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You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / President Obama’s Executive Action on Guns (Updated)

President Obama’s Executive Action on Guns (Updated)

by Betty Cracker|  January 5, 201611:48 am| 120 Comments

This post is in: Gun nuts, Open Threads, Politics, Proud to Be A Democrat

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He’s speaking on it right now. You can watch on YouTube here. He sounds sad, angry and determined, which is exactly what we all should be.

Update: “The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage, but they cannot hold America hostage.” — PBO

Update II: The speech is over. If you couldn’t watch it live, do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing later. It was incredibly touching, honest, unsparing and inspirational. Damn, I’m gonna miss President Obama.

Many of us have wondered what he’ll do after his term is up. I never considered the possibility that he would make gun safety a focus, but maybe he will. You can tell he’s very passionate about it.

Update III: A short clip, but watch the whole thing when you can.

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Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 11:50 am

    I predict a complete wingnut meltdown in 3..2..1..

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2016 at 11:53 am

    This is, of course, good news for the gun manufacturers’ bottom lines. Look at Smith & Wesson, for instance. Guns are flying off the shelves.

  3. 3.

    kindness

    January 5, 2016 at 11:55 am

    Can’t watch. Too many meetings today. Hoping for Cliff Notes version later.

  4. 4.

    Felanius Kootea

    January 5, 2016 at 11:57 am

    He knows it isn’t enough because we have a congress too crazy to do the right thing by passing new laws. That must be the most frustrating feeling.

    I wonder if it is the same families stocking up on more guns or new people buying guns when gun sales go up after Obama makes a plea for common-sense gun control.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @kindness: So far, he’s giving a pretty comprehensive overview of the situation — the magnitude of the problem, increasingly extreme positions of opponents, bipartisan nature of citizen support for common-sense gun laws, statistics on how states fare when they change gun laws, etc. He’s also shooting down the stupider arguments against gun control, mocking the notion that anyone is coming to confiscate guns, pointing out that Reagan was for some gun control measures that would get him kicked out of the GOP today, etc.

  6. 6.

    benw

    January 5, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: NYT has the graphic. The little spikes are creepy and all correlated to spasms of wingnut freakoutery (@schrodinger’s cat: notice that as of last month we’re *already* in a period of wingnut meltdown). But what I find alarming is the general upward trend of that graph since Obama’s first election. There’s *a lot* of guns integrated under that curve.

  7. 7.

    ? Martin

    January 5, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    This is, of course, good news for the gun manufacturers’ bottom lines.

    I doubt it. The gun industry customer base is shrinking pretty much every year. That’s a death spiral. You can temporarily squeeze more sales out of fewer people, which is what they’ve done, but ultimately it will collapse. We’re at 8 guns per gun household now. Can that drive that to 10? 12? They’re going to drive the market increasingly to used guns, if they haven’t already, and the gun manufacturers get nothing from those sales other than maybe some accessory money.

    The NRA has destroyed this industry for the sake of short-term profits.

  8. 8.

    dogwood

    January 5, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    The problem is that overwhelming support for gun control is coupled with underwhelming intensity.

  9. 9.

    gogol's wife

    January 5, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    @dogwood:

    I think that’s slowly changing.

  10. 10.

    bystander

    January 5, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    I remember Moanin’ Joe outraged at the five blue dog Dems who voted against background checks while skipping over the 90% of the repubs who also voted against. Begich and Baucus I get. But Harry Reid? Reminded me why I hate him.

    Tim Russert’s little boy told us today the repubs have said they want to do something about mental healthcare. He failed to mention what it was that was stopping them, but great reporter that Tim’s little boy is, I’m sure it was because he had some larger insight to wow us with. PBO just invited Congress to join in supporting his healthcare measures.

  11. 11.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    September 5, 2016. The day liberals dug up lady liberty and killed her again.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    January 5, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    He’s crying and I am too.

  13. 13.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    Proposals include:

    1) Making background checks universal (no gun show loophole, criminal penalties for buying and selling privately without a check, etc.

    2) 200 more ATF agents and better enforcement of existing laws, including rules about reporting lost or stolen guns in a timely manner

    3) More resources for mental health issues and reporting standards

    4) Better gun safety technology via research, public-private partnerships (I like this one a lot — biometrics could be huge), childproofing guns, tracking technology for stolen guns, etc.

