President Obama called Wednesday for a new and tougher assault-weapons ban and a 10-round limit on magazines, as part of a comprehensive plan to curb gun violence that includes 23 steps he would take without congressional action.
Already facing stiff opposition from gun-rights advocates and Republican lawmakers, the president called on Congress to pass several major changes to the country’s current gun laws — some of which are already being considered like the restrictions on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Obama called as well for legislation to bar the possession and importation of armor-piercing bullets and to require criminal background checks for nearly all gun sales.
Despite discussions earlier about addressing the pervasive violence in the entertainment and video game industries, the president’s plan does not appear to address those issues. The plan, though, does call for a range of measures to improve access to mental health services and improve safety at America’s schools.
The president’s intent to use executive action has stirred objections from lawmakers who have warned Obama not to overstep his bounds.
Unilaterally, Obama plans to make federal agencies share information with the federal background check system; nominate a new ATF director; propose new rules to let law enforcement run full background checks before returning a seized gun; order the Centers for Disease Control to research causes of gun violence; require law enforcement to trace guns from criminal investigations; and take other steps.
The most controversial elements of the president’s plan, though, continue to be the proposals he wants Congress to pass.
The call for universal background checks would extend to gun shows and private sales, with “limited” exemptions for “certain transfers” among family members and other situations. The administration plans to give private sellers guidance on how to run background checks as soon as possible.
Plus the president wants to commit $4 billion to hiring more police officers, and to pass new gun trafficking laws to explicitly prohibit straw purchasing.
The comprehensive plan comes in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. Obama discussed his recommendations joined by children who wrote to the White House about the issue of gun violence following the tragedy.
Gun-rights groups, though, say the effort to impose more gun control measures is misguided, noting in particular that most killings in America are committed with handguns and not the assault weapons the administration intends to target. Some local officials have vowed to resist federal action.
The National Rifle Association also plans to launch a major ad campaign. The group’s first ad called Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for his daughters’ security detail. Obama has been critical of the NRA’s plan to install armed security in every school.
The White House plan does address school security, urging Congress to help schools complete emergency plans; proposing an initiative to help schools hire up to 1,000 resource officers and mental health professionals; and proposing new training for teachers to recognize mental health issues among young people. Obama also plans to beef up mental health coverage via executive action.
During the hearing March 8th of this year Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey brazenly admitted that their authority comes not from the U.S. Constitution, but that the United States is subservient to and takes its marching orders from the United Nations and NATO, international bodies over which the American people have no democratic influence.
Panetta was asked by Senator Jeff Sessions, “We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, NATO and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. As you go forward, will you consult with the United States Congress?”
The Defense Secretary responded “You know, our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this, whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress.”
Despite Sessions’ repeated efforts to get Panetta to acknowledge that the United States Congress is supreme to the likes of NATO and the UN, Panetta exalted the power of international bodies over the US legislative branch.
“I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat,” Sessions said. “I don’t believe it’s close to being correct. They provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution.”
Panetta’s assertion that he would seek “international permission” before ‘informing’ Congress about the actions of the US military provoked a firestorm of controversy, prompting the Pentagon to engage in damage control by claiming Panetta’s comments were misinterpreted.
“He was re-emphasizing the need for an international mandate. We are not ceding U.S. decision-making authority to some foreign body,”a defense official told CNN.
However, this is not the first time that the authority of international bodies has been framed as being superior to the US Congress and the Constitution.
Obama tried to legitimize his failure to obtain Congressional approval for military involvement by sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner in which he said the military assault was “authorized by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council.”
Panetta’s testimony that the US looks to obtain “international permission” before it acts, allied with Obama citing the UN as the supreme authority while trashing the power of Congress, prove that the United States has ceded control over its own affairs to unelected international bureaucrats, just as the countries of the European Union have done likewise.
Chairman Hillary Clinton at United Nations on Gun Control
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox attended a meeting at United Nations headquarters in July to send a simple, unequivocal message to the international bureaucrats who want to eliminate your Right to Keep and Bear Arms: An international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that in any way, shape or form affects the constitutional rights of American gun owners is completely unacceptable.
In his address to conference participants from around the world, LaPierre made it clear that NRA will accept no compromise on this critical issue.
“The Right to Keep and Bear Arms in defense of self, family and country is ultimately self-evident and is part of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution,” he said. “Reduced to its core, it is about fundamental individual freedom, human worth and self-destiny. We reject the notion that American gun owners must accept any lesser amount of freedom in order to be accepted among the international community.”
