President Obama lifted the 41-year-old ban on arms sales to Vietnam this morning. Obama made the announcement at a press conference in Hanoi: (WSJ)

Mr. Obama said, “The United States is fully lifting the ban on the sale of military equipment,” with the aim of ensuring Vietnam has the ability to protect itself. Given all the work the two countries do together, he said, it’s appropriate not to have an “across-the-board ban.”

Implicit in the president’s remarks was concern the two countries share about China. The U.S. has backed smaller countries against Beijing in calling for regional disputes over resources and territory to be settled by multilateral talks, though it has taken no position on the disputes themselves.

“There is, I think, a genuine mutual concern with respect to maritime issues with respect to the United States and Vietnam,” Mr. Obama said, stressing the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Interesting China was raised as a concern for President Obama and his hosts in Hanoi considering the President has pointed to China as a model for domestic gun control measures.  Remember when he was pushing for 2nd amendment restrictions early in his second term? As the Daily Caller reported at the time:

“Some of you may recall at the same time that Sandy Hook happened, a disturbed person in China took a knife and tried to kill, with a knife a bunch of children in China. But most of them survived because he didn’t have access to a powerful weapon,” Obama claimed.

Vietnam needs our guns to protect against the threat China poses, but American citizens should be disarmed (like they are in China) and left defenseless against the criminal threats we face here at home.

And that, my friends, is Barack Obama’s world view when it comes to the right to bear arms. In short: It’s nonsensical.