    5) Working with retailers and manufacturers to limit magazine size, etc., and find a balance that maintains rights while addressing safety

    Whoa, he broke down and cried talking about the victims in Newtown. You can tell that really gets to him, as a father.

  14. 14.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: My calendar says it’s January.

  15. 15.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @dogwood:
    There is a secondary problem that a large chunk of the people who support gun control in the abstract will be furious with any government official who actually votes for gun control legislation. No compromise with liberals. Obama must be opposed, fanatically and at every turn.

  16. 16.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    The stated aim of gun nuts is to withstand the tyranny of the Federal government. Even the most dim among them must realize that a rag tag bunch of gun-slingers can’t match the might of the Federal government, so the only logical alternative is that they want these guns not for self defense or hunting but to intimidate their fellow citizens. They don’t want freedom from tyranny what they want is freedom to tyrannize. I think this is especially true of the open carry folks.

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    @dogwood: PBO is addressing that right now, saying we have to be just as passionate.

  18. 18.

    Calouste

    January 5, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    @bystander: There’s some odd Senate rule that if the Majority leader votes against a bill that is defeated, he can bring it up again later or something like that. That’s why you often see Reid voting against bills that were going to lose anyway.

  19. 19.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Fucking autocorrect.

  20. 20.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    We should all be allowed to shoot each other for fun, because of freedom. And because the bullet holes let more freedom in.

  21. 21.

    Calouste

    January 5, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Even the most dim among them must realize

    No they don’t. Adam Silverman mentioned that he has spend some time on gun forums, and mentioned that (paraphrased) the folks there think Hollywood movies are unrealistic because the good guys are such bad shots. They’re convinced they’ll go Luke Skywalker on the government’s Death Star Abrams M1 tank.

  22. 22.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Even the most dim among them must realize that a rag tag bunch of gun-slingers can’t match the might of the Federal government

    Assumes facts very much not in evidence. Look at the morons right now occupying a federal building. Yes, quite a few idiots live in a fantasy world where they’re wolverines who can live off the land and rally an army when the commies etc. etc.

    There’s also plenty of evidence that gun humpers are heavily into the intimidation aspect, but in this case it’s a floor wax and a dessert topping.

  23. 23.

    Anoniminous

    January 5, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    History suggests this is a loser for the President and Democratic Party candidates. Ammosexuals are passionate, organized, and vote, gun controllers aren’t, aren’t, and don’t. The one mitigating factor is Democratic voters bother to bestir their asses and vote in presidential elections so it may be a wash.

  24. 24.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    Obama still has a year to confiscate all the bibles.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 5, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    @Calouste: Yep, it allows him (or potentially her in the future) to introduce a Motion to Recommit.

  26. 26.

    Keith G

    January 5, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    I listened to this on Bluetooth while grocery shopping. The young woman at the checkout looked at me with a quizzical look as she noticed tears in my eyes.

    The president dusted off the bully pulpit and used it as if it were a fully loaded AK 47 gunning down the “sensible” opposition of “rational” people to increased gun regulation.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    @Anoniminous: True, but PBO pointed out that it’s inexcusable to give up and that change doesn’t happen overnight. Many advances were the work of decades. He is correct.

    @Keith G: Great analogy.

  28. 28.

    Punchy

    January 5, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: You appear to be clairvoyant. Any hints on next week’s MegaMillions numbers?

  29. 29.

    bystander

    January 5, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    @Calouste: Thank you. I did not know that. Of course, he never did bring it up again before the Senate turned over two years later. So I’m going to continue to harbor my dislike.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Many of us have wondered what he’ll do after his term is up. I never considered the possibility that he would make gun safety a focus, but maybe he will. You can tell he’s incredibly passionate about it.

    I have thought for quite some time that he’ll focus on the intersections of gun safety, race, economic inequality, and school-to-prison pipeline. We have a couple of very fine Presidential institutions (specifically The Carter Center and the Clinton Global Initiative) that put most of their attention on international issues. I can easily see the Obamas taking on a whole range of largely domestic crises, and gun safety would surely be near the top of that list.

  31. 31.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    @Calouste: @Frankensteinbeck: They can be the best shots in the world, the armed forces have bigger and better weapons in their arsenal than mere guns.

  32. 32.

    Mike

    January 5, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    I had the exact same thought @betty cracker : I sincerely hope he takes this issue and hammers it for the rest of his life.

