How Obama Made Gun Control About Religious Freedom

In announcing new executive action to more rigorously enforce requirements for background checks to purchase guns, President Obama today called for balancing the rights of gun owners with other constitutional rights. “Second Amendment rights are important,” Obama said, “but there are other rights that we care about as well. And we have to be able to balance them.” He then enumerated cases of gun violence in places of worship and people murdered with guns because of their faith. We have a “right to worship freely and safely,” Obama said, and “that right was denied to Christians in Charleston, South Carolina. And that was denied Jews in Kansas City.  And that was denied Muslims in Chapel Hill, and Sikhs in Oak Creek. They had rights, too.”