Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN Legal & Legislation

Obama's budget is a sneak attack on our Second Amendment freedoms

Friday, February 17, 2012

By Chris Cox, NRA-ILA Executive Director

Ever since taking office, President Barack Obama has tried desperately to convince gun owners and sportsmen that he supports the Second Amendment. But actions speak louder than words, and Obama’s latest budget proposal contains numerous sneak attacks aimed at the heart of our firearm freedoms.

For example, NRA members and gun owners fought hard for a law to ban government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control from using our tax dollars to produce blatant anti-gun propaganda. Obama wants to kill it in his budget.

We fought hard for a law to ban the Obama administration from spending our tax dollars on illegal schemes like Operation Fast and Furious, which funneled thousands of guns to violent Mexican drug cartels. Obama wants to kill it in his budget.

We fought hard to protect the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, which allows armed, trained commercial airline pilots to serve as the last line of defense should terrorists breach the cockpit and attempt another 9/11-style attack. Obama wants to slash the funding for this potentially life-saving program in half.

Perhaps he doesn’t have the money to protect airline passengers because he spent it all sending guns to Mexico.

We fought hard for a law that prevents the Obama White House from spending our tax dollars to ban shotguns and to stop historic and collectible firearms from being imported into the United States. Obama wants to kill both of these in his budget.

Obama’s budgetary assault on our gun rights doesn’t stop there. For years gun owners have been buying and recycling our military’s spent brass as a way to keep the cost of firearm ownership down. Not anymore. If Obama gets his way with the budget, all of this brass will be melted at taxpayers’ expense.

You have to ask yourself: If Obama is so serious about protecting our gun rights, what’s so wrong with stopping government agencies from using our tax dollars to attack our Second Amendment rights?

With innocent lives being cut short on both the U.S. and Mexican side of our border, why would Obama go out of his way to reject a ban on funding for illegal operations like Fast and Furious?

The answer is simple. Everything Barack Obama says about protecting the Second Amendment is a bald-faced lie. He will use every weapon at his disposal — including our hard-earned tax dollars — in his mission to destroy our Second Amendment freedoms.

The Second Amendment is America’s first freedom, because it’s the one freedom that guarantees all of our precious liberties. Barack Obama’s values have never been, and will never be, compatible with this freedom. His latest budget proposal proves it.

Chris W. Cox is the Executive Director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and serves as the organization’s chief lobbyist.

This article first appeared in the Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/17/obamas-budget-is-a-sneak-attack-on-our-second-amendment-freedoms/#ixzz1mzXPZgQJ

TRENDING NOW
ATF Announces New Director, Historic Regulatory Overhaul

News  

Thursday, April 30, 2026

ATF Announces New Director, Historic Regulatory Overhaul

April 29 was a big day for Second Amendment supporters in Washington, D.C., as ATF announced the confirmation of a new director, Robert Cekada, and rolled out perhaps the biggest one-day regulatory overhaul in the agency’s ...

Self-Defense: Another “Luxury” the Poor Can Do Without

News  

Monday, May 4, 2026

Self-Defense: Another “Luxury” the Poor Can Do Without

Many years ago, Otis McDonald, a 76-year old retiree living in a high-crime area of Chicago testified that he had “been robbed numerous times in his Morgan Park home; [he’d] witnessed too many crimes to count and ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Hear the Case of Navy Veteran Patrick “Tate” Adamiak

Monday, May 4, 2026

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Hear the Case of Navy Veteran Patrick “Tate” Adamiak

The National Rifle Association joined the Second Amendment Foundation, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in ...

More Guns, Less Homicide: Good News for America, Bad News for Gun Prohibitionists

News  

Monday, May 4, 2026

More Guns, Less Homicide: Good News for America, Bad News for Gun Prohibitionists

Homicide rates in the United States, including those where firearms are used, have been declining over the last few years.  According to multiple reports on early projections, 2025 is expected to see the largest decline in ...

Anti-gun Officials Target Glock, While Failing to Hold Criminals to Account

News  

Monday, May 4, 2026

Anti-gun Officials Target Glock, While Failing to Hold Criminals to Account

In 2024, the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Glock – the maker of some of the world’s most popular pistols for civilian and law enforcement use (including at one point the Chicago ...

Connecticut Senate Rams Through Unconstitutional Pistol Ban in Dead of Night

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Connecticut Senate Rams Through Unconstitutional Pistol Ban in Dead of Night

Last night, in the early morning hours of May 6th, progressives in the Connecticut Senate passed H5043, the Governor's bill banning future manufacture, sale, and importation of many commonly owned handguns in Connecticut.

Demonization of Semi-Automatic Long Guns Remains Symbolic, Not Data-Driven

News  

Monday, May 4, 2026

Demonization of Semi-Automatic Long Guns Remains Symbolic, Not Data-Driven

Semi-automatic long guns, such as the AR-15, have been a hot topic of political rhetoric for decades now. And for those same decades, those same firearms have remained statistically under-represented in violent crime, while remaining wildly mischaracterized ...

Virginia Bills Spark Gun-Buying Boom, Warning from DOJ

News  

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Virginia Bills Spark Gun-Buying Boom, Warning from DOJ

As your NRA-ILA has reported over the last several weeks, the Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly and Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) have, between them, approved a sweeping array of radical gun control bills aimed, as NRA’s John Commerford says, ...

Virginia: Spanberger Signs Unconstitutional Gun Bills into Law

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Virginia: Spanberger Signs Unconstitutional Gun Bills into Law

Today, April 23rd, Governor Spanberger Signed HB1525 and SB727/HB1524 into law. 

Delaware: Firearms Registry and FFL Killer Bill Introduced!

Monday, May 4, 2026

Delaware: Firearms Registry and FFL Killer Bill Introduced!

Legislators in Dover have introduced Senate Bill 300, which would create a statewide firearm registry and impose burdensome new requirements on gun stores that could drive many out of business.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.