  33. 33.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    I weep for the guns who will never know the freedom their predecessor models had.

  34. 34.

    Face

    January 5, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    Remember, guns dont kill people, it’s the large holes in major organs and the subsequent internal and external bleeding/infection that does. Maybe if Obummer just regulated bullet hole sizes and mandated sterilized ammo he’d be more successful convincing the Gunnery.

  35. 35.

    Anoniminous

    January 5, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    He’s had 7 years to do this. He does it now when we’re heading into a presidential election? By his actions he just energized and invigorated and united the Right Wing against every Democratic Candidate up and down the ticket.

    It’s good Public Policy. It’s incredibly bad politics.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 5, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @Calouste: Every time I think I’m out…

    There’s a couple of different dynamics at play. There are those that are 2nd Amendment absolutists/maximalists who think the two operative phrases are “the right to keep and bear arms” and “shall not be infringed” are the only parts that matter. And that they are there to allow individual Americans to have the means to prevent the government from becoming tyrannical. You often see a lot of references here to natural rights, specifically to self defense.

    Then there are those that are making a more limited argument that they have a need for a firearm for self defense. These arguments range from those in rural areas correctly describing the often long lag between calling law enforcement for help and them arriving and what one might have to do during that time gap to those arguing that even the urban/suburban averages of three to seven minutes is too long to wait if one’s life is being threatened.

    Woven into and among these arguments are others pertaining to Liberty or self sufficiency or a natural and religious duty to protect oneself and one’s family.

    And this is all before one gets to other portions of the culture/subculture or, perhaps, other subcultures within the culture. Sport shooters, hunters, those pursuing other outdoor activities concerned with four legged threats while out engaging in those pursuits (hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing, kayaking).

    And then there are the comment thread Constitutional scholars, the 40 year old adolescents who have internalized far too much Ayn Rand, folks who think when something bad happens they can be the hero in the movie while stating that it won’t be like the movies, and some who are completely, clearly unhinged (one guy who shows up keeps citing his own, unpublished, manifesto on the US, the Constitution, politics, etc – his posts quickly turn incoherent and at least one person always asks when his book will be published – good times…).

    Like everything else its not uniform and a lot of times it doesn’t seem to make sense from the outside.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    January 5, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    According to Ryan, the presidents words amount to “Intimidation that under minds liberty.” Maybe Ryan needs someone to explain to him, what good is liberty if your dead from a gun shot wound. fk.em

  38. 38.

    bystander

    January 5, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    September 5, 2016. The day liberals dug up lady liberty and killed her again.

    I’ll pencil it in. Is anybody designated to bring the shovel?

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    @Anoniminous: I don’t buy it. Ammosexuals don’t need prodding to oppose Hillary Clinton and any other Democrat, and we’ve got damn near a year before the voting starts. The American people have the attention span of a fruit fly.

  40. 40.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @Anoniminous: I don’t agree. You’re living in the 90s. People are fed up with gun violence. Obama wouldn’t be doing it if he didn’t think it had a huge political upside, and you know HRC has already been swinging on this issue.

  41. 41.

    Seanly

    January 5, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @? Martin:

    The NRA has destroyed this industry for the sake of short-term profits.

    That’s the American business model. Everything is only worth what you can wring out of it here & now and then get some other schlub to buy the desiccated corpse.

  42. 42.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @Anoniminous: wow. damned if he does it. damned if he doesn’t. mebbe you should read up what he has been doing on this front in the years before.

  43. 43.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 5, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    shorter Anoniminous: too hard, don’t try

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 5, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: The problem with this is the fantastical nature of it. The Federal government is not going to ever authorize or call for a gun confiscation program. Just because it is logistically unworkable, let alone unconstitutional – even in the pre Heller decision understanding of the 2nd Amendment.

  45. 45.

    Anoniminous

    January 5, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @Just Some Fuckhead:

    I can point at the Colorado Recall elections of 2013.

    Can you do the same for Gun Control?

  46. 46.

    The Other Chuck

    January 5, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: The ability of an insurgent force to resist an equipped army on its home turf isn’t the point (and insurgents can do a lot of damage: you think flattening a block with tanks and bombs is without blowback?) It’s the attitudes of the gun-humpers themselves, their right-wing tribal eliminationist politics, and their general tendency to threaten and intimidate that gives lie to their mantra of protecting the rest of us. To say nothing of their running decades of cover for an unending parade of murderous psychopaths. In short, they aren’t protecting us from tyranny, they ARE tyranny.

