conference calls across the nation, planning and coordinating. This time, they are thinking they will, finally, be able to come for your guns.

      • I’m usually the most paranoid there is, but I just don’t see it. This isn’t the 1960s, fear of the “black man getting our white women” isn’t a powerful political motivator, at least not anywhere near as much as “those racist, white, tea partiers.” This shooter was an avid Obama supporter, gay, black, pretty much everything the media tries to ignore when it comes to shooters. It was only a double murder. Look back to Dorner, also black, killing cops…didn’t gain much traction at all with the antis. The more the left and MSM focus on this killer, the more the truth of how they created him with their sick ideology will come to light.

        Dylann Roof would have been the big one, if they were gonna do it. But the tyrant in the WH doesn’t have Senate or Congress, the public has no appetite for gun control, and it’s an election year. I just don’t see it. If Roof didn’t do it and a couple dozen murdered kids in Sandy Hook didn’t do it, I don’t see how an angry minority Obama drone is gonna do it. They’re in crisis mode with Hillary falling as it is, showing their full Nazi hand isn’t gonna do them any favors.

        Just how I see it. Would be interested to hear other opinions.

        • I tend to agree with you on this. This is a blip. It’ll come and go as soon as the media gets tired of batting it around. It doesn’t fit the progressives’ “crazy white male gun nut” stereotype, so they won’t run very far with it. The only thing that might keep it in the limelight a little longer is that the victims are in the TV business, so the other idiots on TV might obsess over it a little more than they ordinarily would, because it hits close to home for them. But as far as politics goes, this doesn’t move the needle.

          If the anti-gunners couldn’t make much progress by exploiting the Sandy Hook victims, this shooting surely isn’t going to get them anywhere.

        • A gay, black shooter doesn’t fit their narrative, this is not the slaying they’re looking for.

        • I couldn’t agree with you more. The most important factor that you site is the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate. To have a ghost of a chance to get something done the Dems need at least 2 out of 3 of the Presidency, the House, or the Senate, and they know it. Until they get that all you will see are executive orders and pressure to act at the state level.

          The real risk here is that Virginians get caught up in emotion and allow additional unconstitutional restrictions of their natural rights.

        • Too many blips Stinkeye .
          Lots of blips make a blop and blops get the mindless Among us to react like they are mindless , which is usually a bad thing for those of us with functioning synaptic organs .

        • Mark S., you’re right that it does contribute to the background noise in the gun debate, but what CGinTX said was “THESE are the bloody shirts they’ve been waiting for”, which I think is a pretty big overstatement. They’ll use it to beat the gun control drum for two days or so, and then move on. You’re right that they’re playing the long game, and hoping that enough of these incidents will add up to something big if they keep playing them up, but I don’t see this one getting any special treatment like CGinTX suggested.

          It’s kind of a risky game for the antis to play, too. Sure, publicizing these events can get some people to call for more gun (owner) control, but it can cut the other way, also, causing people to feel unsafe and deciding to take responsibility for their own personal protection. They’re trying to walk a very fine line by saying “nobody needs guns, the police will protect you” and then publicizing the hell out of these cases where the police clearly couldn’t protect anyone.

      • CGinTX,

        My first thought is similar to others that this wasn’t a big enough event. On the other hand, first-person video of the actual attack is available which amplifies the horror factor — and hence the emotional appeal for this event. Instead of just being able to say how awful and terrifying “gun violence” (whatever that means) is, now the gun-grabbers can show their minions first hand. I am 50/50 on this one.

    • Plus, since when does Congress answer to him? I remember my check and balances lecture in 7th grade Social Studies class. Representatives answer to their constituency only.

        • It really means whoever slides the most $$ under the table, but I don’t think that’s what the Civics classes meant.

      • Checks and balances disappeared the day they figured out how to breach congresses cell phone info and computer info , which is the same day they started doing it .
        If you think Jared the sub guy is screwed up , I can only imagine the crap that they have on congressmen and congresswomen and senators and Supreme Court and District Court judges and everyone else who has any position of power and that can and eventually be every voter . Washington DC is a cesspool of sex scandal and corruption where demonic forces are rampant .

