April 19th, 2011

David Codrea Gun Rights Examiner

Anti-gun activist Sarah Brady claims President Barack Obama is committed to stealth gun control according to a report in The Washington Post.

Recounting a March 30 meeting between Brady, her husband Jim and White House Press secretary Jay Carney, The Post reports:

During the meeting, President Obama dropped in and, according to Sarah Brady, brought up the issue of gun control, “to fill us in that it was very much on his agenda,” she said.

“I just want you to know that we are working on it,” Brady recalled the president telling them. “We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”

Among the measures discussed:

[H]ow records get into the system and what can be done about firearms retailers. Her husband specifically brought up the proposed ban on large magazine clips…

While Brady reports the president “just laughed” she also expressed “absolute confidence that the president was committed to regulation.”

That Obama is coyly discussing “processes…under the radar” directly contradicts a campaign pledge further documented via an official White House memorandum:

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

There is nothing transparent, open or participatory about maneuvers to exercise control over unalienable rights.  The entire purpose of being “under the radar” is to escape detection.

For the administration to continue an “under the radar” gun policy points to directed practices very different from its public promises.  But it does give insight into how another stealth program, “Project Gunwalker,” was allowed and encouraged, and why accusations of stonewalling continue to be made by both Senate and House investigators.