Last year, in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., Barack Obama gave a State of the Union performance that was filled with theatrical pandering. Seeking to capitalize on that tragedy by exploiting the understandably intense emotions that followed in its wake, the President reiterated his support for increased background checks and bans on common semi-automatic firearms and their magazines, which he referred to as “weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines.”
As usual, Obama’s remarks were short on evidence to support the efficacy of his proposals. That’s because evidence was (and still is) sorely lacking–and experts at Obama’s own Justice Department acknowledged that fact, even if the President will not.
In April, the U.S. Senate soundly rejected Obama’s gun control agenda, which prompted one political commentator to call the action the “biggest loss” of Obama’s presidency.
This year, Obama’s State of the Union gun control rhetoric was toned down substantially but was no less disturbing, with the president pledging that he will continue to promote his anti-gun agenda “with or without Congress.”