While You Are Distracted Obama & the NDAA is Destroying the 2nd Amendment
Susanne Posel
With the advent of Obama’s new Gun Control Task Force headed by Vice President Joe Biden, the proposals coming to the forefront are focused on restricting the 2nd Amendment, government-controlled mental health services and governmental oversight of violence in social culture.
The GCTF will be empowered with propaganda studies and research proving that the federal government must step in to curb American fascination with violence by rendering the 2nd Amendment useless.
Topping the list of issues to confront is:
• Over-all gun restrictions
• Permanent banning of assault weapons
• Limits on the type of ammunition available
• Federal mandates on background checks on gun sales at gun shows
• Addressing violence in American culture
Obama said that confronting the National Rifle Association (NRA) would be part of a national dialogue to gain popular support for this incremental destruction of the US Constitution. The shooting at Sandy Hook is the reason for this new push against allowing Americans to retain the right to bear arms.
Speaking to the petition demanding Congressional legislation against assault weapons, Obama said: “I’m asking for your help to make a real meaningful difference in the lives of our communities and our country.” He continued with his promise the he will devise a way to include mental health and cultural factors into gun legislation to permanently restrict access to assault weapons for all Americans. “I need your help. If we’re going to succeed, it’s going to take a sustained effort from mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, law enforcement and responsible gun owners, organizing, speaking up, calling their members of Congress as many times as it takes, standing up and saying ‘Enough’ on behalf of all our kids.”
The public call to Congress to formulate a passable semi-automatic gun ban was first and foremost on the President’s agenda in an assumed attempt to place proactive blame on Congress if they failed in this task.
Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, is introducing a vote to stop the American public from having access to high-capacity ammunition magazines. Senator Jay Rockefeller brought legislation to review the impact of violent video games on American children. While Senator Dianne Feinstein has announced previously that she will head the drafting of an assault weapons ban to be brought to Capitol Hill on the first day of the new Congress.
Rockefeller believes that violent content on television, in movies and video games are the problem. That this leads to desensitizing the viewer. The mainstream media was implicated by Wayne LaPierre, lobbyist for the NRA, in supporting the “shadow industry” existing in Hollywood that perpetrates “vicious, violent video games” that may have played a part in the Connecticut shooting.
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is as vocal as the NRA when it comes to protecting the Constitutional right to own guns for Americans. SAF and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) stated that Obama’s GCTF will not solve the national debate on gun violence.
Alan M. Gottlieb, chairman of the CCRKBA in Bellevue, Washington, said: “If we don’t identify and get at the root causes of violence it won’t matter how many guns you ban, you will still have violence. There were no guns around when Cain slew Abel, and throughout recorded history, mankind has engaged in considerable violence. Only in the past two centuries have firearms played a historic significance.”
The demonization of gun owners is contributing to a culture of fear against law abiding Americans who contribute to their communities, have families and are just like any other citizen. This fact is becoming clear to organizations like SAF and CCRKBA.
Senator Joseph Lieberman said that violent content on television causes people to become more violent. The mainstream television line up is saturated with violent programs that justify Lieberman’s comment.
Discovery Channel pulled their popular show American Guns after Facebook protests demanded that they do so. The reaction of average Americans to the Sandy Hook shooting has been to purchase more guns, despite the rhetoric coming from Washington. The claim that shows like American Guns glorify violence detracts from the show’s cast who “always promoted very safe and responsible gun handling.”
In Oakland and San Francisco, California, “voluntary gun grabs” are being perpetrated by the local police departments. Buying law-abiding citizen’s guns for $200 means that there are less honest Americans able to defend themselves against the tyrannical government headed by our Communist-in-Chief, Barack Obama.
House Representative Tim Huelskamp asserted that the tragedy in Connecticut was being exploited by those who want to restrict the 2nd Amendment and blaming violent video games is more about parental controls and engaging in proactive parenting and not about censoring the entire nation. Huelskamp stated: It’s not a gun problem, it’s a people problem.”
In Minnesota, Governor Mark Dayton claims that the 2nd Amendment encumbers his state from controlling their citizens with regard to implementing stricter gun control laws. Dayton said: “At this point, I don’t think we have an option under the Second Amendment to do what some people are advocating. There’s a limit on what society can do to protect people from their own follies.”
The Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence rated Minnesota as failing when it comes to gun control. Dayton would like to see federal governmental restrictions on the 2nd Amendment assist his state in getting into good favor with the anti-gun foundation.
In the Senate, as part of a defense cuts proposal is an amendment to curb the rights of US veterans to access guns. Senator Tom Coburn would like for the veterans deemed “mentally incompetent” to have the Department of Veterans Affairs decide that they would have their 2nd Amendment rights revoked and not be able to purchase or possess firearms.
Coburn said to the Senate: “We’re not asking for anything big. We’re just saying that if you’re going to take away the Second Amendment rights … they ought to have it adjudicated, rather than mandated by someone who’s unqualified to state that they should lose their rights.”
The Coburn amendment #3109 states that in order “to protect the Second Amendment rights of veterans” they must be deemed mentally competent so they may retain their right to bear arms. According to Chapter 55, Title 38 of the US Code (Section 5503): “In any case arising out of the administration by the Secretary of laws and benefits under this title, a person who is mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent, or experiencing an extended loss of consciousness shall not be considered adjudicated as a mental defective under subsection (d)(4) or (g)(4) of section 922 of title 18 without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or herself or others.”
This amendment is part of a package of additions to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Coburn said to the Senate: “We’re not asking for anything big. We’re just saying that if you’re going to take away the Second Amendment rights — they ought to have it adjudicated, rather than mandated by someone who’s unqualified to state that they should lose their rights.”
Senator Charles Schumer retorted: “I love our veterans; I vote for them all the time, they defend us. But if you are mentally ill, whether you’re a veteran or not, just like if you’re a felon, if you’re a veteran or not, and you have been judged to be mentally infirm, you should not have a gun.”
In 2011, Senator Richard Burr introduced The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act that mirrors the assertions of Coburn with respect to restricting the rights of veterans to their 2nd Amendment based on mental health.
Coburn explained that veterans returning to society may “have their day in court if you are going to take away a fundamental right given under the Constitution” yet downplayed the 2nd Amendment as not inherent.
Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence pointed out that veterans that could not “manage their own affairs” due to a “disability” and are “deemed unable to handle [their] own affairs . . . likely constitute[ed] a high percentage of people who are dangerously mentally ill.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs released a study that found nearly 250,000 returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and could become violent and a danger to society.
Susanne Posel’s Website is Occupy Corporatism.