Ex-President Barack Obama got a fact check from social media users after a recent video of him bashing U.S. gun laws while abroad appeared online.
While speaking at an event in Brazil, Barack Obama was asked about his hardest day as president. He told the crowd the day of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut was the hardest day he faced while leading the nation.
After explaining the heartbreaking incident, however, Obama made a few more claims about gun laws in the United States that don’t hold up.
“Some of you may be aware our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense,” Obama said. “Anybody can buy any weapon any time — without much if any regulation, they can buy it over the Internet, they can buy machine guns.”
Folks on social media were quick to notice several problems with the ex-president’s remarks and wasted no time pointing out that he got “literally everything” wrong.
“This is an absolute lie. Machine guns are almost impossible to buy in the US. Tons of people (Felons) are banned from buying a gun at all and we have tons of regulations in a large portion of our states. @BarackObama, do better.” said a post on Twitter.
Another pointed out that Brazil has strict gun laws yet still suffers from a high gun murder rate – and that the Sandy Hook shooter didn’t purchase the firearms he used in the attack.
“It’s especially stark given that he’s talking about American gun laws in relation to the Sandy Hook shooting where the shooter did not legally purchase his firearms but instead murdered his own mother and stole hers.” the user added.
Despite former President Obama’s comments, there are 300 federal, state and local laws on the books that regulate the sale of firearms, including those that are sold over the internet.
According to the National Rifle Association, gun purchases have age limits depending on the type of firearm, and every buyer must pass a background check if they buy from a dealer. In addition, the purchase and sale of new machine guns have been illegal since 1986, and those grandfathered in face an extra license and fees.