  47. 47.

    Calouste

    January 5, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Those people live in a fantasy world, they don’t live in reality.

  48. 48.

    WarMunchkin

    January 5, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    There are enough bullet dog Democrats for this to be veto-overriden anyway.

    I’m more interested in these people buying guns. How do they even have the money to buy so many?

  49. 49.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @Anoniminous: nice strawmen.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @Anoniminous: You’re right. It’s too hard. Nothing ever changes. We shouldn’t try.

  51. 51.

    SIA

    January 5, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    RW commenters on HotAir explained to me how the ACA & medical information connected with it are all part of the Kenyan plot to keep your wife from owning a gun if she sees a doc for postpartum depression & then thugs will break in & she’s defenseless thanks Obama.

  52. 52.

    WereBear

    January 5, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    President Obama might just make JUSTICE his focus; I hope so. This will address the tragedy of young men of color turned into second-class citizens with the modern version of chain gangs. And gun deaths. And the futile drug war. And police brutality.

    And, and, and.

    So many injustices are interwoven through this theme, and they affect so many people.

  53. 53.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    Hillary has come out in support of da kenyan’s gun seizures. Where is Bernie?

  54. 54.

    Robert M.

    January 5, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    @Anoniminous: As Betty Cracker said, the issue here is that the most likely Democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton. There’s a slim chance that instead of her, we’ll nominate an actual socialist. The marginal effect of also talking about gun control, even if the issue stays in the public eye for the next ten months, is going to observably small.

    Or, to put it another way, the odds that the gundamentalists weren’t already going to be energized, invigorated, and united against Democrats this cycle were pretty slim.

  55. 55.

    Hildebrand

    January 5, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    @Anoniminous: Didn’t both of those Republicans lose in the 2014 elections?

  56. 56.

    The Other Chuck

    January 5, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    @WarMunchkin: You can buy a whole arsenal for ten grand, less than a new car.

  57. 57.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    @Anoniminous: Sure, easy. 13 months later both Republicans who won in the recall election were defeated by Democrats. The Colorado gun laws are still in place and there were Colorado representatives on hand for today’s speech by Obama.

  58. 58.

    catclub

    January 5, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    @Felanius Kootea:

    I wonder if it is the same families stocking up on more guns or new people buying guns

    They say that after San Bernardino it was new people, rather than just upping the number of guns per gun holding household from 8 to 9. I bet it was mostly more of the gun owners re-re-re-re-arming. Just in case.

  59. 59.

    gogol's wife

    January 5, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    @JPL:

    He is a great man. He is expressing my feelings exactly.

  60. 60.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    January 5, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    To see how the other side reacted, you could check out this live blog at TheTruthAboutGuns.

    They live in (or at least pretend to live in, to fleece the rubes) an alternative universe from us.

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    gogol's wife

    January 5, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    @Just One More Canuck:

    Yes, when exactly is the perfect moment to bring this up?

  62. 62.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @gogol’s wife: when you ‘feel the bern’ ?

  63. 63.

    AnderJ

    January 5, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @amk: Bernie just issued a press release announcing his support for the steps announced by BHO.

  64. 64.

    catclub

    January 5, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @? Martin:

    The NRA has destroyed this industry for the sake of short-term profits.

    If you want to see the power of paranoia look at the chart of S&W and Sturm/Ruger over the past 7.2 years since the
    election of Barack Obama.

    ETA: you need to work the controls to get the 7.2 years
    and Ruger

    link

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 5, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    as others have said, the gun nuts already hate HRC, who’s been pretty vocal on this issue for the last few months, and the NRA was already gonna run their “coming for your guns!” ads. I don’t think this is going to cost her any votes. OTOH, Kelly Ayotte and Mark Kirk (I think) have already shown some jitters on this issue.

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 5, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Look for comments by Joe R. – he’s the guy that likes to quote from his own unpublished manifesto! Also, look at the statement they posted from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    @AnderJ: Well done, Bernie.

  68. 68.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    @The Other Chuck: That’s what I said. They want to be able to intimidate the rest of us into submission.

    The Federal gubmint and founding fathers bs is just a fig leaf for their nonsense.

