During the December 10 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was unable to name one mass shooting that would have been prevented by the Obama gun control agenda. Also, The Blaze’s White House Correspondent Fred Lucas asked why the White House felt it was “tragic and ironic” that so many people bought guns on black Friday. In essence, the current administration has no clue where they stand on this issue, let alone why Americans are buying a lot of guns, or other aspects about this political issue (via the White House) [emphasis mine]:
FRED LUCAS, BLAZE: Thanks, Josh. Just circling back on an earlier question, I want to clarify -- you said that the sort of tragic irony that so many people bought the guns on Black Friday. Why would that necessarily be tragic? I mean, they did buy them legally. They went through the background process. Isn’t that sort of what you want? You’re not so much worried about the numbers as you’re worried about loopholes, people -- the guns falling into the wrong hands of -- kind of skipping out on the background checks. Why would you necessarily think it’s tragic that so many people buy guns on Black Friday?JOSH EARNEST: Well, I guess, Fred, what I’m observing is that it’s tragic that in the aftermath -- in the immediate aftermath of a series of high-profile mass shootings, that people feel like they have to go out and purchase a gun. Because it’s our view -- and again, I think this is backed up by some common sense. Our nation is awash in guns. There are statistics about the large quantity of guns that are rather readily available on street corners and in gun stores all across America. That ready access to guns and that proliferation of violent weapons of war has not led to fewer gun deaths. In fact, we’re seeing that that doesn’t seem to be the effect that we’re witnessing here.
And so it’s tragic that even in a situation where we have lots of guns on the streets that lead to lots of innocent Americans being killed, that the response to that is that a whole lot more guns end up on the streets. That’s tragic and ironic.
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Since the Obama presidency, Americans have purchased over 100 million guns. Black Friday saw the most background checks run on gun purchases ever–and it’s possibly due to the left’s inane rhetoric on gun control. Why are Americans stocking up on guns and ammo? Well, the president wants to integrate the horrifically flawed terrorism watch lists into our background checks that strips Americans’ constitutional rights without due process, and a new ban on assault rifles–all of which would do next to nothing to curb gun violence. Oh, and I’m sure the price of gun sales will maintain after this administration unveils their executive actions on background checks. President Obama said he isn’t looking to take people’s guns away, though some of his policies sound like they would do just that. The terror list one is probably the most egregious proposal.
Second, what the heck is Earnest talking about? Illegal gun sales might be sold on the corner of America’s Democratic-run cities, but 99.9 percent of gun owners are law-abiding and buy their firearms from licensed dealers, who, by law, have to run a background check on every purchase. The same applies to online sales. The buyer pays for the gun, the gun gets shipped to a local FFL dealer for the background check, and if the buyer passes it–he’s sent on his merry way. Online sales would not be possible without background checks.
Weapons of war: It sounds ridiculous, and it is ridiculous. Almost as absurd as "multi-automatic weapons." Gun deaths have dropped 30 percent since 1993, and 3.9 percent from last year's homicide rates. Nonfatal accidents have been cut in half, and firearms are involved in less than 1.5 percent of unintentional fatalities among children under 14. The leading cause of death among children under the age of five is drowning. Over the last two decades, the number of unintentional deaths from firearms from youth under the age of 14 has dropped 74 percent - 28 percent in the last 10 years alone.
Lastly, it’s not irrational for those worried about safety to exercise their Second Amendment rights and buy firearms for protection. It’s a civic duty, and I hope these individuals take the proper safety courses needed to get properly acclimated with firearms. If they get high marks and passing grades, they can apply for carry permits, which Americans are also doing, especially women.
In San Bernardino, applications for concealed carry permits have spiked 500 percent since the horrific attack. That’s not “tragic and ironic;” that’s intelligent.
Last Note: For the first time in 20 years of NYT/CBS News polling on the subject, more Americans oppose an assault weapons ban than support it.
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