An Important Memo to President Obama

Mr. President: I know that you are a very busy man, what with all the traveling and speeches and so forth. And all these crises that just take months of close attention and focus. I'll bet this latest one, straightening out the gun crisis, has barely left you time for meals. But, if I may, I do have a couple of modest suggestions that might be of more value than  discomfiting law abiding citizens that do no harm.

The people that do these mass shootings are clearly mentally disturbed. I cannot believe that  someplace along the line a person in authority wasn't made aware of something being not right. These suspicions whether from a teacher, another student, or a health care professional must be brought to a responsible party. Probably someone on the federal payroll to assure that the same standards nationally. It is impossible to stop all random acts of violence but this will surely be more effective than limiting magazine size.

Mr. President, it is a basic premise that criminals are criminals because they do not obey the law. If they want a gun they do not go to a gun shop and fill out the paperwork for a background check. They will steal a gun themselves, buy one from a gun thief, or buy one from a smuggler. So all these fancy new laws and initiatives will accomplish naught. I know it and I think you know it. 

The greatest source of gun violence on the streets today is gangs. So if you were serious about ending gun crime you would put the massive power of the United States government into a war on gangs. It is common knowledge that the areas with most gun violence are the country's larger cities.  New York, Chicago, Washington all have extremely stringent gun laws. But these laws mean nothing to criminals. They smuggle in  drugs. They smuggle in guns. There's no difference to them. If you took on that task, it would help against drugs, it would help against violence, and it would make the cities more livable.

All that having been said,  the reason that I wrote this memo is to remind you about jobs. What with guns, the war on women, Benghazi, "Fast and Furious", etc, you seem to have lost your focus on jobs. If focus you ever had. We've noticed, out here in flyover country, that you are starting your second term. Four full years and , truth be told, we are no better off. I know that your bean counters can rub numbers together and make it sound like progress. Two points. First; the GDP is around 1.3 %. That is abominable. Second; there are still fewer people working in this country than in the last thirty years. Worse than abominable. In my humble opinion you are starving your fellow countrymen for the sake of your ideology. Worse yet, you do this while treating yourself to seven million dollar vacations at our expense.