Pirate's Cove

Remember this when Obama cried some crocodile tears while announcing new “gun control” regulations? How’s that working out?

Obama’s Lofty Plans on Gun Violence Amount to Little Action

The centerpiece of a plan for stemming gun violence that President Obama announced last month largely amounts to this: an updated web page and 10,000 pamphlets that federal agents will give out at gun shows.

In a tearful display of anger and sadness in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama ordered steps intended to limit gun violence and vowed to clamp down on what he called widespread evasion of a federal law requiring gun dealers to obtain licenses.

But few concrete actions have been put in motion by law enforcement agencies to aggressively carry out the gun dealer initiative, despite the lofty expectations that Mr. Obama and top aides set.

Obama administration officials said they had no specific plans to increase investigations, arrests or prosecutions of gun sellers who do not comply with the law. No task forces have been assembled. No agents or prosecutors have been specifically reassigned to such cases. And no funding has been reallocated to accelerate gun sale investigations in Washington or at the offices of the 93 United States attorneys.

“No specific plans”. Which is not unusual with this administration. A speech and a sticky note is not a plan, and, as so often happens, Team Obama doesn’t follow through on those speeches and sticky notes. Mr. Obama just expects everyone to jump to it, while he goes to play golf.

Of course, this is the NY Times, so, Obama and his peeps are not to blame

The absence of aggressive enforcement is a reminder of the limits of Mr. Obama’s executive authority, even as he repeatedly asserts the power of the Oval Office to get things done in the face of inaction by a Republican Congress. (snip)

But turning promises into action is often difficult — a political reality that Mr. Obama and his aides know all too well — especially in the face of a sluggish bureaucracy and a determined, partisan opposition in Congress. The president’s attempts to sidestep lawmakers on immigration have been tied in courts for more than a year, and he faces fights on executive orders to expand gay rights, establish a minimum wage for federal contractors and combat climate change.

See? It’s the fault of Congress and the bureaucracy, the latter of which is stocked with Democrat voters, for the inaction on things that can mostly be done within the Executive Office with no Congressional approval. It obviously cannot be the laziness of those in the Obama administration and Obama himself, right? Right?

Of course, Congress had authorized funding for hiring 230 more FBI agents to deal with background checks prior to the speech. And, of course, the White House blames Republicans for refusing to confirm anyone to the position of ATF director. Apparently, Team Obama wants Republicans to decide who to confirm, because Obama hasn’t nominated anyone. ATF will take no initiative without clear guidance.

“It was significant; it was bold,” said Maura Healey, the Massachusetts state attorney general. “It takes time for the directive to be implemented.”

I wouldn’t hold your breath: Obama cried crocodile tears, made his speech, subject closed. He moved on.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: After Obama’s Teary Eyed Gun Control Speech, He Takes Almost No Action »

Obama is typically referred to as the Gun Salesman Of The Year, and I often wonder in posts whether he has a financial stake in gun companies. Well, it turns out he does

(Reuters) Barack Obama might seem an unlikely investor in the firearms industry. But the U.S. president, a fierce advocate for gun regulation, has money in a pension fund that holds stock in gun and ammunition companies.

Although Obama’s stake is minuscule, worth no more than $30, it reflects a much larger surge of investment.

The president is among millions of Americans buying into gun companies – often unwittingly – as mutual funds have increased such holdings to record levels, according to a Reuters analysis of institutional investment in firearms companies.

OK, let’s be clear and honest: Obama didn’t voluntarily go out and purchase stock in a gun company, and, it does represent a tiny holding. He could, though, easily give up his investment in the pension and invest in ones that do not have gun companies (BTW, why does any elected official have a pension? That’s always annoyed me). More importantly

Since Obama was elected in 2009, mutual funds have raised their stakes to about $510 million from $30 million in the nation’s two largest gun manufacturers with publicly traded shares, Smith & Wesson Corp and Sturm, Ruger & Co . That means such stocks are now common in retirement and college savings plans.

The influx has helped to boost both companies’ shares by more than 750 percent during the Obama presidency; each now has a market value of about $1 billion.

Amazing. Obama and Democrats have railed against guns, and made them and the gun companies more valuable, and more and more funds, pensions, etc., are including gun and ammo companies in their portfolios.

What’s more, many anti-gun Congressional Democrats and anti-gun advocates also have holdings in different funds types that include gun and ammunition companies, many for which they could easily divest and choose other funds. But, they don’t, because these funds have too great a rate of return.

Read: Surprise: Obama Has Stock Holdings In Gun Company »