According to Joel B. Pollak, the president goes shooting ‘all the time.’ In an interview with Franklin Foer and Chris Hughes for The New Republic, President Obama said it was a way to “bridge the gap” between the urban vs. rural dichotomy, which has only been accentuated with NYC’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun push in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy.
FRANKLIN FOER: Have you ever fired a gun?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.
FOER: The whole family?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake.
Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. And if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were ten, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became part of your family’s traditions, you can see why you’d be pretty protective of that.
So it’s trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes.
Mr. President, if you want to bridge those gaps, tell liberal mayors of big cities to back off. If they’re the point of the lance in your strategy to institute more gun law, then you’ll only divide the country further, and lose more political capital.
Pollak added:
…if Obama did, indeed, mean to refer to himself, it would not be the first time he has boasted of his sporting knowledge or prowess–often without the evidence to back him up.
He has long claimed to be a fan of the Chicago White Sox, for example, but could not name a single White Sox player when asked, and incorrectly referred to the name of their home stadium as “Cominskey Field.” His basketball skills are also somewhat oversold: NBA commissioner David Stern said President Obama is “not as good as he thinks he is.”
In his infamous bowling stunt during the Democratic primary in 2008, then-Sen. Obama bowled a 37, rolling his first ball straight into the gutter as the cameras rolled. Later, in an appearance on The Tonight Show, Obama mocked his performance as being worthy of the “Special Olympics,” a remark for which he was criticized and later apologized
Obama’s shooting claim is evidently meant to assuage critics of his gun control proposals by reassuring them that he shares their enthusiasm for Second Amendment rights–not just sport shooting, but hunting in particular.
Yet supporters of gun rights insist that the Second Amendment is about far more than hunting or even self-defense.
As Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro told Piers Morgan during their debate earlier this month: “The basis of the second amendment is not really about self defense and it’s not about hunting. It’s about resistance to government tyranny. That’s what the founders said and that’s what the right believe in this country.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.
It sounds like he was using the royal ‘we’. His guests do it. He doesn’t.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there.
“Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.”
I suspect Obama shoots skeet about as often as he . . . . balances a check book.
The only thing Obama shoots is the bull.
Doesn’t he realize how patently obvious it is that he’s lying? “Oh yeah, I go shooting ALL the time. Why just yesterday I kill’d a bar and skinned it.” I feel sorry for his daughters.
The Second Amendment is not a guarantee of the right to shoot skeet, nor the right to hunt venison.
It is a guarantee of the right to have the tools necessary to depose tyrants.
So, our leader said he goes shooting all the time.
And Manti Te’o assured Couric that he has lots of girlfriends.
It is self defense–of self, of nation, of rights.
@buzzsawmonkey AMEN!
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/22/politics/campaign/22kerry.html?_r=0
how long until we get the photo op?
I can’t wait to see a photo of Himself aiming a shotgun up in the air …
Nope – I want video – body language while handling a firearm doesn’t lie…. a newb sticks out like a sore thumb.
Color me skeptical.
“It’s about resistance to government tyranny.”
Be a great analysis except for — USC Title 18, CHAPTER 115 – TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES and especially SEC. 2385. ADVOCATING OVERTHROW OF GOVERNMENT.
Zeke, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and believe your comment came from a desire to stir up attention, rather than rambling caused by ignorance. So this comment is directed at any readers who think Zeke may have a valid point.
Any reasonably comprehensive reading of Revolutionary history and the Founders’ writings results in the conclusion that since the war began at Lexington and Concord when British troops sought to disarm colonists, and since the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists resulted in such documents as the Bill of Rights, and since many Founders spoke out against too strong of a federal government, indeed the Second Amendment affirmed the God-given right of the People to keep and bear arms against a day that the government repeated history and became dangerous to our Liberty.
Back to you Zeke. Bad night? Feeling lonely again and want to stir up some semblance of human interaction by seeing how many people react to your trollish comment? Why don’t you get involved with some community service? There are many people suffering in poverty and pain who need simple comforts like bringing them a hot meal. All you have to do is deliver it, assuming you can drive. If not, head over and help people prepare the food. Buses run in your neighborhood? Doing good feels good. Acting like a troll in order to get attention will never feel good. It creates more need for getting attention, followed by even sillier behavior, creating a negative cycle of unhappiness. Do you want to be remembered for how much unhappiness you created? That’s just sad.
