The Obama Administration Year One: The flight from gun control

Much to the surprise of many, President Obama’s first year in office has not featured a push for new gun control legislation. In fact, not only has he not pushed for new legislation, he has actively resisted calls by gun control groups while signing legislation allowing open and concealed carry in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges as well as allowing firearms on Amtrak trains.

In fact, the Brady Campaign is so up upset with President Obama that they rated him an ‘F’ on their annual report card. In a report issued on January 18th of this year, they noted that in just one year, President Obama has “signed into law more repeals of federal gun policies than in President George W. Bush’s eight years in office.” I must admit that this sentence in their report brings a huge smile to my face every time I read it!

Earlier today, I was speaking with a reporter about this happy state of affairs and was asked the following question:

Does this mean that those gun-owners who feared that the President would push gun-control were simply paranoid?

My answer: “Of course not!

As the Brady report also notes, as a candidate, then-Senator Obama spoke approvingly of a number of gun control proposals. The logical inference to take from his campaign speeches was at least a willingness to consider the radical gun-control agenda of the Brady Campaign.

But then the Supreme Court handed down their landmark ruling in Heller while states continued to liberalize their gun laws at an astonishing rate. As gun ownership and carry became increasingly a normal part of society, President Obama, astute politician that he is, turned his back on what was clearly a losing proposition.

Let’s take a quick look at how President Obama’s approach to federal gun control has evolved:

At the end of March, 2009, gun owners were completely justified in fearing that the Obama Administration was planning for gun control to be a major element of their domestic agenda.

But then …

Clearly, President Obama and the Democratic Leadership recognized what gun owners have known all along; gun owners are as diverse as America and loyal Democrats wish for their Second Amendment rights to be protected just as do Republican and independent gun owners.

President Obama’s gun rights transformation is proof, not of a change in his core beliefs, but of a change in America itself as gun rights escapes the historical bounds of hunting and becomes mainstream. In order to maintain the momentum of this trend, it is incumbent upon those of us who believe first-and-foremost in gun rights, to continue to reach out to gun owners of all political and ideological persuasions and welcome them with open arms.

About John Pierce

Monachus Lex is written by Virginia attorney John Pierce. John is a life-long gun rights advocate, an NRA certified instructor and co-founder of the nationwide gun rights group OpenCarry.org.

He has an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems, an MBA from George Mason University and is a 2012 Honors Graduate of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, MN.

Professionally, John is a member of the American Bar Association Second Amendment Civil Rights Litigation Subcommittee and his writings have been published by the ABA Civil Rights Litigation Committee and the ABA Minority Trial Lawyer Committee.

In addition, his open carry advocacy has been featured on Nightline and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.
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2 Responses to The Obama Administration Year One: The flight from gun control

  1. Pingback: Why gun owners should fear a second term for President Obama | Monachus Lex

  2. hey rakes says:

    i think the president would really like to limit citizens to firearms, but he can’t figure out how to do it and let blacks have them.
    also i belive that ‘Fast and Furios ” was a strike in that direction, and it failed. if not for the whistle blowers, this would have been made an issue. that would have been a call for thiter infringements on guns purchases. have you noticed how the hollering about the guns going to the drug dealers in mexico

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