In 2009, at the behest of the Obama administration, the United States joined 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Resolution. The resolution establishes an international conference to be held next year, at which leaders from countries around the world—many of which have deplorable human rights records—will draw up an international treaty designed to severely restrict or even outright ban your right to sell, purchase, carry or own a firearm.
In reversing President George W. Bush’s opposition to U.N. mandated global gun control, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared, “The United States is committed to actively pursuing a strong and robust treaty that contains the highest possible, legally binding standard. …”
NRA has alerted American gun owners to be on guard against this ticking time bomb for years. NRA-ILA was the first group to be officially recognized by the U.N. as a “non-governmental organization” determined to protect the freedoms of American gun owners, hunters and shooters. The threat to those freedoms posed by an international Arms Trade Treaty has gained steam under the current administration.
President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the U.N. claim that the only purpose of the ATT is to fight terrorism and international crime syndicates. Americans should not be fooled.
In speaking out for the nation’s gun owners, LaPierre warned that, “Those working on this treaty have asked us to trust them. … but they’ve proven to be unworthy of that trust.”
Dissecting the U.N. blueprint, LaPierre concluded that:
• “We are told, ‘Trust us, an ATT will only affect the illegal trade in firearms. ’But then we’re told that in order to control the illegal trade, all states must control the legal firearms trade;
• “We are told, ‘Trust us, an ATT will not require registration of civilian firearms.’ Yet, there are numerous calls for record-keeping and firearm tracking from production to eventual destruction. That’s nothing more than gun registration by a different name;
• “We are told, ‘Trust us, an ATT will not interfere with the lawful international commerce in civilian firearms.’ But a manufacturer of civilian shotguns would have to comply with the same regulatory process as a manufacturer of military attack helicopters.”
LaPierre demanded that proposals affecting civilian firearm ownership that are woven throughout the ATT must be completely removed from the scope of any international agreement, saying, “On this there can be no compromise, as American gun owners will never surrender their Second Amendment freedoms.”
There can be no question that what is taking shape at the U.N. is an all-out attack on the constitutional freedom of American gun owners. U.N. bureaucrats have focused intensely on record-keeping, oversight, inspections, supervision, tracking, tracing, surveillance, marking, documentation, verification, paper trails and data banks, new global agencies and data centers regarding firearms and ammunition. Nowhere are there provisions about respecting citizens’ rights of self-defense, privacy, property, due process or observing personal freedoms of any kind.
International gun-ban activists have demanded ATT provisions that would force America to license firearm owners, severely restrict all firearm purchases, destroy firearms deemed “unauthorized,” ban commonly owned semi-automatic rifles and join an international gun registry.
While a treaty can’t override the Second Amendment, it can become the law of the land either directly—equal to any law passed by Congress—or through implementing legislation. Even if a treaty isn’t ratified by a two-thirds majority of the U.S. Senate, it never dies, and can still affect your rights. The U.S. Senate could take a signed treaty off the shelf and vote to ratify it 10, 20 or 50 years from now—as we know from experience. Just two years ago, NRA fought a push to consider a 1997 Organization of American States (OAS) gun control treaty in the Senate. Although the U.S. never ratified that treaty, the Clinton administration used it as an excuse to restrict exports of gun parts and accessories to Canada.
In a 2010 speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Hillary Clinton’s Under Secretary for Arms Control told the audience: “We will work between now and the U.N. Conference in 2012 to negotiate a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty, and we’ll need your help in achieving it. We have made that a fundamental policy commitment.”
So you can bet that if President Obama wins a second term he’ll move full-speed ahead for Senate ratification and implementation of the ATT’s mandates.
Obama and Clinton have spent their entire careers demonizing American gun owners and doing everything in their power to make firearm ownership more expensive, more difficult and, in many cases, illegal. Now they want to unleash the U.N. gun-ban axis on our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
It’s time for all Americans to sound the alarm on this treacherous assault on U.S. sovereignty and join the NRA in this all-out fight to oppose any ATT that includes civilian firearms within its scope.
The cornerstone of our freedom is the Second Amendment. Neither the United Nations, nor any other foreign influence, has the authority to meddle with the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, endowed by our Creator and due to all humankind.
In all of this, as the full measure of the Obama administration’s sell-out of our nation unfolds, NRA members must stand united to prevent and reverse the damage the administration’s “change” is inflicting on American freedom and our sovereignty.
To read the full text of Wayne’s speech before the U.N. and get the latest news on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, go to: www.nraila.org/unArmsTradeTreaty.
With President Obama’s 2013 budget now in the hands of members of Congress, typically, the House and Senate would pass budget resolutions, which would tell the Appropriations committees how much they can allocate. Then the appropriators figure out how much money discretionary programs would receive.
