In case you missed it over the weekend, President Barack Obama claimed during a town hall meeting in South Carolina that it is easier to buy a gun in some neighborhoods than it is to buy a vegetable or a book.
"There are neighborhoods where it’s easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable,” Obama said. “As long as that’s the case, we’re going to continue to see unnecessary violence.”
Funny, I've never had to show identification, fill out forms or go through a background check when purchasing a vegetable. I have however, had to those things when purchasing a firearm. In Washington D.C. there are dozens of grocery stores that sell fresh vegetables, yet there isn't a single store than sells firearms. It seems Obama was referring to the illegal purchase of guns and magazines, not clips, in certain neighborhoods (usually in cities or states with the most gun control), which of course is a completely separate issue.
Obama also made the asinine statement that those opposed to his gun control agenda want "firearms in kindergarten" and "machine guns in bars."
First off, if Obama is worried about machine guns, he should start with ATF. After all, they're the ones who lost a machine gun on the streets of Milwaukee in 2013. Second, I believe Obama is referring to state laws changing to allow patrons to carry concealed weapons into restaurants and bars. In 2010, Virginia allowed concealed carry permit holders to bring their firearms into restaurants and bars, so long as they didn't drink alcohol, and crimes committed with firearms in the state plummeted by more than five percent within one year.
Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.
The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper's request.
To Obama's point about kindergarten, yes, there have been proposals placed on the table to allow responsible, trained adults to carry firearms into their classrooms. Nobody is suggesting guns be simply and irresponsibly "in kindergarten."
And finally, when President Obama accuses those opposed to his gun control agenda of "doing nothing" after the Sandy Hook massacre, he's wrong. Many Americans on both sides of the political aisle have proposed an end to "gun free" school zones which have been proven time after time to be easy killing zones for violent criminals.