Candidate Obama and Gun Control

As a leading liberal in the senate Barack Obama has throughout his career been a supporter of rigid gun control. Even when running for the state senate in Illinois Mr. Obama ran as a gun control candidate. When completing a survey on issues of importance to Illinois voters candidate Obama provided the following answers to a series of gun control questions:

1. Do you support state legislation to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns?

Candidate Obama's answer - "Yes"

2. Do you support state legislation to ban assault weapons?

Candidate Obama's answer - "Yes"

3. Do you support state legislation for mandatory waiting periods and background checks for gun ownership?

Candidate Obama's answer - "Yes"

When asked in 1996 if he supported DC's ban on handguns he responded as follows: "As a general principle I believe the constitution gives an individual right to bear arms, but just because you have an individual right does not mean a state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right."

During the presidential primaries Senator Obama attempted to explain his trailing position in the Pennsylvania polls to a Los Angles audience by saying in effect he was being rejected by Pennsylvanians who, "have gotten bitter, clinging to their guns or their religion or antipathy to people not like them."

Obviously Senator Obama thought that identifying Pennsylvania voters who failed to support him as "clinging to their guns" he would gain acceptance among Los Angles liberals.

With the Supreme Court Ruling that was issued yesterday striking down the DC handgun ban, the most restrictive gun control law in the nation, senator Obama made yet another striking reversal of his former position on gun control

In what many see as one of several recent efforts to position the senator more in the center of the political spectrum prior to the November election, the senator positioned himself as favoring the decision saying " Today's decision reinforces that if we act responsibly we can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and children safe".