  69. 69.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Good points both.

  70. 70.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @AnderJ: Read it. Kudos to him.

  71. 71.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: They’re lucky we’re such a bunch of liberal squishes. Otherwise we might rise up against them and beat them senseless with hams or something.

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    Obama’s made this case again and again, and I fear this heartfelt and moving speech is going to get praised as a dramatic or oratorical performance, as though he were a great actor/speaker and nothing more

  73. 73.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    @AnderJ: I like Sanders but you supporters are doing him no favors with this kind of advocacy. I’ll vote against Sanders now BECAUSE YOU RUINED EVERYTHING, ASSHOLE.

  74. 74.

    Satby

    January 5, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    @The Other Chuck: so true I quoted you on FB when I shared this post. Like all bullies, they’re scaredy cat little bullies who handle their fear by trying to strike fear into us.

  75. 75.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    @catclub: What is the point? One has two hands, how many guns can one person use.

  76. 76.

    Satby

    January 5, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: you’re on fire today, been taking vitamins or something?

  77. 77.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: don’t you ever watch governator movies? he goes through guns like go I go through peanuts. shell after shell.

  78. 78.

    pat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    Headline on huffington post: Obama Pulls the Trigger.

    I am speechless. And will never darken their website again.

  79. 79.

    MazeDancer

    January 5, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Many advances were the work of decades.

    Took 72 years for women to get the vote. Thought of that when Mr. Obama mentioned it took decades. If it takes 72 years to halt gun violence, well, at least we’ve made a start. May we work as long and strong as those who won women suffrage.

    Also thought, like you, and so many here, how I was going to miss him. Which I expressed kind of more like, “Pleeeaze don’t go…” or something to that effect. May he indulge us all with many prominent speeches in years to come.

  80. 80.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    @amk: Where does he carry these guns, in a backpack? I haven’t watched a single governator movie, believe it or not.

  81. 81.

    Culture of Truth

    January 5, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    The speech had 3 components. One are the executive orders, which pretty much apply existing law. Two, funding to enforce existing law, which Republicans say they want – Obama challenges them to “put their money where their mouth is.” Three, a challenge to progressive to get as organized and passionate as the NRA.

    As the President himself would likely say, it all may not be enough but we have to try.

    As far as the future goes, we already know the President’s involvement with My Brother’s Keeper, so I expect we’ll see more of that; mentoring, education, opportunity, criminal justice reform, gun violence. But he obviously has a wide range of interests, from health care to foreign affairs.

  82. 82.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: How do you manage to keep your sanity? You have a much a stronger stomach than I, to wade through that morass.

  83. 83.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: they always show him having six pack abs. so …

  84. 84.

    Satby

    January 5, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @MazeDancer: The mold was broken right after the President was made, he is truly one of a kind. It grieves me that he will never live a really safe day again in his life; by serving his country so well he’s made a lot of enemies. That’s courage; waving a penis extender around while yammering about your “rights” isn’t.

  85. 85.

    Satby

    January 5, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    Why are my comments in moderation?

  86. 86.

    Archon

    January 5, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    I think this is for the future and his legacy. Obama knows this is probably the nadir of gun control in this country right now. Fifty years from now the President will look like the guy who was on the forefront of a lot of things, gun control included.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    January 5, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Um… I have heard of people with more than one pair of shoes. Or more cars in a household than licensed drivers.

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: They’re in a storage locker and the prop guys hand them to him when necessary.

  89. 89.

    Paul in KY

    January 5, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: What is the color of sound? How many rainbows in a raindrop?

    Such questions are meaningless in the great Tao of the Gun…

  90. 90.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @catclub: True, but having 8+ guns is like having 8+ laptops kinda redundant unless you are collector of guns. In which case you would buy antiques not one new gun after every shooting incident. That indicates hoarding tendencies and other assorted pathologies.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Point? To having more guns than you have hands to hold? You have surely made the mistake of raising a rational objection to an essentially irrational act.

    (In any event, I understand you need both hands to hold a pistol steady enough to hit what you’re shooting at.)

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    @pat:

    That’s really about as tasteless as it gets. Keepin’ things classy, as usual.

  93. 93.

    WarMunchkin

    January 5, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @The Other Chuck: Hell, ten grand is a lot of money. I mean, I thought these folks were poor guns-and-religion clingers, not people with steady enough income to go ahead and drop ten grand of net worth on assorted firearms.

