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The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
President Barack Obama is moving government “more and more and more in control,” which has created fear among Americans and spiked the sale of fire arms in this country, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats said in an interview with the Carroll Daily Times Herald.
Speaking to Times Herald reporter and occasional Iowa Independent contributor Douglas Burns, Vander Plaats compared his 2010 candidacy to Obama’s 2008 run for president, saying they are both true-believing ideologues. Burns then asked if Obama was a “patriotic man with whom you have profound disagreements or is he a leader to be feared?”
“It’s caused some people some fear,” Vander Plaats said.
He soon added, “I think it’s why you see the increase in gun sales and ammunition. People are concerned about their freedom today.”
What does Vander Plaats think all these frightened Americans are going to have to do with these guns?
“I think what it is is that they’re very concerned that Barack’s moving this government more and more and more in control,” Vander Plaats said. “If you talk to people whether it be at gun shows, who are gun owners, they’re concerned they’re coming after the guns as well and after the ammunition as well.”
Burns points out that requests for FBI background checks for gun permits are up exponentially in 2009. But as the Chicago Tribune just reported, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence — a leading gun-control organization — issued a report card flunking Obama on all seven issues it deems important.
Obama is not proposing any new gun regulations. In fact, he has signed bills that allow guns to be carried in the national parks, allow handguns to be checked and stored in baggage on AMTRAK, and has preserved the limits on government information on traced firearms from getting into the hands of folks outside of law enforcement.
So whose fault is this fear Vander Plaats referenced? Burns concludes it’s politicians giving “credibility to this madness” for political purposes. Vander Plaats disagrees.
“I’m not so sure it would be about people in our party,” Vander Plaats said. “And I’m not even sure it’s about hysterics. I think they’re taking their Second Amendment right very seriously.”
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