Howard, nothing you wrote defeats the comments I made nor even the slightest attemmpt to make a showing of unconstitutionality of USC Title 18 I referenced.
As for your personal attack, I’m pretty certain you wouldn’t want to put ‘your’ community serive record up against our decades of community service!
You have a great day!
Yours is bigger? Wow, what a retort. Anyway, nothing you said rebutted my observation. It’s time for you to take some responsibility and start researching your material in a balanced manner. I can’t help you if you won’t study history, which, putting your point in context, does indeed rebut it.
So Howard, is USC Title 18 and the revelvant section and chapters I refered too, unconstitutional or not? I await yout ‘balanced’ research efforts!
Personal attack? I expressed concern, and you took that as personal attack. I’ve observed your “comments” that are nothing but ridicule and insult. Now you turn around and claim a personal attack. Don’t you find that curious, Zeke? Some would consider that projection. Especially considering that you tried to rebut comments about the original purpose of the Second Amendment using law that didn’t exist until the 20th century.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381
So you see, you initiate this thread by using The Red Herring. Don’t you find it curious that you’re now trying to vindicate yourself by fallaciously claiming it’s being done to you?
And still you use the oldest ‘diversion trick’ in the alisnky handbook for radicals and ignore my question — Are USC Title 18, CHAPTER 115 – TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES and especially SEC. 2385. ADVOCATING OVERTHROW OF GOVERNMENT — unconstitutional???
Pics or it didn’t happen, Mr. President.
Maybe someone should tell Obama that shooting a gun is not the same thing as shooting off your mouth.
The President has decided to go for the jugular, by attacking the legitimacy of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
These things tend to inflame opinion. So in that spirit, how many seats do the Democrats hold because illegal aliens are counted in the census and are not differentiated for apportionment? Quite a few, I believe.
To those requesting “pics” – NO, wrong. Demand video. Let’s see him actually pick up a shotgun, 12 or 20 gauge, and fire it. It will similar to when Osama bin Ladin tried to show his AK-47 shooting prowess…..
Ditto – I want video on this one. Body language, level of mental involvement and competency can’t be faked. Newbs stick out like a sore thumb.
I cannot believe for the life of me that Michelle allows Barry to go skeet shooting.
Yeah, show me the video.
Just ask him which shotgun shell is larger: 12 or 20 guage. His answer, or non-answer, would be most enlightening.
Obama with a gun, it will surely be funnier than him throwing a baseball, and that was a real laugh.
The Socialist Communist Progressives need to get used to the idea that the 2nd Amendment is in the Bill of Rights for only one reason and it has nothing to do with hunting game. The 2nd Amendment is there to protect us from TYRANNY OF GOVERNMENT, FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC, and the right cannot be INFRINGED, PERIOD.
Think of the Oath we all took for Military Service and every elected government official takes for office. ‘to protect the Constitution from all enemies, Foreign or Domestic!
Can this be written in clearer language???
Buzzsawmonkey:
The Second Amendment is not a guarantee of the right to shoot skeet, nor the right to hunt venison. It is a guarantee of the right to have the tools necessary to depose tyrants.
Actually, it’s not even that restrictive. The second amendment says that well-regulated militias are A Good Thing, and adds that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
It says NOTHING about what we can or cannot use them for. Going by the Constitution, it is not only legal to hunt, go target shooting, defend the home, protect against tyranny, and so forth. It is also legal to use your guns for artwork, as investments, and anything else you care to think of. In fact, it’s legal to have guns for NO REASON AT ALL — just because you feel like it.
If you demand your right to freedom of speech, or freedom of religion, or freedom of assembly, nobody demands to know what you intend to use that right for… and if they do, it’s perfectly legitimate to answer “none of your damn business”. And so it is — or should be — with firearms.
I’d like to see how far a trap would throw ol’ Jug Ears.