Barack Obama’s crying during his gun control speech is awakening the conspiracy theories already. Some critics believe Obama is faking his tears by using a trick, and others are comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler’s fake tears expressed when the German Nazi leader also pushed for more gun control laws for the Jewish people prior to World War II and the Holocaust.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , Chicago shootings started within minutes of 2016, and the first shooting death was confirmed within hours. While talking about the gun control executive order, Obama’s crying during his speech started when he began to talk about the deadly San Bernardino shootings, the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, and the Chicago deaths.
“Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day,” he said.
As might be expected, the NRA thought Obama’s gun control speech was the start of a plot to make California’s gun seizures the norm and gun rights obsolete.
“The NRA will continue to fight to protect the fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under our Constitution. We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to become scapegoats for President Obama’s failed policies,” said NRA Executive Director Chris Cox.
On social media, the NRA pointed to studies which they claim proved that “expanded background checks wouldn’t have stopped recent gunmen,” and an ATF agent claims the “new gun rules won’t make it easier to bring charges.”
While you can check out the full details of the speech in the video, what has caught the attention of some is Obama’s tears, which can be seen in this shorter clip from the full speech.
If a leader cries, it is believed that the act can have a profound impact on the audience and perhaps even persuade people to agree.
“If it’s genuine, a leader showing emotion can have a powerful motivational impact,” explained Travis Bradberry, according to Business Insider . “Shedding tears can show people that a leader is human and this has a powerful impact, as long as the show of emotion is appropriate for the situation.”
But some critics believe Obama’s crying during his speech was anything but genuine. For example, on Twitter, John Nolte hypothesized that Obama strategically used a trick to make a single tear pop from his eye.
“Watch the video. Just before Obama cried fascist tears you can see him put jackboot polish in his eyes. Hitler used to do this,” wrote Nolte. “As he puts Ben-Gay in his eyes to create fake fascist tears, Obama again gives America the finger. Obama the fake-crying, terrorist appeasing, America-hating, economy-stalling, Benghazi bungling, phony-Christian fascist.”
Obama touching his eyes JUST BEFORE the tears came. He’s putting something in his eyes to create the fascist tears. pic.twitter.com/U3KBwM5L6X
— John Nolte (@NolteNC) January 5, 2016
On Facebook, Politichicks went a step further and used a photo of a crying Hitler along with a quote from David Chaney.
“Hitler cried and spoke with great dramatic flair. The Germans gave up their guns. Millions were murdered in cold blood. You can keep your drama and tears, I’ll raise you liberty and the ability to protect my freedom from individual, gang, and State tyrants.”
Comparing Obama and Hitler’s gun control laws has become par for the course for internet politics in recent years, but some argue that it is not truthful. Law Professor Bernard Harcourt addressed this issue in his 2004 Fordham Law Review article , where he noted that Article 169 of the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to have gun control before the Nazis and Hitler took control.
Under Hitler, gun control was actually relaxed with the 1938 German Weapons Act. Nazi Party members and certain other groups favored by Hitler were given full gun rights, and the legal age for gun ownership was dropped from 20 to 18-years-old.
“The 1938 revisions completely deregulated the acquisition and transfer of rifles and shotguns, as well as ammunition,” Harcourt said.
Unfortunately, American gun control proponents like quoting Professor Harcourt out of context in order to feed their argument. If you read the full context of Harcourt’s report, it is clear the Nazis’ gun control laws were used to oppress the Jewish people.
“If you read the 1938 Nazi gun laws closely and compare them to earlier 1928 Weimar gun legislation – as a straightforward exercise of statutory interpretation – several conclusions become clear. First, with regard to possession and carrying of firearms, the Nazi regime relaxed the gun laws that were in place in Germany at the time the Nazis seized power. Second, the Nazi gun laws of 1938 specifically banned Jewish persons from obtaining a license to manufacture firearms or ammunition. Third, approximately eight months after enacting the 1938 Nazi gun laws, Hitler imposed regulations prohibiting Jewish persons from possessing any dangerous weapons, including firearms.”
Some sites will quote Hitler as saying, “To conquer a nation, you must first disarm its citizens.” While Hitler apparently never said this quote, what he actually did say was far worse.
“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let’s not have any native militia or native police.”
What do you think about Obama crying during his speech? Do you think the gun control executive order is reasonable, or not?
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[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]