Obama and Gun Control – Is the Media Waking Up?
Time and time gun control types and other anti-gun zealots like to paint Obama as a do nothing President on the issue of guns and the Second Amendment. While we agree that President Obama is very much a “do nothing President” on many issues, when it comes to guns we see he is far more sinister and dangerous than meets the eye.
Let’s not forget the ban on those M1 rifles from Korea. Let’s not forget his calls for “reasonable gun control,” and most certainly let’s not forget that he infamously said to Sarah Brady that he was working on gun control but “under the radar.”
So is the media paying attention? As we begin 2012 we can hope. However, for now the year ended with two notable Conservative news sites paying attention.
On March 30 of this year, President Obama dropped in to greet Sarah Brady, who was meeting with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Sarah is the wife of Jim Brady, the former White House Press Secretary under Reagan, who was shot but not killed in an assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981. The Bradys subsequently became strong supporters of gun control. According to Brady, the President brought up the issue of gun control “to fill us in that it was very much on his agenda. [The President said,] ‘I just want you to know that we are working on [additional limits on gun ownership]. We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.’”
Big Government offered this take:
What would four years of a lame duck President Obama mean for gun owners? The only way to know is to gauge it by the things Obama has done already. In 1995, when pursuing a state level office in Illinois, Obama “endorsed a complete ban on all handguns.” At that time, he also expressed his support for waiting periods for handgun purchases. A “waiting period” is a set period of time, usually 5 to 10 days, which has to elapse between the time an individual buys a gun and is actually allowed to take it home. In other words, customer “X” would pay for a gun on Monday of this week, but would not be allowed to pick it up at the store until Monday of next week. (The foolishness of this scenario is evident when one considers what that waiting period might mean for a female who is being threatened by a violent criminal or sexual predator. She would have to buy her gun then spend the next week, the “waiting period,” hoping the criminal or predator would be willing to wait a week before attacking as well.)
Now if only the rest of the mainstream media had its eyes open, and more importantly didn’t have its own gun control agenda.
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With original guns rising in price, and harder to find a dummy gun is a good alternative to the real deal for a uniform display or just mounting on the wall. Either way, it is a nifty little gun and this display looks and feels the part. Read more
National Association for Gun Rights: Nearly 1 Million American Rifles Banned By A Stroke Of Barack Obama’s Pen
From the National Association for Gun Rights:
In a move unprecedented in American history, the Obama Administration quietly banned the re-importation of nearly one million American made M1 Garand and Carbine rifles.
The M1 Garand, developed in the late 1930’s, carried the United States through World War II seeing action in every major battle. General Patton at the time called the M1 Garand “the greatest battle implement ever devised.”
The rifle is largely credited with giving American soldiers the advantage and securing victory for the allies.
During the Korean War, nearly one million of these rifles were brought to South Korea and left with the South Korean government afterward. Now, South Korea wants to give American gun collectors the chance to get their hands on this unique piece of history. Read more
Democrats and Republicans Ask to Lift Korean Import Ban
It must be an election year. Senators and House Members of both parties are asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lift the import ban on classic U.S. made firearms. In March 2010 the State Department decided to disallow the importation of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines given to South Korea during the Korean civil war. FirearmsTruth has been on this story for months. Read more
Firing Back: Tale of Two Stories Proves Media Bias Against Guns
In the past month there were two notable stories that FirearmsTruth closely covered. Both stories involved American made guns, a foreign nation and calls to block the importation of these firearms. One made the mainstream media, stirred up all sorts of interest, resulted in coverage on the nightly news and even had political calls for action, while the other was barely a blip on the radar. Here is a look at back at these two stories and how it essentially proves the media bias against guns is all too alive and well.
The first story broke in August, and took weeks to gain any traction in the United States. This of course was about the efforts by South Korea to sell somewhere between 110,000 and 880,000 M1 Garand and M1 Carbine rifles. The story was ignored for weeks, and finally was reported on by The Washington Times and FoxNews. Kudos to both outlets for covering this story, but the question here is what took them so long?