This year is different because Majority LeaderHarry Reid has said the Senate will not vote on a budget.
“They haven’t had a budget now pass the Senate for over 1,000 days.
And the Democrat leader and the Democratic-controlled Senate said we’re not even going to vote on the president’s budget,”
Democrats argue the binding budget caps from the debt ceiling agreement last summer was enough, so the Senate will not take up a budget this year. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan says he will present a budget citing a “moral obligation” to try and fix this country’s major problems.
Even if Congress does not pass a budget through this process, you can expect to hear Obama and House Republicans selling key points from each proposal to the American people in this election year.
“I suppose there are many ways to make the process better, but the principal one is for elected officials of goodwill to decide they’re going to check the ideological baggage at the door when they go to negotiate,” White House Press SecretaryJay Carney said.
This budget process regularly leads to major battles on Capitol Hill as lawmakers defend their turf.
“The budget is most controversial process of every Congress, because either side are laying out priorities. So they get into a tug of war over the document,” former House GOP leadership aide Ron Bonjean told Fox.
The Jobs Bill is nothing more than an excuse to create Class Warfare and an attempt to Blame this Sinking Economy on Republicans. It is a Campaign Strategy by the Obama White House that is Destined to Fail just like all of this President’s Policies have!
Lets call it what it really is:
TAX PAYER FUNDED BAILOUT
of the Obama Administrations Entitlements Programs
Obama has just assured the democrats (and why we still call them democrats, is beyond me) a whole new voting bloc: “Having failed in the legislative process, the Obama administration has simply decided to usurp Congress’s constitutional authority and implement an amnesty program for millions of illegal aliens,” FAIR President Dan Stein said. “This step by the White House amounts to a complete abrogation of the president’s duty to enforce the laws … Read More
Credit rating agencyStandard & Poor’s on Friday lowered the nation’s AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917. The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion — a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts were not enough to satisfy S&P.
The drop in the rating by one notch to AA-plus was telegraphed as a possibility back in April. The three main credit agencies, which also include Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch, had warned during the budget fight that if Congress did not cut spending far enough, the country faced a downgrade. Moody’s said it was keeping its AAA rating on the nation’s debt, but that it might still lower it.
Who’d A Thunk? Maybe Laughing and Joking about the dire outlook for our economy isn’t so funny for those of us who knew your plans for America were destructive instead of constructive and are beginning to get involved and speak out against you Mr. President. Perhaps your War against Libya without Congressional Approval will bring about your Impeachment. Perhaps your flagrant disregard for the Constitution of the Un … Read More
The Looming Battle on Capitol Hill, Obama’s Little Big Horn?
Looks like We the People are finally in the drivers seat and can back out of the ditch instead of Obama’s plan to push us deeper into it. Mr. President, you couldn’t seem to hear us very well when we gathered at Town Hall Meetings all across this Great Land, and you didn’t seem to hear us very well as we gathered at the National Mall in Washington, DC. I have only one question for you Sir.
Here comes the Obama/Democratic Party inducedSecond
Financial Meltdown…
Over 9% Unemployment for longest period since
“The Great Depression”
Yep, here it comes, a Second American Financial MELTDOWN
Yes, it sure appears to be coming, based on the fact that the Obama Administration and this current Congress and Senate have done absolutely nothing to determine exactly what caused the First Meltdown of our financial systems. Here’s a hint…..
(the real cause is in the video above)
All the eloquent speeches from the Anointed One will not improve our economy nor, is it in any way shape or form, going to create jobs. We now have a President that is so full of himself that America is suffer another financial setback that all the Kings Men and all the Kings Czars cannot put back together again.
The good news is that America is waking up and come 2012 we will put real American Patriots in the seats now filled with Corrupted and stagnant Career Politicians who have forgotten the Power of We the People. These are people who have become absolutely Corrupted and morally challenged in their day-to-day lives.
We the People have vowed to take back our Country from these so-called Progressive Socialists who have no place here in our Republic. We will not, as a Free People, ever surrender to Socialism, Marxism, nor Communism and the sooner the Progressive Elitists get that through their thick skulls, the better off and safer this world will be.
Mr. President, do not underestimate what the American People will fight for. If you do, you will find yourself on the losing side of history. Americans are now busy resetting the course of American History and yes we are even going to correct our school books so that we have an inclusive, complete, and accurate documenting of American History and not some super altered Progressive evolution of our minds. The truth is out there now and Americans are flocking to it in record numbers to reinforce our resolve to end once and for all the Progressive Movement in the United States of America.
We are United like never before and we will not go Silently into the night Mr. President.
Yes you did Mr. President, and the price you and your Liberal Democrat Buddies will pay is no Second Term
