Speaking to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago, President Obama wasted no a lot of time reassuring cops that he supports them (to tepid applause) before getting to the meat of the matter: gun control. At 38:00, the Commander-in-Chief tells the Chiefs of Police “we’ve got to make it harder for criminals to cause chaos by getting their hands on deadly firearms.” By locking them up? Nope. Don’t be silly. Surprisingly, haltingly, (inadvertently?), the President sings the praises of gun ownership . . .
You know exactly why someone all too often should want to own a gun . . . it’s a . . . powerful instrument. It helps you do a dangerous job. It’s something that has to be used with care. Many of you, like millions of law-abiding Americans, are sportsman or hunters or have a firearm in your home for protection, but you also know the fact is that it’s too easy for criminals to get guns and that makes your already dangerous job far more dangerous than it should be.
And then we get a fact that cries out for fact-checking, despite – or because of – the fact that the President says it’s a fact. [41:30]
And the fact is that in states with high gun owners, police officers are three times more likely to be murdered than in states with low gun ownership. So that you know that more guns on the street do not make you or your community safer.
A statement made to another smattering a polite applause. The President then attacks the argument that Chicago’s gun control, sorry “safety” laws don’t work, trotting-out the entirely irrelevant fact that “60 percent of guns recovered in crimes” in Chicago come from out-of-state.
As I said before, it’s easier for a lot of young people in this City and in some of your communities to buy a gun than buy a book. [ED: an idea confirmed by TTAG here.] It is easier in some communities to find a gun than it is to find some fresh vegetables in a supermarket. That’s just a fact.
And that’s why the IACP and the overwhelming majority of the American people, Democrat and Republican, believe we should require national criminal background checks for anybody who wants to purchase a gun.
That’s why the IACP believes we shouldn’t sell military-style assault weapons to civilians. They don’t need ’em. They don’t need ’em to hunt a deer. It’s just a simple proposition. Cops should not be out-armed by the criminals they’re pursuing.
The President goes on to do some police specific bloody shirt waving. He lumps suicides with homicides to compare “400 thousand Americans killed by gun violence” to “fewer than 100 Americans killed by terrorists on American soil.” Excluding 9/11, of course. Bottom line?
Fewer gun safety laws don’t mean more freedom. They mean more danger . . . Please do not believe this notion that somehow I’m out to take everybody’s guns away . . . Nobody’s doing that. We’re talking about common sense measures to make sure criminals don’t get ’em . . . to make sure that we’re protecting ourselves.
Disarmament for self-protection. Yeah, no.