Obama Talks (Ignorantly) About Firearms

Before you get all preachy on me – the CO gunman had a semi-automatic, small caliber rifle outfitted with a cheap high capacity magazine. How are we talking about AK-47’s?

Fully automatic weapons are already pretty heavily controlled in the US. And I can’t think of a single gunman who’s used an automatic weapon in a civilian setting. Feel free to point out I’m wrong, if you have dates and facts.

The closest you can get to an AK-47 through standard channels is a semi-automatic variation – which capabilities-wise is probably closer to a hunting rifle than a military rifle.

So we’re going to have a war against any guns that look scary? Sounds reasonable…

(CNN) – Days after the Colorado movie theater massacre, President Barack Obama on Wednesday forcefully spoke out against gun violence, making perhaps some of his strongest comments yet as president on the issue.

While the president said he stands by the Second Amendment and recognizes the traditions of hunting and gun ownership in the country, he told a crowd at a gathering for the National Urban League in New Orleans that there is work left to be done in tackling the problem.

“I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals,” Obama said. “That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities.”

The president has largely steered away from talking about gun laws. While he visited the families of victims in Aurora, Colorado on Sunday, he did not wade into the political debate over gun legislation that dominated national dialogue over the weekend.

Talk of gun rights was also largely absent from Obama’s speech in the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 and after then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others were shot in Tucson, Arizona, last year. The president mentioned gun safety only in passing after the Tucson shootings to describe the polarizing nature of the issue.