3196 Dead <
de...@gone.com> wrote in news:k4q045$u15$
1...@dont-email.me:
Is he? I don't know for sure but I can produce his record:
Obama’s Record
"As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an
individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual
right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain
the exercise of that right."
Barack Obama - April 16, 2008, Democratic Primary Debate, National
Constitution Center in Philadelphia
Facts – Obama on Gun Control
·
-Opposes four of the five Supreme Court justices who affirmed an
individual right to keep and bear arms. He voted against the confirmation
of Alito and Roberts and he has stated he would not have appointed Thomas
or Scalia.
-Voted for an Illinois State Senate bill to ban and confiscate “assault
weapons,” but the bill was so poorly crafted, it would have also banned
most semi-auto and single and double barrel shotguns commonly used by
sportsmen.
-Voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms
industry
-Has endorsed a 500% increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and
ammunition.
-Has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership
-Supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.
-Voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people
who use firearms in self-defense
-Was a member of the Board of Directors of the Joyce Foundation, the
leading source of funds for anti-gun organizations and “research.”
-Supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or
park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America.
-Supports a ban on inexpensive handguns
-Supports a ban on the resale of police issued firearms, even if the
money is going to police departments for replacement equipment.
Courtesy of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative
Action
Opposed bill okaying illegal gun use in home invasions. (Aug 2008)
Ok for states & cities to determine local gun laws. (Apr 2008)
Respect 2nd Amendment, but local gun bans ok. (Feb 2008)
2000: cosponsored bill to limit purchases to 1 gun per month. (Oct
2007)
Concealed carry OK for retired police officers. (Aug 2007)
Stop unscrupulous gun dealers dumping guns in cities. (Jul 2007)
Keep guns out of inner cities--but also problem of morality. (Oct
2006)
Bush erred in failing to renew assault weapons ban. (Oct 2004)
Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions. (Jul 1998)
Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. (Jul
2005)
OnTheIssuesLogo
Barack Obama on Gun Control
Junior Senator (IL); President-Elect
Opposed bill okaying illegal gun use in home invasions
Hale DeMar, a 52-year-old Wilmette resident, was arrested and charged
with misdemeanor violations for shooting, in the shoulder and leg, a
burglar who broke into his home not once, but twice. Cook County
prosecutors dropped all charges against DeMar.
In March 2004, the Illinois Senate passed Senate Bill 2165, a law
introduced in response to DeMar's case, with provisions designed to
assert a right of citizens to protect themselves against home invasions,
such that self-defense requirements would be viewed to take precedence
over local ordinances against handgun possession. The measure passed the
Illinois Senate by a vote of 38-20. Barack Obama was one of the 20 state
senators voting against the measure.
Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed the bill. On Nov. 9, 2004, the Illinois
Senate voted 40-18 to override Blagojevich's veto. Again, Obama acted
against the bill.
On Nov. 17, the Illinois House voted overwhelmingly, 85-30, to override
the governor's veto and Senate Bill 2165 became law.
Source: Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi, p.241-242 Aug 1, 2008
Ok for states & cities to determine local gun laws
Q: Is the D.C. law prohibiting ownership of handguns consistent with an
individual’s right to bear arms?
A: As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an
individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual
right does not mean that the state or local government can’t constrain
the exercise of that right, in the same way that we have a right to
private property but local governments can establish zoning ordinances
that determine how you can use it.
Q: But do you still favor the registration & licensing of guns?
A: I think we can provide common-sense approaches to the issue of illegal
guns that are ending up on the streets. We can make sure that criminals
don’t have guns in their hands. We can make certain that those who are
mentally deranged are not getting a hold of handguns. We can trace guns
that have been used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers that may be
selling to straw purchasers and dumping them on the streets.
