BELLEVUE, WA – President Obama’s well-intentioned Sunday essay on gun rights in a Tucson newspaper demonstrates that he – and probably his entire administration – remains confused about firearms safety and gun control, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“The president evidently can’t tell the difference between genuine gun safety advocates and gun prohibitionists,†said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Obama’s remarks reveal that he equates gun control with gun safety, when in reality the self-proclaimed ‘safety’ advocates spend all of their time spreading anti-gun hysteria, and none of it promoting responsible gun ownership.â€
In his essay, the president wrote, “The fact is, almost all gun owners in America are highly responsible. They’re our friends and neighbors. They buy their guns legally and use them safely, whether for hunting or target shooting, collection or protection. And that’s something that gun-safety advocates need to accept. Likewise, advocates for gun owners should accept the awful reality that gun violence affects Americans everywhere, whether on the streets of Chicago or at a supermarket in Tucson.â€
“Those to whom the president refers to as ‘advocates for gun owners’ are gun owners, themselves,†Gottlieb observed. “They understand real gun safety involves muzzle control, proper storage, practiced marksmanship, and general safe handling. The so-called ‘gun safety advocates’ to whom the president alludes in his comments are prohibitionists who hide their true intentions behind a façade of pseudo-responsibility.
“Their idea of ‘gun safety’,†he continued, “is to make gun ownership prohibitively expensive by adopting registration and licensing fees, and regulations that are deliberately written to discourage average citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights.
“Please, Mr. President, the next time you take pen in hand to discuss gun rights and firearms safety, make sure you understand the distinction between gun owners and gun grabbers,†Gottlieb concluded.