Gun Shop Owner Confronts Obama: Why Take Guns From ‘Good Guys?’
A gun shop owner confronted President Obama at a town hall event Wednesday evening in Indiana, asking why the president wants more gun-control laws that ultimately hurt “the good guys.”
Doug Rhude’s question came after the televised portion of the PBS town hall in Elkhart, Ind., had ended.
“Knowing that we apply common sense to other issues in our society, specifically like holding irresponsible people accountable for their actions when they drink and drive and kill somebody, and we do that without restricting control of cars and cells phones to the rest of us, the good guys,” said Rhude. “Why then do you and Hillary want to control and restrict and limit gun manufacturers, gun owners and responsible use of guns and ammunition to the rest of us, the good guys, instead of holding the bad guys accountable for their actions?”
In response to the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Obama implemented 23 executive actions in an attempt to address gun access. He also supported gun control measures in Congress that would have reinstated the assault weapons ban passed in the 1990s, created universal background checks, and limited the ammunition clip sizes.
The legislation fell short in the Senate, with most Republicans opposing it and most Democrats supporting it.
Obama responded to Rhude’s question. “First of all, the notion that I or Hillary or Democrats or whoever you want to choose are hell-bent on taking away folks’ guns is just not true,” he said.
“And I don’t care how many times the NRA says it. I’m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I have been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country.
“What I have said is precisely what you suggested, which is, why don’t we treat this like every other thing that we use?” the president stated.
He went on to argue that those on the “no-fly list” should not be be allowed to purchase a gun.
Obama concluded, “So, sir, I just have to say, respectfully, that there is a way for us to have common-sense gun laws. There is a way for us to make sure that lawful, responsible gun owners like yourself are able to use them for sporting, hunting, protecting yourself, but the only way we’re going to do that is if we don’t have a situation in which anything that is proposed is viewed as some tyrannical destruction of the Second Amendment.”
Critics have pointed out that none of the changes the president seeks would have prevented any of the mass shootings in recent years, including Sandy Hook, Charleston, Chattanooga, Oregon or San Bernardino.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and others have contended that Obama’s call to empower the DOJ to yank individuals’ right to purchase guns if they have been placed on the no-fly list is unconstitutional. The Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments require that Americans’ right to “life, liberty, or property” cannot be denied without due process of law.
In a congressional hearing in December, Gowdy pressed a Department of Homeland Security official about the proposal. “My question is what process is afforded a United States citizen before that person’s constitutional right is infringed?”
The former federal prosecutor continued, “[President Obama] is fine with doing it with the Second Amendment. How about the First?”
Several have been mistakenly placed on the no-fly list, including Weekly Standard senior writer Stephen Hayes.
Fox News listed eight ways Americans can be placed on the no-fly list, which occurs without their knowledge. (For more from the author of “Gun Shop Owner Confronts Obama: Why Take Guns From ‘Good Guys?'” please click HERE)
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