  94. 94.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Satby: Only one was that I saw. I fished it out. It was moderated automatically because you used the “p” word.

  95. 95.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Incidental anecdata, but I used to work with a guy who had only one arm. He’d take vacation every year during hunting season, and actually go hunting, with a rifle. People were generally too polite to inquire about practical details, but scuttlebutt was that he was pretty good at it.

  96. 96.

    dogwood

    January 5, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    Democrats need to be willing to lose on this issue until we don’t lose , no matter how long it takes. The gains that republicans have made in restricting access to abortion the last 6 years alone were, 40 years in the making. The President understands only too well that he can’t just come out and make a statement every fortnight when there’s a mass shooting and the press is sure that it’s too soon to talk about gun control. It doesn’t work. The message gets diluted by all the other information at that time. Anyone who thinks that this issue is just going to energize the NRA doesn’t get it . They’re running out of new customers, and the kooks only get one vote. They know that.

  97. 97.

    Gravenstone

    January 5, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    @bystander: You are aware that as Senate Majority Leader, Reid would routinely vote against failing bills as a procedural move to allow him to re-introduce them at a later date, right?

  98. 98.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 5, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: You only need one hand to aim and shoot. The other hand is used to masturbate. This guy prolly took along a masturbator.

  99. 99.

    Satby

    January 5, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    @Betty Cracker: ahh, thanks.

  100. 100.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @pat:
    Huffpo has changed it. At least, that’s not the headline now.

  101. 101.

    Gravenstone

    January 5, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Even the most dim among them must realize that a rag tag bunch of gun-slingers can’t match the might of the Federal government

    Ive gotten into more than one online argument with gun fondlers over that. When I point out their likelihood of surviving an encounter with a rifle company, their rejoinder is invariably how difficult it is to quash insurgencies (pointing to Iraq and Afghanistan). While I concede the point to a degree, they still believe they’ll be the untouchable, invulnerable one. Rather than the smoking meat pile left behind by a Hellfire warhead.

  102. 102.

    AnderJ

    January 5, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: It was my pleasure.

  103. 103.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 5, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    @Gravenstone: That is funny, that they are comparing themselves to the battle hardened Afghan insurgents.

  104. 104.

    jl

    January 5, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    Great speech by Obama. Hope he keeps it up on other issues.

    The IDHAFTG Obama can easily get into the territory of both Roosevelts and Truman in laying it out very plain and clear, and persuading the public and leading. He needs to keep it up even if this effort gets snagged in the courts, as it probably will

    The media coverage I heard afterward felt, of course, the need to give some time to partisan political hacks and 2nd amendment supremacists, and I was glad to note that they could not say one single thing that Obama had not already covered and explained very clearly, and countered beforehand.

    And BTW, I think ‘2nd amendment supremacists’ is a good term that should be used instead of ‘gun lobby’ or ‘gun nut’ or ‘ammosexual’, because, as Obama so clearly explained, they are absolutists about the 2nd amendment in way that they are not about any other enumerated right. They assert that the second amendment gives absolute rights that trump all the others: freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of assembly to redress grievances, right to liberty and pursuit of happiness. Far superior to one of the explicitly stated purposes of our Constitution, to promote the general welfare.

    Obama hit it out of the park.

    Edit: maybe ‘gun rights supremacists’ would be better.

  105. 105.

    Mike J

    January 5, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    Peter Sagal ‏@petersagal 2h2 hours ago Illinois, USA
    Asking in advance: if you see a conservative response to POTUS’s remarks today, BASED ON WHAT HE SAID, send them my way!

  106. 106.

    jl

    January 5, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @Mike J: Sagal will have plenty of time to get other stuff done today, from what I heard on the radio after the speech.

  107. 107.

    Keith G

    January 5, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    When I point out their likelihood of surviving an encounter with a rifle company, their rejoinder is invariably how difficult it is to quash insurgencies (pointing to Iraq and Afghanistan).

    Next time please point out that the death rate among tip of this spear insurgents was dreadfully high during the time of full US engagement. And also, those insurgent forces that are the most effective have been doing this since the 1980s against the Russians and then the Iranians. Practicing with rounds of Call of Duty is just not the same.

  108. 108.

    amk

    January 5, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @Gravenstone: so they are implying that eyerack and afghanistan wars were not won by murka? and that their great, great military power is incompetent? gasp.

