On January 14, Los Angeles Times reporter columnist George Skelton slammed President Obama for the lack of any mention of gun control in the State of the Union address (SOTU).
Skelton went apoplectic over the fact that guns only received a “passing reference” in the speech.
Writing in the Times, Skelton flashed his progressive credentials by explaining that he agreed with “the slap at climate deniers and the call for reducing the influence of private money in politics” during the SOTU. But beyond that, he could not believe Obama did not talk at least “10 seconds’ worth” of gun control.
Skelton described the one phrase Obama did use–“protecting our kids from gun violence”–as a “throwaway line” crowded in with a bunch of other things Obama said just for the sake of mentioning them.
He lamented that Obama did not reuse some of the statements he used when announcing executive gun control on January 5. He specifically wondered by Obama didn’t say, “[Americans] are not inherently more prone to violence [than other humans], but we are the only advanced country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency.” Or why Obama did not look into the camera and tell voters displeased over the inaction on gun control, “If you make it hard for them to win an election if they block those laws, they’ll change course. I promise.”
Skelton admitted he lives in California, where he is used to seeing gun control implemented. In fact, he said California is “moving ahead” with new gun laws because the state “is dominated by Democrats who mostly favor gun control.”
Skelton did not say anything about gun control’s failure to stop the San Bernardino attack on December 2. That attack occurred despite the fact California has universal background checks, registration requirements for “assault weapons,” and confiscation laws for firearms at the state level.
Moreover, the universal background checks take away two of the Democrats’ favorite bogeymen–gun show loophole and online sales loophole. But none of these laws even hindered the attack.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.