Obama advisers sought to 'tap people's emotions' for gun-control push after Sandy Hook: Emails

Rahm Emanuel, Arne Duncan talked strategy in correspondence published by Baltimore Post

Rahm Emanuel famously said that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” and apparently that included the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

Two days after the horrific school shooting, the Chicago mayor advised then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan to “[t]ap peoples emotions” as they discussed how to leverage the tragedy to push for gun-control restrictions, according to emails published Wednesday by the Baltimore Post.

“What are your thoughts?” asked Mr. Duncan in an email with the subject line “CT shootings” dated Dec. 16, 2012.

Mr. Emanuel advised him to move quickly. “Go for a vote this week asap before it fades,” he said. “Tap peoples emotion. Make it simple assault weapons.”

Mr. Duncan replied, “Yup- thanks,” to which Mr. Emanuel responded, “When I did brady bill and assault weapons for Clinton we always made it simple. Criminals or war weapons.”

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The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted last summer to the Education Department, according to the Baltimore Post’s Ann Constantino.

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Max Eden called the political strategizing “shameful,” coming 48 hours after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 20 children and six adult teachers and staff dead.

Click here to read the entire article in the Washington Times.