BELLEVUE, WA – When Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 214 convicted criminals Wednesday, there were some 50 people on that list whose offenses included either using or carrying a gun at the time, leading the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to wonder why the president is softer on gun-packing criminals than he is on gun-owning honest citizens.
“Barack Obama has never missed an opportunity to exploit some tragedy in an effort to curtail legal gun ownership,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed. “But the other day he granted leniency to people who have actually committed crimes while armed. As many people have been led to suspect with his foreign policy decisions, his action on Wednesday leaves us convinced that he can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys.
“Considering who he wants to have replacing him in January,” he continued, “that’s really not difficult to believe. But the fact remains that the president seems more worried about people who haven’t committed crimes with guns they legally own than people who have committed crimes while carrying guns they probably did not legally own.”
Noting that gun sales and concealed carry permit applications have skyrocketed while Obama has been in office, Gottlieb said one of the reasons is that the American public sees his policies as weak on crime, and not supportive of law enforcement.
“This president’s policies have weakened America both abroad and at home,” Gottlieb stated. “While he is obviously okay with leniency for convicted criminals, he’s been working overtime during his administration to make things tougher for people who haven’t been convicted of anything.
“If Obama really wants to leave office as a humanitarian,” Gottlieb said, “he should pardon all gun owners from his anti-gun executive orders.”