| Obama's Gun Control Charade Lands in Chicago |
| Feb-15-2013 |
| Keywords: obama, gun control, chicago, murder capitol, |
President Obama is wrapping up his three-day policy push following his State of the Union address, in which he emotionally declared that the victims of gun violence deserve a Congressional vote on his gun control initiatives.
Obama is expected to focus on his economic policies, while weaving in his desire for a ban on assault weapons, high capacity magazines, and push for universal background checks at the point of purchase of a firearm.
The President though will also face his face share of criticism for largely ignoring Chicago's horrible record on gun violence. During all of last year Obama virtually ignored the murder rate in Chicago, and did not push for new gun control measures until after the Newtown, CT massacre that claimed the lives of 20 elementary school children.
Chicago last year was the murder capitol of the United States with more than 500 gun related murders. This year alone, there have been 41-gun related murders.
Flying in the face of Obama's call for tougher gun control measures, Chicago accrued those statistics while having the toughest gun control laws in the United States.
Of the 7,400 guns seized in Chicago last year, just 300 of those guns were assault weapons. That's just 4% of all gun seizures, which may cause some to wonder why the focus on an assault weapons ban.
In fact, nationally about half of all murders were committed with a handgun, and more people lost their lives to hammers and bats than they did to an assailant using an assault weapon in 2011.
Obama's visit to Chicago also comes just days after 25-year old Willie Cook was gunned down during a trip to Chicago with his two-year old son.
Cook, an Indiana Guardsman, last act was shielding his two-year old son from the gunfire. Cook died on the streets of Chicago just five months after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Opponents to gun control say the administration is focusing on guns, when it should be enacting measures to go after those that are pulling the triggers.
On Thursday, Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the NRA, panned Obama's gun push as a "charade."
"It was only a few weeks ago when they were marking their anti-gun agenda as a way of protecting school children from harm," LaPierre said in a speech Thursday night.
"That charade ended at the State of the Union, when the president exposed their fraudulent intentions. It's not about keeping kids safe at school. That wasn't even mentioned in the president's speech." |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 4:00 PM Email to a friend |
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