A silver bullet for Obama?
Globe Columnist / June 29, 2008
WHEN IT comes to gun control, the Democratic Party is a house divided
against itself. That helps explain Barack Obama's dizzyingly
inconsistent positions on District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark
Second Amendment case decided by the Supreme Court last week.
As a candidate for the Illinois Legislature in the 1990s, Obama had
sup****ted legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of
handguns," so it wasn't surprising that he endorsed the gun ban being
challenged in Heller while campaigning for president. In November, for
example, his campaign told the Chicago Tribune that "Obama believes
the D.C. handgun law is constitutional." In February, when a
questioner during a televised forum said, "You sup****t the D.C.
handgun ban," Obama readily agreed: "Right."
By March, however, his spokesman would no longer say whether Obama
considered the gun ban constitutional, and when the senator was asked
about it in April, he refused to give a clear answer on the grounds
that "I obviously haven't listened to the briefs and looked at all the
evidence." Still, when the court issued its 5-4 ruling last Thursday,
Obama claimed that his views had been vindicated. "I have always
believed," his statement began, "that the Second Amendment protects
the right of individuals to bear arms.".....
|
