A Little Honesty Would Have Been Appropriate

The beginning of President Obama’s speech in Dallas yesterday was wonderful. Unfortunately, it went downhill after that. There are two major lies that the President has been telling in relation to the shooting that need to be exposed.

My source on this article is a post at The Federalist website.

The first lie is the statement, “I think it’s very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter.” That’s an interesting statement when you consider that the shooter himself told the police that he “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,” Actually I think that makes his motive pretty clear.

The second lie, which President Obama’s stated in his speech yesterday, was, “It’s easier for a teenager to get his hands on a Glock than a computer…or even a book!” That is simply not true.

The article at The Federalist reports:

For starters, it’s against federal law for anyone under the age of 18 to legally purchase or possess a handgun or handgun ammunition (Glock is the manufacturer of a popular line of handguns, not a synonym for handgun). It’s also against federal law for anyone to sell or deliver a handgun to anyone the seller reasonably believes is under the age of 18. As far as I know, neither computers nor books are illegal. And judging by the number of teenagers I see walking around with their faces glued to their smartphones, they don’t seem to have a particularly difficult time getting hold of a computer.

In 2015, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of teens to gauge their access to technology. According to the Pew study, 87 percent of U.S. teenagers had access to either a desktop or laptop computer. Eighty-one percent had access to a gaming console. The Pew study found that 73 percent had access to a smartphone (for black teens, that number was 85 percent).

At a time when the nation needs healing, neither lie told by President Obama moved us closer to that healing. It is unfortunate that at this critical time in America, we don’t have a leader who is adequate for the task ahead.