Source: 2008 Philadelphia primary debate, on eve of PA primary Apr 16,
2008
FactCheck: Yes, Obama endorsed Illinois handgun ban
Obama was being misleading when he denied that his handwriting had been
on a document endorsing a state ban on the sale and possession of
handguns in Illinois. Obama responded, “No, my writing wasn’t on that
particular questionnaire. As I said, I have never favored an all-out ban
on handguns.”
Actually, Obama’s writing was on the 1996 document, which was filed when
Obama was running for the Illinois state Senate. A Chicago nonprofit,
Independent Voters of Illinois, had this question, and Obama took hard
line:
35. Do you support state legislation to:
a. ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns? Yes.
b. ban assault weapons? Yes.
c. mandatory waiting periods and background checks? Yes.
Obama’s campaign said, “Sen. Obama didn’t fill out these state Senate
questionnaires--a staffer did--and there are several answers that didn’t
reflect his views then or now. He may have jotted some notes on the front
page of the questionnaire, but some answers didn’t reflect his views.”
Source: FactCheck.org analysis of 2008 Philadelphia primary debate Apr
16, 2008
April 2008: "Bittergate" labeled Obama elitist
April 11th produced "Bittergate." The Huffington Post website posted an
explanation Obama gave at a private fundraiser in San Francisco of the
challenges he faced with working-class voters in Pennsylvania and
Indiana. "It's not surprising they get bitter," he said, referring to
decades of constrained economic opportunities. "They cling to guns or
religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant
sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their
frustrations."
Clinton said the remarks were "not reflective of the values and beliefs
of Americans." McCain said Obama showed "breathtaking" elitism. Obama
challenged the accusations, and noted in response to the charge of
elitism that he had been raised by a single mother who relied on food
stamps, but conceded he could have been more diplomatic.
Source: Obama for Beginners, by Bob Neer, p. 61 Apr 1, 2008
Respect 2nd Amendment, but local gun bans ok
Q: You said recently, “I have no intention of taking away folks’ guns.”
But you support the D.C. handgun ban, and you’ve said that it’s
constitutional. How do you reconcile those two positions?
A: Because I think we have two conflicting traditions in this country. I
think it’s important for us to recognize that we’ve got a tradition of
handgun ownership and gun ownership generally. And a lot of law-abiding
citizens use it for hunting, for sportsmanship, and for protecting their
families. We also have a violence on the streets that is the result of
illegal handgun usage. And so I think there is nothing wrong with a
community saying we are going to take those illegal handguns off the
streets. And cracking down on the various loopholes that exist in terms
of background checks for children, the mentally ill. We can have
reasonable, thoughtful gun control measure that I think respect the
Second Amendment and people’s traditions.
Source: 2008 Politico pre-Potomac Primary interview Feb 11, 2008
Provide some common-sense enforcement on gun licensing
Q: When you were in the state senate, you talked about licensing and
registering gun owners. Would you do that as president?
A: I don’t think that we can get that done. But what we can do is to
provide just some common-sense enforcement. The efforts by law
enforcement to obtain the information required to trace back guns that
have been used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers. As president, I
intend to make it happen. We essentially have two realities, when it
comes to guns, in this country. You’ve got the tradition of lawful gun
ownership. It is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt,
fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot. Then you’ve got the
reality of 34 Chicago public school students who get shot down on the
streets of Chicago. We can reconcile those two realities by making sure
the Second Amendment is respected and that people are able to lawfully
own guns, but that we also start cracking down on the kinds of abuses of
firearms that we see on the streets.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate in Las Vegas Jan 15, 2008
2000: cosponsored bill to limit purchases to 1 gun per month
Obama sought moderate gun control measures, such as a 2000 bill he
cosponsored to limit handgun purchases to one per month (it did not
pass). He voted against letting people violate local weapons bans in
cases of self-defense, but also voted in2004 to let retired police
officers carry concealed handguns.
