As Dem Frontrunner, Which Barack Will 'Emerge' On Gun Issue?

"The D.C. gun law, passed in 1975, isn't really about gangbangers, which it has not exactly disarmed, or random shootings on the street, which it has not noticeably curbed. In effect if not intent, it is about disarming law-abiding residents who might want to protect themselves from gangbangers and other violent criminals. It's not surprising that Obama sees nothing unconstitutional about this situation, since he does not acknowledge that the Second Amendment has anything to do with self-defense. "As a former constitutional law professor, Barack Obama understands and believes in the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms," his website claims. "He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting and target shooting" (emphasis added)."

-- Jacob Sollum from Reason Magazine penned the words above in a February 27, 2008 story. His concern is that because Obama ignores these aspects of the Second Amendment, he sees no constitutional barrier to a complete ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of handguns, which he supported when he ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996.

Hmmmm . . .

Conversely, Tim Cavanaugh of the Los Angeles Times suggests that Barack Obama will be better on the firearms debate than Hillary Clinton. Specifically, because when an amendment, the Vitter Amendment, was up for vote to be attached to a Homeland Security bill, Sen. Obama voted in the affirmative, while Sen. Clinton voted against the amendment.

What specifically did the amendment address? The confiscation of firearms from otherwise law-abiding people during a state of emergency. It is now illegal to do just that under federal law. But it took the Vitter Amendment to get it done. Several other states have passed similar bills so that the scene of police agencies confiscating guns from little old ladies who are inside their homes trying to protect their very lives during a period of lawlessness never occurs again.

Where did we see this happen? New Orleans. By their vote in the Senate, who said this should not happen again? Barack Obama. Interesting . . .

h/t to Glenn Reynolds