One would think this story would garner more interest. The rifles were American made, desirable to collectors and valuable, but the media mostly ignored all facets of the story. There were no cries from The New York Times or The Washington Post that the State Department was stopping the re-importation of America goods, and no explanation even about why the guns couldn’t return home. The argument by the State Department of the guns being dangerous was cited, and the media had nothing more to say. In the end the story simply died.
Old soldiers might fade away, but rifles – even those of great value to collectors (both monetary and historically) it seem will only rust away.
And yet another story actually had the media buzzing – even if there was far less there that was actually “new.” This was the ABC News “breaking” piece that reported on a report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which of course was based on data from the ATF. As we previously noted, this was little more than hearsay, as it was a report of a report based on third party data. Worse, this report used the parts of the data that helped the argument from Mayors Against Illegal Guns while ignoring other important facts – notably the number of guns actually sent to the United States for tracing.
However, this story was picked up by the media left and… well, left, and cited over and over as “proof” that American guns are a real problem. Never mind that the information was old, never mind that report was biased. It was “proof” for so many outlets, and for anti-gun zealots such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. When you have “proof” do you really need the truth?
These two stories did PROVE one thing. There is a continuing bias against guns by the mainstream media, both in how news is reported and on what is not reported.
Gun Collecting: What the Ban on the Importation of M1 Rifles From South Korea Means to Collectors
The history of the M1 rifle is well documented, so there is no need to retell the gun’s famous history. The truth is that it has become a highly sought after collectible. Over the past decade the prices of the M1 has increased at a pace greater than almost any other military firearm. Read more
Firing Back: Why Won’t U.S. Film Makers Boycott Australia?
If you have been following FirearmsTruth the last few weeks, you are aware that vintage M1 Garands and M1 Carbines were destroyed by the Australian government after filming for The Thin Red Line ended. The movie is about an army platoon that fought the Japanese on the island of Guadalcanal. The battle of Guadalcanal was fought to protect supply lines between the United States and Australia. Had the Japanese won the battle, Australia would have been ripe for invasion. Despite the sacrifices made to protect an ally, the Australian government is waging a war against our history by destroying the vary weapons that kept the island continent safe from Japanese imperialism.
So why won’t U.S. film makers boycott Australia? Obscure causes are legendary among the Hollywood crowd. Their fame is used to push a cause into the public’s conscience so that changes can be made. The protection of U.S. history a noble endeavor and this includes protecting the tools used by our warriors from the past. Threatening to film in other places other than Australia sends a powerful message that the destruction of our history won’t be tolerated.
Still More on Those Destroyed M1 Rifles From the Movies
The rumors circulated, there was endless hearsay, but finally the truth has come out. We had heard from a colleague that Dale Dye had suggested that the rifles used in the making of HBO’s The Pacific were destroyed following production. Then we spoke to Dale Dye, who noted that this was not the case. It was the weapons from the film The Great Raid, but Captain Dye suggested we check with the film’s armorer John Bowring of Paradox FX Pty. Ltd.
John confirmed that the guns in question came not from The Great Raid, but were in fact from The Thin Red Line. Here is the straight word from John Bowring on those rifles. Read more
More on Destroyed M1 Rifles
First it was The Pacific, and then it was The Great Raid. Finally, after some digging we got to the truth. It turns out that the M1 and M1 Carbines that were destroyed following the production of a movie were actually those used in the Oscar nominated film The Thin Red Line, and that was more than a decade ago.
This was confirmed to FirearmsTruth by the film’s armorer John Bowring of Paradox FX Pty. Ltd., who stated the guns destroyed by the Australian government included “335 M1 Garands and Carbines.” To survive a war and be destroyed for a film, sad irony.
World News Heard Now Hears, and Reports on, M1 Story
Finally, others in the media are starting to pick up on the M1 story, and we thought we were the only reporters looking into the issue. Mary Bargeman at World News Heard Now has posted an interesting read titled “More Proof of Anti-Constitutional Agenda with Gun Sale Nix.”
As much of the mainstream media has gone out of its way to note that President Obama hasn’t instituted new anti-gun legislation, it is nice to see someone report that the administration is no friend of the gun lobby. In fact, this is the latest proof that the Obama administration is actually hostile to gun owners. Read more
