Wednesday, June 25, 2008

BARACK OBAMA, JOHN MCCAIN

DC Gun Ban Decision Likely Tomorrow; How Will Candidates Respond?

The Supreme Court's decision on the D.C. gun ban case didn't come today, so it's most likely coming out tomorrow. There is intriguing speculation from SCOTUSBlog that Scalia is writing the majority opinion.

Question: If the D.C. gun ban is unconstitutional, what does that mean for Chicago's gun laws? In Chicago it is unlawful to keep any firearm unless it has been registered with the Chicago Police, and the police will not register handguns purchased after 1982, creating an effective handgun ban in Chicago.

(This isn't stopping op-ed writers from citing Chicago crime as a reason the Supreme Court should find gun bans somehow not in violation of the Second Amendment. Beyond the fact that the Court's purpose is to see whether the gun ban is Constitutional, never mind effective, one is forced to wonder if the handgun ban is working in the Second City, why is gun violence so high?)

In the issue of gun owners' rights, we're reminded of one more time an Obama claim didn't line up with the facts. In the Philadelphia debate, Obama denied that he had said on a questionnaire that he favored a handgun ban, saying "No, my writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire, Charlie. As I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns." FactCheck.org dug into that claim extensively, and concluded it was misleading.

But beyond that, the gun rights issue is one area where we have an extensive Obama record to examine. He lived in a city that effectively banned handguns, and in his entire career there as a community organizer, a state legislator, and a U.S. senator, there is no record of Obama ever suggesting he had a problem with that policy. Though inaction, he made clear he saw nothing unconstitutional about a de facto ban on handguns.

06/25 11:07 AMShare