Way back in January, when President Barack Obama was trying to use the actions of an insane mass-murderer to limit everyone else’s Second Amendment rights, the following petition at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov got the designated number of signatures to require a response:
As I wrote at the time:
If gun-free zones keep people safe, then I can’t think of a person whose safety is more important than the President of the United States. If having a gun in your home increases your risk of getting shot, how can we allow our president and his family to be surrounded by dozens of them? Think of the children.
But then the really smart people responded, like this really smart person:
Pretty comfortable saying that the president’s children are in fact more important than yours: youtube.com/watch?v=2bKw7Z…
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 16, 2013
Sorry haters, a kidnapping of the First Kids would be a way bigger deal than a kidnapping of your kids.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 16, 2013
In other words, good guys with guns should protect important people from bad guys with guns. But you and your loved ones aren’t important. Too bad, peasants.
I predicted that the White House wouldn’t respond to this petition, because they can’t address the point without admitting their hypocrisy. And after reading the words they finally posted about it, I’ve been proven right.
Here’s the “response”:
Working to Keep Everyone Safe
Thanks for your petition.
We live in a world where our elected leaders and representatives are subject to serious, persistent, and credible threats on a daily basis. Even those who are mere candidates in a national election become symbols of our country, which makes them potential targets for those seeking to do harm to the United States and its interests. In 1901, after the third assassination of a sitting President, Congress mandated that the President receive full-time protection, and that law is still in effect today. Because of it, those who are the subject of ongoing threats must receive the necessary and appropriate protection.
At the same time, all of us deserve to live in safer communities, which is why we need to take responsible, commonsense steps to reduce gun violence, even while respecting individual freedom. And let’s be clear: President Obama believes that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. You can see him talk about that in a previous petition response:
[YouTube clip of Obama’s dishonest yammering redacted]
But the common-sense steps the President has proposed don’t infringe in any way on our Second Amendment rights. We ought to be able to keep weapons of war off the streets. We ought to close the loopholes in the background check system that make it too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to buy guns — an idea that has the support of 90 percent of people in the United States.
That’s why the President and an overwhelming majority of Americans are calling on Congress to pass gun safety legislation that closes loopholes in the background check system and makes gun trafficking a federal crime.
A minority in the Senate is blocking this common-sense legislation to reduce gun violence, but President Obama is already taking action to protect our kids with executive actions. He is taking the steps available to him as President to strengthen the existing background check system, give law enforcement officials more tools to prevent gun violence, end the freeze on gun violence research, make schools safer, and improve access to mental health care.
You can learn more about the President’s positions on this issue at WhiteHouse.gov/NowIsTheTime.
It took them seven months to come up with that.
In sum: “Are you an elected leader? No? Too bad, then. And we’re going to ignore your point about whether gun-free zones do more harm than good, as we sit here protected by people with guns, because there’s no way we can address it. Instead, we’ll just point to the law establishing Secret Service protection, because everybody knows laws can’t be changed unless Democrats want to change them. Also: Let’s be clear, common-sense legislation, gun safety, etc. We can’t be bothered to come up with any new rhetoric for your little petition, teabagger.”
More guns = more crime. Except, of course, when they don’t. And when you point out the obvious problem with that argument, all you get is yet another lecture from the Reprimander-in-Chief.
Just another day in Obama’s Utopia.
(Hat tip: Dan Cannon)
Update: If you’re curious about all the other petitions the White House will respond to whenever they’re good and ready, check out www.whitehousepetitions.info:
Only 30 petitions are waiting for “responses.” And the oldest one only dates back to October 2011. That’s pretty good, right? That’s transparent as all get out.