        • I don’t disagree. Obama’s entire presidency has been a disappointment to most of us and probably to him too. I’m sorry you didn’t fundamentally transform America to the degree you wanted Mr. President.

    • Can’t you just wait for when it is out of office, and saying the only reason it couldn’t implement it’s agenda was because of racism.

  6. I want to know what gun owners submitted to a poll agreeing to more gun control? Unless of course the other half of the question was one hand or two?

    • Whenever I hear about these ‘polls’ I always wonder why I’ve never been included. Ever.
      Has anyone here been included?

      • Thousands, and thousands of polls, everything from what do watch on TV, to what kind of toilet paper do you wipe your ass with.
        Never been contacted by any poll taker.

        • They don’t conduct these polls in fly over country, Only inside the beltways all across America where people have already given up most of their rights for the amenities of metropolis culture and protection of the state .

  8. Why is President Zero disappointed? VLF was a supporter and modern social justice warrior, a liberal’s liberal. Good work Barack, the grievance culture you push in all its glory. Take a bow.

    • Yep. This latest incident shows exactly what sort of culture Obama and other progressives have created. Nobody wanted to confront or fire Flanagan precisely because he was black and it was very easy for him to claim discrimination. Apparently he wasn’t getting along with others at multiple TV stations he worked, people felt threatened by his actions, there were documented outbursts on his part. They had to bring in the cops to escort him out when he did get fired. But he wasn’t fired at the first sign of trouble. Maybe they wanted to give him a second chance. Or maybe, they didn’t want to get hit with a lawsuit for firing a gay black man, which is exactly what he tried to do, even though it’s becoming apparent he was the guilty party. Again, my guess is that nobody wanted to be tough on a gay, black man, because nobody wanted to be labeled as racist or homophobic. They treated this guy with kid gloves, even though he probably should have been arrested multiple times based on his past interactions with his co-workers. That’s how progressives want people to be treated. Let them get a pass no matter how they behave, as long as they’re not white. Because if they’re not white, then they’re victims by definition. And now somehow the guns and the gun culture are to blame? Give me a break.

  9. Fine, you can pass a law, no overweight, gay, black men who have been fired from a job that involves being in front of a camera after a HR complaint shall be allowed *spins wheel* muskets regardless of whether said man has had documented mental issues or criminal convictions in the past.

    That’ll last 10 years until some actually decent guy that fits that bill challenges it in court.

    Also no guns for those who commit mass murder. Pretty sure that’s already covered but it’ll give you something to do. Which you can be seen doing for the children or whatever.

    Happy now?

    • Sure , it makes perfect sense , I can see their logic as I sit and rock back and forth in my padded cell mumbling about it to myself playing with the holes in my tennis shoes where laces once were . Yes , I can see their logic and I would have to agree .

  10. Well, Josh, it’s like this:

    Against the will of the American people, Obama pulled a bullsh!t procedural trick to ram your ‘Healthcare’ law down our throats.

    The President burned his bridges on that, so you get NOTHING of what you want from Congress.

    Like a petulant two-year-old you’re throwing a tantrum.

    Children like you need to learn work on your coping skills.

    Suck on it.

    Warmest regards, The American people.

  13. 2 comments: 1. Of course we and our “political system” continue to disappoint the pres. He does not believe in our political system but would rather be king and make unilateral decisions by decree. He is not even one of us. 2. Just think; if the journalists were armed maybe, just maybe, the gunman would not have had the chance to kill them. But instead the law abiding citizen who should be free to arm themselves for protection against such people are being rallied against by the left.

  15. I wouldn’t mind these gun control nuts half as much if they just came up with new arguments.
    I’m only in my 30’s and I’ve already heard the same tripe several thousand times over.

