So, today, Obama offered a peek at his plans to control guns in his last press conference of his first four years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident that there\u2019s some steps that we can take that don\u2019t require legislation and that are within my authority as president. And where you get a step that has the opportunity to reduce the possibility of gun violence then I want to go ahead and take it.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That might be to gin up some sort of over-the-top reaction from the right. I honestly don’t think there’s much he can do without approval from Congress. I think that the late Patrick Moynihan called it “boob bait for the bubbas”. The Washington Post<\/a> writes;<\/p>\n
Aides have said Obama favors a reinstating a ban on assault weapons, something most Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have said they likely won\u2019t support. Asked what he would do if Congress rejects a ban on assault weapons, Obama declined to be specific, saying that \u201cmembers of Congress must have a debate and examine their own conscience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, I don’t see much coming out of Congress what with an election coming up next year. And all of that fear about Obama taking our guns is coming out of the gun industry, apparently;<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time we propose gun measures, it effectively gins up fear on behalf of gun owners that somehow the federal government is about to take all your guns away,\u201d Obama said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for business.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, or maybe folks really do think that he wants to come our guns. I get a couple of hits a day from someone asking when “Obama’s gun laws” take effect. Some folks are pretty sure it’s already a done deal.<\/p>\n
The president added that his record over his first four years shows that \u201cit\u2019s hard to argue that somehow gun owners have had their rights infringed on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, well, like T Rowe Price reminds me every month, past performance isn’t necessarily an indication of future returns. Things change, elections come and go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"