President Obama is conspiring to ban ALL ammo!

May, 2015

The latest hate thrown down on, of course, President Obama (as usual), by the brain-addled leaders of the NRA is (drum roll please) the banning of ALL ammo for everyone in the U.S.

Not satisfied with the usual paranoid line that all guns are going to be banned, this month the NRA has projected that delusion to ammunition.

Previously, pro-gun conspiracy theorists had claimed that Obama was going to buy up all the ammunition to keep it out of civilian hands, and that this government buy up of ammo was going to be joined by martial law (and take your guns away, too!).

Now, according to the nut jobs at the nation's biggest gun lobby, they don't just want to buy it up, but ban it altogether.

According to an article at MediaMatters,the argument is based on the movement to ban lead from our environment, mostly due to hunter's bullets, which have been responsible for a dangerous increase in lead intake by scavengers such as the endangered California Condor.

In the May issue of the NRA's magazine, America's 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, "President Barack Obama is setting the table to ban your ammunition -- all of it," and claimed that "the remaining two years of Obama's term pose the greatest threat ever to the Second Amendment and our freedom."

LaPierre imagined a ludicrous scheme where "two fatal turns of events" would lead the EPA to ban all lead ammunition and, subsequently, the Obama administration to ban all non-lead ammunition. According to LaPierre, "The president's bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are partnering with private enviro-radicals to ban lead projectiles -- including all hunting bullets -- as hazardous."

Despite the fact that the EPA has given no indication that it is preparing regulations on lead ammunition, LaPierre insisted that the agency is still seeking a ban.

Of course, there's no shortage of non-lead bullets to go around.

And the argument is also due to a failed attempt at stronger regulation of AR-15 bullets that can (and do) pierce the protective vests of law enforcement:

The ATF announced its intent to try and ban a particular type of AR-15 ammunition known as M855, or "green tip," in February. Citing concerns for the safety of law enforcement officers, the ATF said the move was necessary because the round contains a steel penetrator, which makes it more powerful than other types of ammunition used in the AR-15.

If Obama "can set a precedent by banning AR-15 ammunition," LaPierre wrote, "he is well on his way to banning any and all of the ammo his anti-freedom heart desires."

But the proposed ban was withdrawn.

But, hey, it's easier to whip up a frenzy in the pro-gun, paranoid minds of NRA followers if you exaggerate and irrationally extrapolate these minor examples into an all-out ban, right?  That's the only way the NRA can get memberships.


Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

The U.N. Small Arms Treaty will remove your gun rights and create a U.N. global gun control bureaucracy!

July, 2012.  

The United Nations Small Arms Treaty is intended to control the illicit international trade of guns to keep them out of the hands of human rights abusers.  It would have no affect on domestic arms laws in the United States.  The only people who would be affected by this oversight would be the abusers and the gun industry who sells to them and their middlemen.  Naturally, representing the gun manufacturers, the NRA came out against it and engaged in a campaign of fearmongering.  Said Chris Cox, a top lobbyist for the NRA:

But according to Cox's theory "the world's socialist, tyrannical and dictatorial regimes" will use the treaty to "implement international gun registration requirements, bans on commonly owned firearms, tracking and registration of ammunition purchases, and create a new U.N. gun control bureaucracy" thus fulfilling "President Barack Obama's vision for America." 

Of course, this conspiracy has no grounding in reality.  From the article (italics added):

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also said that treaty is "opportunity to promote the same high standards for the entire international community that the United States and other responsible arms exporters already have in place to ensure that weaponry is transferred for legitimate purposes."

A senior policy advisor to the humanitarian organization Oxfam America has also pushed back against claims that the treaty has the nefarious purpose of interfering with domestic law:

"No government is discussing a treaty that would ever impact the right to bear arms, nor require regulation of domestic sales of arms," said Scott Stedjan, a senior policy adviser at the relief group Oxfam America. "This is totally about international transfer of arms so that they don't go to human rights abusers." 

But pro-gun extremists don't pay attention to facts.  Instead, they ran with the distortions from the NRA.  From one extremist blog, which took Cox's assertions and stretched them even further:

It is expected that the Washington Gun-Grabbers will package the treaty as legislation to assist in the fight against “terrorism,” “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates.” But the truth is this: The U.N.’s Small Arms Treaty is nothing more than a massive, GLOBAL gun control scheme.

American organizations supporting the Second Amendment have warned that the U.N.’s Small Arms Treaty would almost certainly FORCE national governments to:make gun licensing requirements far tougher than they are now, which would force law-abiding citizens to have to trudge through even more bureaucratic red tape just to legally own a gun;

It would also give the UN the power to CONFISCATE and DESTROY ALL “unauthorized” civilian firearms.  Of course, all firearms owned by the government will be excluded.

The treaty would BAN the trade, sale, and private ownership of ALL semi-automatic weapons.

There will be an INTERNATIONAL gun registry created.  Once they know who has the guns -- and where the guns are -- we can expect full-scale gun CONFISCATION.

Conservative politicians, such as Rand Paul, have propagated this conspiracy theory for political gain.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

UPDATE (5/31/13):  The Obama administration has said they will be signing the treaty. Of course, this has only increased the NRA's conspiracy theory claims.

President Obama hasn't passed any laws to restrict gun owners, which is evidence that he wants to destroy the Second Amendment!

September, 2011.

President Obama has done nothing to restrict gun ownership, and has only strengthened gun rights by allowing them in national parks and on Amtrak trains.  But if you believe the NRA's executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, President Obama's support of gun rights is only evidence that he actually wants to remove your gun rights.  From LaPierre's speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida:

"They’ll say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone…In public, the president will remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the old Clinton ban, that he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws…The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment. But it’s a big fat stinking lie!…It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country…Before the president was even sworn into office, they met and they hatched a conspiracy of public deception to try to guarantee his re-election in 2012.

That's rich!  Next time someone does you a favor and tries to see your side of an issue, be sure to accuse them of plotting against you on that issue.  See what happens.

Here is what ThinkProgress.org had to say about LaPierre’s statement:

LaPierre’s iron-clad logic is that Obama’s failure to take any action against gun owners in his first term means he is conspiring to launch an all-out assault on their rights in his second term. Equally ridiculous is LaPierre’s suggestion that he somehow has secret knowledge that the president “makes fun of gun-owners” when he’s in private or had a conspiratorial meeting with advisers before he took office where he plotted the Second Amendment’s downfall.

“Our freedom is at risk at this election like never before,” LaPierre claimed at the beginning of his speech, using the same fear-mongering the NRA has depended on since Obama took office to enhance their own membership and financial contributions.

It’s unclear, however, why anyone should believe the NRA’s paranoia. By LaPierre’s logic, Obama also has a secret plan to launch a manned mission to Uranus, convert the nation to Pastafarianism, and wipe out the pink flamingo. After all, Obama has done exactly as much to accomplish these three goals as he has done to undermine gun owners’ rights.

PolitiFact.com rated LaPierre’s statements as “mostly false.”

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!