    It’s always either outright lies, “facts” based on ignorance or proposing laws that already exist. I’m very tired of hearing the same shit over and over. They sound like Hanson raping my ears with Mmmm Bop.
    Show me something new people. Maybe politics is like fashion and if you just wait 15 years all your old shit becomes cool again?

    But then, I’m not the target audience for this. Like a shady salesman they just float around until they can find a receptive audience. The hope is that eventually there will be an audience to buy the trash they’re selling. Until then just stick to the pitch decade after decade.

    • If you’re tired of it now, wait till you’re in your late 40’s. They’ve been singing the same damned tune as long as I’ve been alive.

      During the 70’s, 80’s and even the 90’s, everyone who was anyone was singing right along with them. Sure, all the usual suspects on the left carried the tune, but back then icons of conservative right were at least lip synching along, with some singing just as loudly.

      As the 00’s rolled along, more and more Americans woke up and paid attention to the lyrics and began shouting them down. The lip synchers stopped, then the conservative statists (yes, there is such a thing) who wanted to keep their jobs stopped, then finally all but the most determined grabbers stopped singing that same old tired tune.

      So now, the grabbers are belting out the same old song they always have, because it’s really the only song they know, and it’s being sung so loudly and proudly in other countries. So they keep singing.

      The difference is that now, nobody is singing along.

    • If you have ever read the play book that they so live (Mein Kampf) by Hitler, you will understand why you keep hearing the same arguments. A lie repeated gains ground over time until the masses begin to believe it. That is why it is so important to counter every move with offensive moves rather than defensive moves. If all we do is play defense, we are doomed to failure.
      Keep up the good work!

        • Yr both right.

          The “big lie” repeated so often and forcefully it becomes truth has roots through the National Socialist party of pre-WW-II Germans. They are the first, and most deliberate about naming the technique thus, and using it in purpose, which I am aware of. I’m certain somebody figured this out before then, but these guys were deliberate, organized, intentional, and dare I say it “masterful” at it. (Yeah, I meant to do that.)

          This head of the current US Administration self-admittedly was trained in “community organizing” in the Alinsky school, while the current Democratic party front-runner wrote her college thesis on Mr. Alinsky, met with him more than once and carried on correspondence with him thereafter.

  16. More lies and ineptitude from the White house run by a retard Muslim! out too Destroy our country and its freedoms

    • He is not a muslim. I wish this would end. He has proven it by his actions (i.e support for gay anythings). Muslim sympathizer, yes. Muslim, no.

      • Maybe not. Wanna be Tyrant? No doubt. Narcissist? Absolutely. He is supporting every “alternative” life style choice that in the end is destroying the foundation of what made this country great.

        That is his purpose.

        To fundumentally transform this country and replace it with a totalitarian dictatorship that controls every aspect of one’s life. If it is with Islam? Great, it’s foundation is based in total and absolute control based on fear and terror. Marxism/communism/socialism? Same ideology of the end justifies the means and enforcement of total control by fear and terror.

        In the chaos that he is attempting to create, he will use what ever ideology that will rally the “useful idiots” to enforce his version of “utopia” . As all tyrants through history have done.

      • Perhaps but prove your point. And OF COURSE he is proqueer. Does not stop him from being a useful stooge for the enemies of Western Civilization.

        Obumer CERTAINLY is an apologist and sympathizer for the mohammedans. A Quisling at a minimum..

  17. If he is so disappointed, maybe he should resign and leave the country. ..and take Kanye West with him…

  18. Two wrongs may not make a right. But to disappoint a disappoinment sure does look like a great thing!!

  20. “The president has also been disappointed that our political system hasn’t responded in the way that he would like.”
    I know, right? Evil, fascist, narcissistic tyrants have hated our political system for the past two centuries.

    I’d be scared if America didn’t disappoint an evil, fascist, narcissistic tyrant. I’m proud that America disappoints him. Perhaps he should be more “disappointed” that his sick, twisted ideology created this monster, not the gun.

