Mark your calendar. On Jan. 19, two days before President Obama is inaugurated and a day before Sen. Dianne Feinstein is expected to introduce an assault weapons ban, a Gun Appreciation Day has been called in the U.S.
Organizers are asking folks to go into their local gun shop and wave a flag or a “Hands Off Our Guns” sign or just brandish a copy of the Constitution. With 300 million guns in the U.S., there should be more than enough people ready to participate.
The goal is send a loud, clear message to Obama and the Congress: Back off. Their role model are the pro-Chick-Fil-A protests of last year.
“We want the president and his allies on Capitol Hill to understand their new push will result in a shove back from the people,”
said Alan Gottlieb, chair of the 650,000-supporter Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms “Millions of law-abiding firearms owners are not about to be penalized for the unconscionable act of a madman. We will not all be judged by the conduct of a single crazy person.”
“The Obama administration has shown that it is more than willing to trample the Constitution to impose its dictates upon the American people,” said Gun Appreciation Day chairman — and political consultant — Larry Ward. “If the American people don’t fight back now, Obama will do the Second Amendment what he has already done to the First with Obamacare – gut it without a moment’s thought to our basic constitutional rights.”
The gun lobby is hitting code red as the new session of Congress and Obama’s second term begins. Just look at this passage in their petition they’re asking folks to sign:
“Whereas, history demonstrates convincingly that the first act of tyrannical governments in expanding their powers beyond those granted to them is to disarm or short arm individuals so as to render them defenseless against the state’s heavily armed police and soldiery;
Quick note: So far, no major political action has suggested “disarming” anyone. Not with 300 million weapons out there. Besides, Obama barely mentioned gun control in his first term. What we’re likely to see from Washington — if anything — is a tinkering at the edges of gun control unless something drastic changes in the political dynamics there.
But it seems that like other hot-button issues — like abortion — this battle in the culture wars will be fought on the slippery slope.