Source: The Improbable Quest, by John K. Wilson, p.148 Oct 30, 2007
Concealed carry OK for retired police officers
Obama voted for a bill in the Illinois senate that allowed retired law
enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons. If there was any issue
on which Obama rarely deviated, it was gun control. He was the most
strident candidate when it came to enforcin and expanding gun control
laws. So this vote jumped out as inconsistent.
When I queried him about the vote, he said, “I didn’t find that [vote]
surprising. I am consistently on record and will continue to be on record
as opposing concealed carry. This was a narrow exception in an
exceptional circumstance where a retired police officer might find
himself vulnerable as a consequence of the work he has previously done--
and had been trained extensively in the proper use of firearms.“
It wasn’t until a few weeks later that another theory came forward about
the uncharacteristic vote. Obama was battling with his GOP opponent to
win the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Source: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell, p.250-251 Aug 14, 2007
Stop unscrupulous gun dealers dumping guns in cities
Q: How would you address gun violence that continues to be the #1 cause
of death among African-American men?
A: You know, when the massacre happened at Virginia Tech, I think all of
us were grief stricken and shocked by the carnage. But in this year
alone, in Chicago, we’ve had 34 Chicago public school students gunned
down and killed. And for the most part, there has been silence. We know
what to do. We’ve got to enforce the gun laws that are on the books.
We’ve got to make sure that unscrupulous gun dealers aren’t loading up
vans and dumping guns in our communities, because we know they’re not
made in our communities. There aren’t any gun manufacturers here, right
here in the middle of Detroit. But what we also have to do is to make
sure that we change our politics so that we care just as much about those
30-some children in Chicago who’ve been shot as we do the children in
Virginia Tech. That’s a mindset that we have to have in the White House
and we don’t have it right now.
Source: 2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum Jul 12, 2007
Keep guns out of inner cities--but also problem of morality
I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders
must say so in the face of the gun manfuacturer’s lobby. But I also
believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd
because he feels someone disrespected him, we have a problem of morality.
Not only do ew need to punish thatman for his crime, but we need to
acknowledge that there’s a hole in his heart, one that government
programs alone may not be able to repair.
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.215 Oct 1, 2006
Bush erred in failing to renew assault weapons ban
KEYES: [to Obama]: I am a strong believer in the second amendment. The
gun control mentality is ruthlessly absurd. It suggests that we should
pass a law that prevents law abiding citizens from carrying weapons. You
end up with a situation where the crook have all the guns and the law
abiding citizens cannot defend themselves. I guess that’s good enough for
Senator Obama who voted against the bill that would have allowed
homeowners to defend themselves if their homes were broken into.
OBAMA: Let’s be honest. Mr. Keyes does not believe in common gun control
measures like the assault weapons bill. Mr. Keyes does not believe in any
limits from what I can tell with respect to the possession of guns,
including assault weapons that have only one purpose, to kill people. I
think it is a scandal that this president did not authorize a renewal of
the assault weapons ban.
Source: Illinois Senate Debate #3: Barack Obama vs. Alan Keyes Oct 21,
2004
Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions
Principles that Obama supports on gun issues:
Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of
firearms.
Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
Source: 1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test Jul
2, 1998
Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
A bill to prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or
continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of
firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting
from the misuse of their products by others. Voting YES would:
Exempt lawsuits brought against individuals who knowingly transfer a
firearm that will be used to commit a violent or drug-trafficking crime
Exempt lawsuits against actions that result in death, physical injury
or property damage due solely to a product defect
Call for the dismissal of all qualified civil liability actions
pending on the date of enactment by the court in which the action was
brought
Prohibit the manufacture, import, sale or delivery of armor piercing
ammunition, and sets a minimum prison term of 15 years for violations
Require all licensed importers, manufacturers and dealers who engage
in the transfer of handguns to provide secure gun storage or safety
devices
Reference: Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act; Bill S 397 ; vote
number 2005-219 on Jul 29, 2005
And if he wins next month, he will be a lame duck with nothing to lose on
gun control.