    And just to reiterate, this nutjob passed a background check. No law would have prevented this. And it was an isolated, meaningless double murder that has already been surpassed threefold in Chicago.

  21. America continues to disappoint the president? Good, let’s keep up the good work people. Bullies and small minded tyrants are always disappointed when they don’t get their way, we should be proud of this.

  22. “Polls indicate a majority of Americans support blah blah blah ban guns…” . Yeah, and 40% of gun sales don’t go thru a NICS check, and there are hundreds of Newtown-type school shootings every week, and no one ever successfully uses a gun to defend himself, and guns can be bought online the same way shoes can… Go fly a kite, Josh. If these people weren’t such flagrant liars they might get a little farther. Thankfully lies and the associated hysteria are all they have.

    • The problem with your argument is simple , about 50% of Americans don’t have the mental ability , the will or the resources to know these folks are lying .
      The point you make about how many people defend themselves every day , week after week after year after year using a firearm would simply not be believable by these mind altered masses that are used to getting their news from the Daily show . Keep on Truckin Robert . Don’t give up the fight and never stop trying to inform . God bless .

  23. Gun incident, black man involved, video evidence to boot. No yell from White House~ “He could have been my………”

    Funny how the call for gun control came out before being aware of the facts.

    Now it turns out as racism……..oh wait a black racist killer cannot exist in PC America. Stupid me…..

  24. What a douchebag! What kind of President are you when all you can do is blame your constituents and the people that either elected you Or did not vote for you.Pretty lame President Obama I guess it’s time for a political change Mr Turner where are you We’re calling you Please save our constitutional rights And get rid of this fool.

  26. …and let’s hope he’s very disappointed in November of next year when a non-statist, non-victicrat, non-socialist, non-progressive, who does not hate America is elected.

      • OH get clue. There are several such candidates running. Come up here to Iowa and you can talk to them one on one.

        None are backed by the RINO GOP establishment. (who gave us Dole, Bushes, Romney etc.). Is yet to be seen if any of them can make it thru the nomination process. Or beat the crooked demtard machine. If not this nation has a really serious problem. Life or Death serious.

    • I can tell you one thing for sure , if Trump were president , he would , uh , oh yeal , he would , you know . I mean , probably go and , uh uh , I bet he , uh , well anyway , ask Trump and he’ll tell it like it is . He would fix this stuff , I think he would , uh .
      For sure .

  30. I think they’d have no problem passing “common sense” gun controls if they’d ever propose some. Common sense controls or regulation seem very desirable in theory, and hard to come up with in practice.

    “Keep guns out of the hands of bad people!” becomes “Nobody can own a gun that has a folding thing that goes up!” “Common sense!”

    • I’m all for “common sense” gun control! Yup…

      – keep a firm grip on your firearm
      – always treat is like it’s loaded
      – always pointed in a safe direction
      – know what you’re shooting at

      and the list goes on….having good control of your firearm is common sense.

  31. There’s almost nothing Constitutional that could have been done to keep this crime from happening. I say “almost” because while the US might be able to change a few laws to make it harder for the mentally ill to buy guns such laws would be abused anyway. California doesn’t want anyone to have guns, so they declare everybody crazy and there go the guns, right? So if everybody is crazy, does CA have enough bed space at the Funny Farm for all of them? No? Any elected official who wants to go on the record in favor of something un-Constitutional had better be willing to lead the Gun Seizure SWAT personally, and i can’t see Feinstein in tac gear lol

    • ” change a few laws to make it harder for the mentally ill to buy guns such laws”

      Until those who fail a NICS check are arrested on the spot and imprisoned for 5 years, laws will make no difference. Possibly not even then, they would just stop trying, go straight to the street to buy stolen.

  32. I am sure that the British told the colonists over 200 years ago that their gun control measures were a matter of commonsense. It was pure BS then, and it is pure BS today. I will say this till the day I die: I am not giving up my guns….especially to a tyrannical regime like the one we have in the White House today.

