Obama on Gun Confiscation: 'I am constrained by a system our founders put in place.'

Constrained means “to force by imposed structure, restriction or limitation.” During a speech on gun control in Denver Wednesday, President Obama claimed that Americans need not worry about his gun control laws leading to confiscation because he is “constrained” by the system.

Obama also spoke about the people who say the government is coming after their guns.

“You hear some of these quotes: ‘I need a gun to protect myself from the government.’ ‘We can’t do background checks because the government is going to come take my guns away,’ Obama said. “Well, the government is us. These officials are elected by you. They are elected by you. I am elected by you. I am constrained, as they are constrained, by a system that our Founders put in place. It’s a government of and by and for the people.”

“If only I wasn’t so constrained,” Obama seems to be implying.

Obama’s record on health care suggests that the constraints on him aren’t all that strong, and as long as he is in charge, government of and by and for the people is mostly a concept, not a fact. The majority did not want that law when it was passed and does not want it now. But his party passed it, he signed it, and he has had the government defend it in court to keep it in place.

He would do the same thing on guns, now, if he could. The system is a constraint on him, sure, but the Republican House is a stronger constraint on him at the moment.