The president is not coming to take your guns

In the U.S. there is nothing quite like the unwavering support for the 2nd amendment. One need look no further than the President’s recent executive actions on gun sales and the reaction from the Republican presidential candidates - most of which came before the actions were ever announced.

Jeb! penned an article which appeared in the Iowa paper, the Gazette, where he says the president "shows an utter disregard for the Second Amendment as well as the proper constitutional process for making laws in our nation."

Ben Carson tweeted "The President's actions have everything to do with advancing his political agenda & little to do with actually protecting American citizens."

Chris Christie said "The president is a petulant child," for taking executive action on gun sales.

Mike Huckabee attempted to conflate abortion to gun control when he stated "You say if we can save one life we should. Well, apply 5th & 14th amendments to the unborn & save 4,000 lives a day."

While no one should be surprised by the over the top nature of this election year rhetoric that has more to do with pandering to the Republican base than analysis of the president’s actions,
all of these quotes seem completely reasonable when compared to the outright absurd assertions made by many Republicans, including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz who insist that President Obama is coming to take your guns.

The president is not coming to take your guns.

A quick scan of the action shows it is just a series of guidelines and suggestions to tighten up laws that are already on the books and improve gun safety. Pretending this is some nefarious illegal plan to confiscate everyone's firearms is an embarrassingly inaccurate interpretation of what the president has offered. Even conservative law professor and National Review contributing editor Jonathan Adler called the President’s actions "legally meaningless".

Only in the minds of gun enthusiasts is an action that is "legally meaningless" construed as the president repealing the second amendment.

The president is not coming to take your guns.

Beyond this, the reality is that what the president has offered contains a number of ideas previously supported by gun advocates. For example, NRA "solutions" for gun violence such as "enforcing the laws that are already on the books", "address the problem of mental illness and violence", and strengthening the "gun check system" to make sure states are including criminals, are all part of the President’s new plan.

It should also be noted that the only changes to gun laws under President Obama expanded not restricted gun rights. In fact, when compared to Republican icon Ronald Reagan who supported such things as banning open carry, banning machine guns, banning assault weapons, and mandatory background checks, Obama looks like the second coming of Charlton Heston.

The president is not coming to take your guns.

But perhaps the biggest rebuke to the concern over gun confiscation is the fact that, despite support for universal background checks from 92% of Americans and 86% of gun owners congress was unable to even bring background check legislation up for a vote. According to an NRA poll, when asked if "Every American has a fundamental right to self-defense and a right to choose the home defense firearm that is best for them.” 76% of Americans said yes. If President Obama, with 92% support, can't get even the simplest of gun control measures passed, then what in the world makes anyone think that there is even the slightest chance that the President could push through legislation to round up the 300 million or so guns floating around the United States.

There is no greater ruse in American politics today than the NRA-manufactured idea that the government plans on taking your gun; and no more obviously paranoid group than gun advocates, who in spite of mountains of evidence to the contrary are absolutely convinced that their 2nd amendment rights are in imminent danger. One wonders if gun supporters get the irony that it is their unequivocal intransigence regarding even the slightest change to gun laws that precipitates the sort of actions they errantly see as government tyranny.

The reality is that this sort of uninformed fomentation by individuals who would like to hold the highest office in the land does far more damage than good because there is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, no way the President is coming to take your guns.