Fear that the government is coming to take your guns away has proven good for the gun lobby, President Obama told reporters at a press conference Monday. And that’s why, he said, it’s hard to move gun control through the modern political process.
“I think that we’ve seen for some time now that those who oppose any common sense gun control or gun safety measures have a pretty effective way of ginning up fear on the part of gun owners, that somehow the federal government’s about to take all your guns away,” Obama said. “And there’s probably an economic element to that. It obviously is good for business.”
Obama, who is preparing to unveil a package of gun violence prevention measures expected to include a number of proposals vehemently opposed by the gun lobby — including a ban on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — told gun owners not to be afraid. His administration is not coming for their guns, Obama said.
“Those of us who look at this problem have repeatedly said that responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship, they don’t have anything to worry about. The issue here is not whether or not we believe in the Second Amendment,” he said. “The issue is, are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can’t walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a shockingly rapid fashion. And surely, we can do something about that.”
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