Obama’s executive order on gun control is a meaningless and hypocritical power grab. Most executive orders issued by presidents are on mundane issues and have little bearing on our culture. However, Obama has moved unilaterally, using executive orders, on complicated and controversial issues that will have both a huge bearing on American culture especially in terms of taxpayer costs. Obama has used his executive order privilege power grab to circumvent Congress (avoid debate and transparency) on the war in Libya, immigration reform, and now gun control. It seemingly makes more sense to hold open and transparent debates and pass an amendment to the constitution or legislation that supports the will of the people. Obama is using executive orders to bypass the will of the people and uphold the will of the far progressive left.
Why is this Obama executive order hypocritical? The first reason is the failed Fast and Furious program by the administration! Under this program the ATF with approval from the DOJ allowed over 2000 assault weapons to walk from the United States to Mexico. The goal was to track the weapons to infiltrate drug cartels. Sounds good, unfortunately the ATF lost track of the guns and they have since been used to murder thousands of Mexicans and have showed up at crime sites in the United States, including the killing of border agent, Brian Terry. Yes, these are the same weapons Obama and liberals want to ban, but they have hid behind executive privilege instead of trying to hold those responsible for all these deaths accountable. Secondly, according to the FBI, in 2011, there were 754.5 violent crimes per 100,000 people in cities with populations of 250,000 or more. Compare that to the national average that year of 386.3 per 100,000. Incidentally, the locations of this highest violent crime rates also corresponds to the areas that vote Democrat and re-elected Barack Obama. That’s right, the areas with the biggest gun issues are not rural conservative areas where hunting licenses are the highest, but in Democratic run urban areas. Much of this may be attributed to lenient sentences and punishments for violent gun offenders in liberal areas.
Why is the executive order on gun control meaningless? First, executive orders can be overturned by the next President, they are by no means permanent. Secondly, the executive order violates the Second Amendment of the Constitution: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” I do not see any wiggle room for any court to uphold a ban on any type of gun or ammunitions. Thirdly, the executive order does absolutely nothing to resolve the root cause of many violent crimes – mental disorders. It is one thing to say that gun shops cannot sell guns to people with mental disorders, it is another thing to identify who the people are that have mental disorders. The biggest issue with mental disease is denial by both families and individuals and they are simply not going to sign up on mental illness lists. And fourthly, statistics show that an executive order to ban assault weapons will do nothing to resolve crime rates. According to statistics compiled by the FBI there were a total of 12,664 homicides reported in 2011. Of those, 8,583 were committed with a firearm. Of those, only 323 were committed with a rifle. Now realize that assault rifles are a subset of the 323, which means that they account for less than 3.8% of homicides committed by firearms and less than 2.6% of all homicides. There were 9.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 1992 and that number dropped to 4.7 homicides per 100,000 in 2011. That’s a reduction of 49.4% in the homicide rate in the past twenty years despite more guns. However, over the same period of time severe mental illness has increased from 1 in 20 adults to 1 in 15 adults. And let’s not forget that mental disease is costing the U.S. taxpayer nearly 200 billion dollars per year in medical expenses and disability.
The Obama executive order for more gun control and regulation which bypassed debate illustrates his super ego at work. Executive orders do not resolve any issues, but merely bypass the issue. Democrats will continue to use catastrophes to push their agenda.
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