I haven't read this whole thread, so I apologize if I'm making points that someone else has already raised. If it's bolded or italicized, the emphasis is mine. I have also edited for brevity, but tried to be fair.
1. The transcript can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/politics/transcript-obama-town-hall-guns-in-america/. (Please note that some text is attributed incorrectly, but it's not usually hard to figure out if it's Anderson Cooper or President Obama talking.)
2. I actually have to give CNN kudos for not totally stacking the deck against gun owners. In today's media, sadly, that's what I've come to expect.
3.
Regarding Australia and its "buybacks:"
COOPER: You praised [Australian] policies over and over. Back in 2008, you said -- you talked about bitter Americans clinging to their guns. Even now, these executive actions tended (ph) to cause a lot of concern among a lot of people.
What can you say to somebody tonight to convince them that you don't want to take away everybody's guns? That you're not coming for their guns?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, Anderson, I think it's useful to keep in mind, I've been, now, president for over seven years, and gun sales don't seem to have suffered during that time.
(
Note how the President does not answer the question. The question was, "What can you say to convince people that you don't want to take away everybody's guns?" The President answers with, "I've been president for over 7 years and gun sales are good.")
4. OBAMA: . . . . Michelle and I are, then, campaigning out in Iowa, and we're going to farms, and we're going to counties, and at one point, Michelle turned to me, and she said, you know, if I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm,
I'd want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected. And she was absolutely right.
(
Note the omission of "handgun" from his list of guns that the First Lady might want.)
5. On background checks:
COOPER: . . . . the vast majority of felons out there -- . . . . The vast majority of criminals get their guns from -- either illegally or for family or friends. So background checks is not something that's going to affect them, is it?
OBAMA: Well, but that's not exactly accurate. Look, first of all, it's important for everybody to understand what I've proposed and what I haven't proposed. What I've said consistently throughout my presidency is I respect the Second Amendment, I respect the right to bear arms. I respect people who want a gun for self-protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship.
(
A dodge and a half-truth. He skips right over the question of the effectiveness of background checks here. What he has "said" is that he respects the 2A. But, IMHO, he has not acted in a manner consistent with respecting the 2A.)
6.
On background checks and gun shows:
OBAMA: . . . . And so what we've proposed is that if you have a background check system that has a bunch of big loopholes, which is why a lot of criminals and people who shouldn't have guns are able to get guns...
COOPER: But [criminals are] not buying them at gun shows. Only 1 percent of criminals are buying them at gun shows.
OBAMA: Well, no, but this is what happens. Let's go back to the city of Chicago that has strong gun control laws. And oftentimes, the NRA will point to that as an example and say, see, these things don't work.
Well, the problem is, is that about 30 percent, 40 percent of those guns are coming from Indiana across the border, where there are much laxer laws, and so folks will go to a gun show and purchase a whole bunch of firearms, put them in a van, drive up into Mike Pfleger's neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago where his parish is, open up the trunk, and those things are for sale.
Now, technically, you could say those folks bought them illegally, but it was facilitated by the fact that what used to be a small exception that said collectors and hobbyists don't need to go through a background check has become this massive industry where people who are doing business are, in fact, saying that they're not in the business of selling guns, but are.
(
Three small items: (1) Where does the 30%, 40% come from?; (2) Yeah, you could "technically" say that gunrunning across state lines is illegal, in much the same way that you could "technically" say that possession of heroin with intent to distribute is illegal.; and (3) This last bit about "collectors and hobbyists (almost) looks like he's trying to conflate "private party transactions" with the "Curio and Relics" licsense.)
7. OBAMA: . . . . And we're also trying to close a loophole that has been developing over the last decade, where now, people are using cut-out trusts and shell corporations to purchase the most dangerous weapons -- sawed-off shotguns, automatic weapons, silencers -- and don't have to go through background checks at all.
(
Unless I'm mistaken, the person who accepts the transfer of an NFA item for a trust still has to go through a background check. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. And if any of the other members of the trust are prohibited people, possession of any firearm is still illegal, trust or no trust.
8. OBAMA: . . . . Now, we can't guarantee that
criminals are not going to have ways of getting guns. But, for example, it may be a little more difficult and a little more expensive. And, you know, the laws of supply and demand mean that
if something's harder to get and it's a little more expensive to get, then fewer people get them. And that in and of itself could make a difference.
(
This was the moment when I said to myself, "and there it is." Note that he can't guarantee that "criminals" won't get guns, but "if something's harder to get and more expensive, fewer people will get them." Not "criminals," but "people.")