“We see him as the most anti-gun president in modern times.” That’s the verdict on President Obama by NRA President David Keene. As furious as I am at Obama’s ATF for its illegal gun running, as much as I despair at his executive order creating an illegal long gun registry, I hardly think Mr. Obama is modern times’ most anti-gun Commander-in-Chief. Lest we forget . . .
President Bill Clinton signed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, creating the “assault weapons ban” (AWB).
Clinton also signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act which violates the 10th Amendment by compelling local and state officials to conduct criminal background checks for a lawful activity (as the NRA argued in the Supreme Court).
But before that . . .
President Reagan signed the Firearm Owners Protection Act. While it attempted to limit the ATF’s power—a department that President Reagan elevated to Agency status—the Act contained the [fraudulently enacted] Hughes Amendment, outlawing the sale of automatic weapons not registered as of May 19, 1986.
As Governor of California (does that count?), Reagan signed the Mulford Act prohibiting concealed and open carry of loaded weapons in any public place and requiring a 15-day waiting period for aspiring gun buyers.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Firearms Act taxing the bejesus out of (and regulating) the sale of automatic weapons, short-barreled rifles and shotguns and silencers (now called suppressors).
Obama doesn’t cut it with this crowd.
So it’s a toss-up: an AWB that expired and [more] federal intrusion into our gun purchases (Clinton), or taking full-autos off the table (drat), empowering the gun rights antithetical ATF (e.g., Ruby Ridge, Waco, Fast and Furious) and disarming millions of Californians (Reagan)?
I vote Reagan. You?