By Jeff Moran  | Washington Times

GENEVA — On Jan. 16, President Obama put forward his 15-page plan to “better protect our children and our communities from tragic mass shootings like those in Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek, and Tucson.” The plan’s titular theme was “now is the time” for action. The top two priorities: universal background checks for gun purchases and a categorical rifle ban.

Setting aside the troubling facts that the White House sales pitch had significant omissions and/or exaggerations, that other experts say mass shootings are not any more prevalent today than they were in the past, and that rifles account for approximately 3 percent of all homicides, Mr. Obama’s two priorities are simply misguided and off-target, especially if he wants to move the needle with respect to American gun homicides and suicides. This is because his top two priorities, as well as the rest of his plan, are based on the false assumptions that lethal gun abuse is a large and growing problem, and that it impacts Americans equally, making one-size-fits-all solutions appropriate.

Read the full Commentary as published on 8 February 2013 in the Washington Times here.