  109. 109.

    Keith G

    January 5, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    @jl:

    He needs to keep it up even if this effort gets snagged in the courts, as it probably will

    One hopes that his folks will borrow from the process that the GOP has used to great success: Boil it down to a simple two sentence statement (a bumper sticker slogan summary as well) and repeat, repeat, and repeat so that it begins to be reflexively part of conventional wisdom.

    Also they need to get his people out more to do communications work. During Obama’s last term, Eric Holder and the Sec Def de jur were the only people regularly out front pushing the agenda.

  110. 110.

    dogwood

    January 5, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    @Betty Cracker:
    Thanks for posting this and including a video. President Obama doesn’t appear very often here. Not complaining. Just appreciating a thread that’s not about republicans, and doesn’t feature a picture of Trump.

  111. 111.

    keller

    January 5, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: A few different calibers of rifle, shotgun and handgun will get you up to 8 quickly enough, and in hobby terms, that’s not even obsessive yet. You’re the hiker with 4 backpacks, three sets of poles and two pairs of boots, not the one who bought out REI and made your own bivy tent.

  112. 112.

    dogwood

    January 5, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    @Keith G:
    I’ve got an idea. Instead of relying on the President and members of his administration to to do the heavy lifting, why don’t some Congressional Democrats start taking some responsibility for advancing the democratic agenda?

  113. 113.

    NorthLeft12

    January 5, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    Damn, I’m gonna miss President Obama.

    How do you think us non-Americans are going to feel? Especially considering the Republican alternatives….if anyone of those douchebags gets elected.

  114. 114.

    Keith G

    January 5, 2016 at 2:40 pm

    @dogwood: Duh! But the ball has to start rolling somewhere and Congress is not that somewhere. The breakdown of the old (and often maligned) power structure of political parties means that Congress is made up of several hundred independent (ie self motivated) contractors who care little about party agendas.

  115. 115.

    jl

    January 5, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    Also nice that he got in a nice short pitch for Obamacare.

  116. 116.

    MCA1

    January 5, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    Appearances like this one always leave me lamenting that we’ve arrived at a point where something like a third of the country thinks PBO is simultaneously a tyrant unconcerned with the well-being of the people he serves, and a weakling who’s abdicated any leadership responsibility. I know how we got here; it just makes me sad that our culture is such that millions will never actually see this speech or read the transcript or even get an accurate summary, but instead might see a breakdown of bullet points on some FOX News chyron while some blathering whore yammers on about impeachment and kings and liberty and such, without ever addressing the arguments the President actually made.

    One executive measure I’d like to see is funding to subsidize an insurance industry response. Even if voluntary, the availability of liability insurance on firearms would be a great cudgel to use against the “responsible gun owners” this and “if you take away the guns from the good guys” that crowd. Especially when statistics show that after 5 years only 20% of so-called responsible good guys have purchased a policy. If enough people are eventually guilted into insurance, we could tax those policies and use the revenue for education, buyback programs, or whatnot. Incentivizing good behavior – isn’t that what good policy is supposed to do? Plus it’s a market-based solution, so it’s hard to bitch about it being un-American or commie or whatever.

  117. 117.

    pea

    January 5, 2016 at 3:25 pm

    @bystander: republicans want to do something about mental health?
    they can start with themselves…

  118. 118.

    pea

    January 5, 2016 at 4:46 pm

    @Mike: there are numerous issues he can hammer on for the rest of his life.
    he is intelligent, thoughtful,.. and articulate.
    i shudder to think of a trump, cruz, rubio, bullshit republican…gun toting evangelican home schooler moron becoming president.
    “when the rapture comes i will depart the earth.”
    yes, please. go now.
    and then there will be room for the rest of us.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    January 5, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    @MCA1: You’re right; it’s a shame people won’t hear the whole speech — especially the people who need to hear it the most, i.e., those who buy into the wingnut demonization of PBO. He rebutted all the stupid arguments against common-sense gun safety regulations, made the case using facts, etc. But essentially he was preaching to the choir, and I’m sure he knew it.

  120. 120.

    les

    January 5, 2016 at 5:30 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    By his actions he just energized and invigorated and united the Right Wing against every Democratic Candidate up and down the ticket.

    If you think the RW needed this excuse, where you been the last 2 decades?

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