'Anti-gunner' OSHA nominee advances without questions

The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved without question and without comment the nomination of David Michaels, the chief of a George-Soros-funded Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, as the next head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

As WND reported, Second Amendment advocates sounded an alarm over Michaels, warning the most significant attack on gun rights in years soon could come in the form of workplace "safety" regulations.

Obama's nomination of Michaels, a George Washington University professor, drew reaction from Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com.

Olson said Michaels' strong views on firearms are "by no means irrelevant to the agenda of an agency like OSHA, because once you start viewing private gun ownership as a public health menace, it begins to seem logical to use the powers of government to urge or even require employers to forbid workers from possessing guns on company premises, up to and including parking lots, ostensibly for the protection of co-workers."

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According to Examiner gun-rights writer David Codrea, the committee today approved Michaels' nomination by a voice vote.

"Committee Republicans Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) requested they be recorded as 'no' votes," he reported.

The nomination, which now advances to the full Senate, was accomplished without "a confirmation hearing to question him and today's vote occurred with no discussion," according to the website Point of Law, despite "serious concerns about Michaels' views on science, law and business."

"So much for new openness and transparency in government," commented Codrea.

"Next up will be a vote in the full Senate," he continued. "I urge concerned gun owners to contact your senators and register your objections."

WND has reported on Obama's czars and has published a Whistleblower magazine issue on the "shadow government" officials gradually being installed in positions of power in Washington.

Two already have met problems. Green jobs czar Van Jones quit his post after reporting, largely by WND, of his self-described communist beliefs and his contention that the Bush administration was behind the 9/11 attacks. Also, White House communications director Anita Dunn, who launched a verbal assault on Fox News as an "arm" of the GOP, reportedly is stepping down.

Now Michaels, although he would need approval by the U.S. Senate, comes with views that concern Second Amendment advocates.

Two years ago, Michaels condemned proposals in Georgia and Florida that would have allowed workers to carry guns to and from their places of work for protection.

He continued in his 2007 writing to laud the ability of the federal government to respond by creating new laws to ban activities or behaviors.

David Michaels

"When the toll of preventable and pointless deaths or injuries from any single event or related events becomes so great, or particular aspects of the story bring it to the public's attention, our nation invariably demands more and stronger regulation, not less," Michaels wrote at the time.

"In the U.S., we see an average of one gun-related homicide every 45 minutes, or 32 each day," he wrote. "These are usually treated as isolated incidents, until a horrific event like the Virginia Tech massacre reawakens the public and strengthens public health advocates who are attempting to prevent gun violence."

At RedCounty.com, writer Bryan Myrick noted that the Washington Times has urged the Senate to reject Michaels' nomination.

"OSHA is an agency that already has a well-earned reputation for abusing its authority and reaching beyond its stated purpose. Add one zealot and it easily becomes an oppressive entity with immense power over all American businesses, large and small. At a time in which America's businesses desperately need the freedom to responsibly pursue earning profits and put workers back on the payroll, the chemical potency of combining Obama's left-wing agenda with an anti-business zealot manager at OSHA could prove toxic," Myrick wrote.

Codrea warned that some "public health" excuse could be used for imposing draconian restrictions on gun owners.

He cited the comment from a director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Control and Prevention that, "We need to revolutionize the way we look at guns, like what we did with cigarettes. Now it [sic] is dirty, deadly, and banned."

Codrea asked: "Does anyone doubt that Michaels will bring a similarly creative agenda to apply through regulatory measures under the guise of 'occupational safety and health?'"

The National Gun Rights organization called him an "anti-gunner."

Columnist Dave Kopel at the Independence Institute in Colorado said, "Plenty of Obama's administration appointees have a longer record of anti-gun activism than David Michaels, but perhaps none of them have the ability to make such a dramatic, instant change in the lives of law-abiding gun owners.

"By its own fiat, OSHA could outlaw the possession of firearms in every workplace and every employee parking lot in the United States," he wrote.

"That David Michaels is anti-gun is undisputed," he continued.

"The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution means that a valid federal law or regulation wins in any conflict with a state law. Many states have laws that protect the rights of employees to store lawful firearms in parking lots at work. If an OSHA regulation prohibiting such storage existed, the federal regulation would trump state law," Kopel said.

"Under Michaels, OSHA could write a regulation stating that it is illegal for any business to allow guns in the workplace or in parking lots. No handgun could be locked in the trunk of a car, even if the owner has a Right-to-Carry license. No rifle could be stored in the car, even if there’s no ammunition around and the gun will be dropped off at the gunsmith after work," he said.

Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, supported Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns before it was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. And since Obama has been in office, he's already advocated for a treaty that would require a federal license for hunters to reload their ammunition, has expressed a desire to ban "assault" weapons, has seen a plan to require handgun owners to submit to mental health evaluations and sparked a rush on ammunition purchases with his history of anti-gun positions.

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