Don’t blame Obama for lax gun laws

When this, or any newspaper, publishes misinformation, it is a disservice to the public. It is usually in the guise of opinion that is contrary to the facts.

A recent entry in the Sound Off column blamed Obama for lax gun laws. That could not be further from the truth. His administration and the Democrats in Congress have repeatedly tried to tighten gun laws, only to be blocked by Republicans. In 1993, the Democrats succeeded in banning assault rifles. A Republican-led Congress revoked that law 10 years later. Assault rifles have been the favorite of mass murderers ever since.

There is no better example of a special interest having undue influence over Congress than that of the gun lobby. The NRA doesn’t favor stricter gun control, but 82 percent of the public does. Under their influence, even common sense safety improvements have been blocked.

Their rationale employs clairvoyance: “If we accept this change today, you’ll want a worse change tomorrow.” They think that any change is a slippery slope.

In the 1920s, when the government wanted to ban fully-automatic weapons, the NRA supported it. Today’s NRA would oppose the ban with the logic: “If we let you ban full-auto today, you’ll want to ban semi-auto tomorrow.” In fact, banning semi-auto has never been proposed.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Don’t blame Obama for lax gun laws."