Fact Check: Sen. Obama and Guns

[Herman Munster]

http://facts.hillaryhub.com/archive/?id=5693

2/2/2008 7:25:05 PM

Today, Sen. Obama went to Idaho to reassure voters there that he has consistently supported gun ownership, saying that he has "no intention of taking away folks' guns."

But the AP reported that in a 1996 questionnaire Sen. Obama said he "supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns." (Read the questionnaire yourself HERE.)

Which one of Sen. Obama's positions do you think the Republican nominee will tout in the fall?

[thunder rising]

1. Funny ... no link.

[rusty quoin]

2. I don't care. n/t

[gasoline highway]

3. ...

banning handguns and guns altogether are totally dif issues

[benEzra]

8. How so?

banning handguns and guns altogether are totally dif issues

How so?

If someone supports outlawing all abortions except those necessary to save the life of the mother, they are not in favor of banning ALL abortions, so they're pro-choice, right? :sarcasm:

Considering that over half of U.S. gun owners own handguns, hell yes banning people's handguns is an issue. There are between two and three times as many handgun owners in the U.S. as there are hunters, and roughly half of them are Dems and indies.

Most anti-abortion groups don't want to outlaw all abortion, just elective abortion. The American Family Association doesn't want to outlaw all books, just the ones they don't like. And the republicans at the Brady Campaign don't want to outlaw all guns, just most of them (handguns and nonhunting-style rifles and shotguns).

That doesn't make any of those positions more palatable to those who would be affected by the bans.

[hollowdweller]

4. Yeah but the Clinton name reviled by gun owners.

In word I'd say Obama is probably more "anti gun" than Hillary, but gun owners hate the Clintons for Brady, AWB, and cracking down on FFL's.

The Clintons lost us congress before because of their gun control measures.

I'd say that gun owners would be more willing to vote for someone like Obama who may have changed their postion versus the clintons who hava a record of being hostile to gun owners.

[JTFrog]

5. More facts bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton for President. n/t

[underpants]

6. Don't worry about what the Republicans will do

and don't worry about being wrong

lesson over

[madrchsod]

7. you really should`t post articles that actually

show that he has been right on every issue. did you notice his objection to bill clinton`s workfare? opps!..

i `m sure his record is well known in the gun circles so he`s never going to get them. but when one lives in the inner city like he did hand guns are a really big issue.

[benEzra]

9. Here's a problem...

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Gun_Control.htm

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.

Not only are most handguns semiautomatic, but so are most popular target rifles, both centerfire and rimfire. That is a huge liability that he needs to address ASAP.

He needs to work hard to address this issue, and IMHO to understand it. I do not think he understands that 4 out of 5 of U.S. gun owners are nonhunters, or that semiautomatics have been the most popular lawfully owned guns in America for decades. It's not about hunting.

It was the DLC's "assault weapon" bait-and-switch in the early '90s that led to the "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme, not imaginary attacks on 19th-century-style deer rifles.

The 2006 elections showed how to defuse the gun issue, namely drop all support for new bans on legal guns and let the election be decided on the issues people say are more important. We don't need another 1994.


----------------------
Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)

The Conservative Roots of U.S. Gun Control