WASHINGTON DC – This week President Barack Obama – a staunch gun control advocate – commuted the sentences of 214 federal prisoners, including 56 with felony firearms convictions.
That brings the number of Obama's prisoner releases up to 562 – more than the last nine presidents combined. Of those, 200 had life sentences.
President Obama explained his actions on a Facebook post Wednesday, and boasted that "I am not done yet."
Most of the felons on Wednesday’s massive list of commutations were convicted of using firearms while trafficking drugs. Others were charged with illegal possession of firearms because they were already convicted felons, the Federalist Papers reports.
Here's the letter to which the president referred:
I remember now ex-president Bill Clinton’s scandalous pardons in the last 24 hours of his presidency. Like the Clinton’s, you can bet Obama and the De3mocrats will benefit from this political action…. watch out during Obama’s last few days.
If only they could go t his neighborhood when he leaves the Presidency
Apparently it is wrong to imprison felons for misuse of firearms but reasonable to vilify lawful vendors, such as Midwest Sporting Goods in Lyons, which sells guns to legal buyers. Rather than keep criminals away from guns, tools of their trade, let’s keep guns away from citizens.
Obama is ignoring the fact that an overwhelming majority of shootings in Chicago are a consequence of drug trafficking and subsequent rivalries between street gangs. The “small amounts of marijuana” Obama cited in his news release was actually quantities of hard drugs with intent to sell – up to 500 Kg in once case, over half a ton.
For Obama, it’s a win-win situation when victims of gun violence can be used to justify measures which would keep potential victims from defending themselves. The Illinois Black Caucus and their counterparts in Washington seem to agree with this strategy.