Vince Coglianese
The Daily Caller
1/16/2013
In 1999, State Senator Barack Obama voted “present” on a bill that would require adult prosecution for discharging a gun in or near a school.
That legislation came as a response to the tragic Columbine High School shooting that year.
SB 759 provided that anyone 15 years of age or older charged with aggravated battery with a weapon in school or within 1,000 feet of a school would be charged as an adult.
It passed the Illinois State Senate in a 52-1 vote, with 5 members voting present — including Obama.
That vote followed a trend for the young lawmaker, whose controversial votes on crime legislation often raised eyebrows.
A Chicago Tribune editorial even accused Obama of being a “gutless sheep” for missing a vote on crime legislation in late 1999.
Related: Mark Levin on Obama gun proposals: ‘This is 1930s stuff’
Sources: Rand Paul to push legislation nullifying Obama’s executive orders on guns
Fmr. WH adviser: Psychiatrists would say Obama has mastered art of ‘projection’
Update: ED MORRISSEY: Obama Thumbs Nose at Congress on Gun Control: Are the President’s executive orders abuse of power or the result of executive impotence? at Instapundit
Also at Instapundit, MICHAEL BARONE: “Barack Obama begins his second term with a strategy to defeat and humiliate Republicans rather than a strategy to govern.” “Obama supporters like to portray Republican attempts to negotiate as hostage-taking or extortion. But those are violent crimes. Negotiations — discussions attempting to reach agreement among those who differ — are peaceful acts.”
Update 2: Van Jones on gun control: Government’s job is setting reasonable limits
We guess when you call President Obama’s extensive list of 23 executive actions on guns “proposals” rather than executive actions, as former Special Advisor for Green Jobs Van Jones has done, it doesn’t sound like as much of a threat to the Second Amendment or to the legislative process…
