Obama blinked this week

President Barack Obama seemed to fall way short of the hype in the direct actions he took this week on gun control. In a way, he almost seemed as if he was trying to save face. Yet you'd never know it judging by the Republican reaction in Washington. I'm still seeing news reports of Republicans expressing desire to compromise on things like high capacity ammunition mags. Maybe they don't see what I  see.

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Many on the pro-gun side expected much deeper moves by the White House through executive order. Obama, for instance, could have used an executive order or other regulatory means to ban importation of what the gun control factions consider "assault weapons."

Previous presidents have banned importation of certain guns from certain countries. They've instituted limited bans on certain ammunition importation as well. Why didn't Obama move in similar areas?

I suspect millions of Americans, voting with their wallets to purchase guns and ammunition, have been a tremendous counter-force. On Wednesday, the president seemed to fall back to a softer-sell position. One that focuses more on anti-gun "research" and propaganda., and breaking down privacy restrictions between doctors and patients. Couching behind children as political props seemed to make him smaller, not stronger.

The heavy lifting has been handed back to Congress. And the president, while talking generalities about so-called "military style weapons" has failed to offer specific, written descriptions or draft legislation.

Obama, to a limited extent, also included more armed security in schools (liked the NRA suggested) in his package. The media mocked the NRA for advocating armed guards in schools, but gave Obama a pass for vowing to fund more "school resource officers."

Yes, there are signs the president and his gun control allies are becoming gun shy after their overreach since Sandy Hook. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who was first to jump on the gun-ban soapbox, has been invisible in the past few weeks.

Advocates for the Second Amendment must stand strong. The gun banners have blinked.

Let's hope Republicans in the Congress have the will to stand with the people and the Constitution as this debate moves forward, and not get caught up in their usual head-games of trying to appear reasonable to those who profess to be their ideological opposites.

Note: Don Dickinson and I will discuss, expand and perhaps debate some of these themes on today's (January 18) Don and Doug on TalkSouthRadio.com. The program starts at 1:00pm EST. 

Update: The January 18th program is available for playback On Demand.