Today in Colorado Obama mocked legitimate 2nd amendment concerns by gun owners:

The opponents of some of these common sense laws have ginned up fears among responsible gun owners that have nothing to do with what’s being proposed, nothing to do with the facts, but feeds into this suspicion about government. You hear some of these quotes:

“I need a gun to protect myself from the government.”

“We can’t do background checks because the government’s going to come take my guns away.”

The government’s us. These officials are elected by you. They are elected by you, I am elected by you. I am constrained as they are constrained by a system that our founders put in place. This is a government of and by and for the people.

So surely we can have a debate that’s not based on the notion somehow that your elected representatives are trying to do something to you other than potentially prevent another group of families from grieving the way the families of Aurora or Newtown or Columbine have grieved. We’ve got to get passed some of the rhetoric that gets perpetuated that breaks down trust and is so over the top that it just shuts down all discussion.

And it’s important for all of us when we hear that talk to say ‘hold on a second’. If there are any folks out there right now who are gun owners and you’ve been hearing that someone is taking away your guns, get the facts! We’re not proposing a gun registration system. We’re proposing background checks for criminals.

Don’t just listen to what some advocates or folks who have an interest in this are saying. Look at the actual legislation. That’s what happened here in Colorado. And hopefully if we know the facts and we’re listing to each other, then we can actually move forward.