    • I’m sure the King was also disappointed in the colonists and their failure to let him continue to oppress and control them. Like the saying goes, a government that treats its law abiding citizens like this doesn’t deserve to have any law abiding citizens.

  33. Quote of the Day: America Continues to Disappoint the President
    Yippee ki-yay, mother (self censured)

  36. It amuses me that both Obama and Clinton immediately took to their pulpits to call for more “commonsense” gun control, specifically universal background checks, in response to a crime committed by a man who lawfully acquired his firearm from a dealer and passed a background check, i.e., based on a crime that would not have been prevented by the very laws they seek to pass. Don’t they see the logical disconnect? Or maybe it just doesn’t matter.

    My wife (who is generally anti) and I were discussing this incident, and she said that she wishes there was a way to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people (and this perp seems to her to have been certifiable). I said that you can’t take away constitutional rights without due process of law. That gave her pause.

    • Maybe the 4473 form should include the question, “Are you a crazy person?”. That would be at least as effective as the rest of the “background check” dog-and-pony show.

  38. Now as I understand it obama was a teacher of the Constitution…..my question is what countries Constitution?

    • Wrong question. Not which constitution, but what did he teach about this one.

      From the course titles I have seen he mostly taught what was wrong with it. “Wrong” determined on what basis, I do not know. I didn’t take the courses.

    • Obama is not a constitutional authority any more than I am . He taught from a flawed premise and very shaky background, being that he was raised by all communist and anti imperialist . Obama said that he believes the constitution should be viewed as a living document and should change with the times . He believes the inherent problem in it lies in the essence of it’s constraints on the state , stating that it is a charter of negative liberties in that it asserts what the government can not do to individuals rights rather than asserting what the state should do on our behalf . He has referred to it as a flawed document on numerous occasions and once went as far as to state that it should address redistribution of wealth .

      • For once he’s right! It *should* address redistribution of wealth, I’d suggest by making the mere attempt punishable by public hanging.

  39. “And we are once again asking ourselves, what more can we do? We know that the president took 23 different executive actions to try to make it safer for Americans.”

    So, maybe federal action doesn’t help so much work?”

    “We know from our effort after Sandy Hook, that 90 percent of the Americans believe we need sensible gun legislation…”

    Oh, my goodness. So all that effort resulted in a factoid about what most Americans believe, which shockingly is in line with the administration’s position before they went out and cherry picked, fabricated, spun, collected their data.

    You aren’t very good at changing things are you, even changing to things that “90 percent of the Americans believe.” (In case it was unclear, I so don’t believe that stat for a second.)

    Here’s some advice…

    “Sensible” gun legislation would maybe have some measurable effect on bad guys killing people with guns. Of course Americans believe we “need” that … if there is such a thing. And if you phrase the question the right way. For “need” read “want” and for “want” read “want, all other things being equal.”

    Being Very Smart People(tm), in a Very Smart Administration(tm), maybe you should draft some … you know, something that’ll be more effective than your 23 executive orders. Which didn’t help. See the dead people on the TV. Didn’t help them. (As a bonus, look at the legislative text proposed after Sandy Hook. Explain how that would help keep guns from being used by bad guys, intent on doing bad things. I’ll wait. Explain how that might have helped keep this particular bad guy from shooting these particular people. I’ll wait. Explain how that might have helped keep this particular bad guy from shooting these particular, better than other things you might do with the same effort and attention. I’ll wait.)

    Hint: “We believe this will help.” isn’t a convincing argument in general. It is double-plus not convincing after you did 23 things – things one presumes you believed would help – without fixing the problem. (Of course if it was all political theater, because “Something, must be done!” … nevermind.)

    Other hint: Trading “gun violence” for “non-gun violence” in equal or greater amounts doesn’t look like “sensible legislation” to much of anybody. So, your explanation needs to include how the impulse to violence will just go away, vs. come out through some other means.

