President Obama has spend the last week pushing his gun control agenda. In doing so, Obama is wasting political capital that could be spent to actually accomplish an worthwhile goal.
It is no surprise that President Obama is now seeking to impose gun control. He has been an ardent opponent of gun rights for his entire political career, and has filled his administration with anti-gun individuals. Supporters of gun rights have been issuing warnings about Obama’s anti-gun aspirations for nearly a decade.
Leaving aside the obvious harms associated with gun control, there is another sad aspect to President Obama’s decision to push gun control, and that is the squandering of political capital that could have been used to do some good for the country.
One issue that I would love to see finally addressed by a president is that of police brutality and other violations of civil rights on the part of the government. Recent cases have shown a spotlight on the issue, but there has been no real change. Indeed, mistreatment at the hands of the police continues to be my biggest personal fear, as there is virtually nothing I can do to mitigate the risk. I can reduce my risk of dying a car accident by having a safe car and driving carefully. I can make it less likely to die in a house fire by having plenty of smoke detectors. But, I can do essentially nothing to avoid the risk that a cop will pull me over for no reason and then become violent as I lawfully drive my car. I have personally experienced (relatively minor, compared to people who are shot by cops) mistreatment at the hands of the police, and have had multiple clients who were mistreated by the police in much more serious ways. Beyond myself, I do fear for my children’s safety at the hands of the police, both now and when they are older. While a full discussion of the issue of police brutality is beyond the scope of this article and this website, there are plenty of other articles and websites that document police abuses and discuss civil rights lawsuits.
I do not believe that President Obama will recognize his folly in attempting to infringe the Second Amendment. That is sad, as Obama is an attorney and a former constitutional law professor who should really know better. The good news is that the American people have quite correctly concluded that gun ownership is a good thing, which is why there has been such an amazing increase in concealed carry over the last 15 years as politicians across the country have obeyed the clear pro-gun instructions from their constituents. Together, we can take action to protect our gun rights and prevent President Obama from succeeding with his gun control plans.