    The last hint: If you’d scratch the surface a bit, “most Americans” care a bit about *who* gets gun violenced, or rather what the boneheads were doing when they got gun violenced.(*) Here’s the hint: nobody’s in favor of innocuous TV-folk getting shot down on film, while recording a story. The guy shot by the single mom who *already* retreated to her upstairs closet, after he ransacked the house to find her, and broke through the door … “most Americans” aren’t as bugged by that “gun Violence.”

    How to prevent the former, while *allowing* the latter. Think hard.

    (*) This is different from what-color lives matter how much. What they are doing, to whom, for what reason matters. People minding their own business just trying to get by – their lives matter. People predating other people because it’s fun and it’s easy – some people are somewhat less concerned about predators doing predation getting hurt, by whatever means.

      • Thanks, man.

        The foolishness in rhetoric and presentation makes me sputter, so it’s hard to keep my sentences coherent. The notions this topic inspires are interesting to me, like: “pivot on ‘common sense'”, “point out that trying even 23 times is not accomplishing”, and “use the device of hinting what would be convincing.” This subject is a good exercise for me in keeping my head on. Baiting people until they sputter is yet another technique those other folks use. No reason for me to indulge them.

        Indeed, some political “leader” not to long ago was bemoaning how “some people” would throw inflammatory rhetoric around, “getting folks all wee-wee-ed up” rather than think about issues. So, I’m just doing my part – asking for calm, reasoned, thoughtful proposals from the administration; stuff I’m sure they have in boat loads if we wee-wee-ed up folks would just give them the chance to ‘splain it to us.

  40. Hey TTAG, why dont you go on a high profile ad campaign calling for a debate with Obama, Hillary, Bloomberg, Feinstein, et al? Team up with NRA, GOA, SAF, et al, and post it all over social media. There are enough gun owners out here to make the movement viral.

    Two things happen: you get ignored and denied a debate/interview, but gain a lot of attention from people otherwise oblivious to rational, pro-gun arguments. Or, you get the debate and get to own them with facts, televising/posting the whole thing all over the internet.

    Okay, you have until Superbowl Sunday! Go!

    • Since what happened with the vice president the last time they had a debate is probably still fresh in their minds, I doubt they’d be accept.

  42. I have heard that same, stupid refrain over and over, nearly verbatim. Couldn’t he change it up, now and then, by mentioning what one or two of those “common sense” changes would be? Guy passed a background check, was 41 years old with no criminal history, what exactly was both “common sense” and would have denied him legal access to a firearm? And, once denied, what would be the possibility that the rest of that law was played out, that he would have been arrested and prosecuted, possibly preventing him from buying a firearm ILLEGALLY, and continuing to kill? One in a thousand? No one ever goes to jail for being denied.

  44. I think they’d have no problem passing “common sense” gun controls if they’d ever propose some.

    What we get is “common sense” like this quote from the current White House spox. Direct quote people. You cannot make this stuff up.

    “The changes this administration has long advocated, things like changing the gun show loophole for backgrounds checks, it appears that would not have applied in this particular case.”

    So “common sense” says we should do them anyway? It “would not have applied in this particular case.” but by god we’re gonna roll that one on the TV 24×7, and point to it every time, and use it in the intro on every “invitation” to a “national conversation” on this issue. Because it’s so relevant. Not to say an example of effective federal action. Not to say encourages calm, reasoned conversation.

    It doesn’t help, but do it harder. Harder I tell you. More. More. MORE!!!!! Yes, that, right there…

    Maybe they just like getting people all wee-wee-ed up. One begins to suspect they want more of what they’re dong because they like how it feels, to themselves, not to any partner they may be engaged with. Indeed the “partners” for example in debate on this issue, seem to be absent in their repeated self-manipulating spasms on this issue. There’s a word for doing that.

  45. Another day in which the President continues to disappoint this American. Another day that this American is ashamed of his President. Another long day waiting for the hope and change we were promised to arrive. And another long day wondering why Hillary is not in prison?

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