Obama's Actions on Guns Louder than Words in Billings

Today the Billings Gazette tackled the issue of the Democratic white working class voter. While talking about wooing the vote of Reagan Democrats, author Tom Lutey tries to assure us that our gun rights would be safe under an Obama administration.

Democrats in Western states should be assured that Obama has no intention of diminishing Second Amendment rights. Gun rights didn't get much of a mention in Obama's speech Monday at West High, but the candidate did say he'll defend the U.S. Constitution, which preserves the right to bear arms. Obama taught constitutional law for a decade.

Lutey needs to look a little further. Obama did not focus on gun rights because doing so is dangerous territory. When questions get specific on guns, his answers get fuzzy. He has supported just about every issue anathema to gun owners from handgun bans to suing gun manufacturers - and now tries to avoid them for political expedience. Isn't this the type of Washington career-politician tactic that he is trying to change? His silence on this issue is his only defense, and serves as no assurance.

As for Obama being a Constitutional lawyer and professor, this serves as no guarantee that he will defend the 2nd amendment as a true individual right to keep and bear arms. When asked at the Philadelphia Democratic debate whether the D.C. handgun and functional firearm ban is Constitutional, Obama stated that he had not "listened to the briefs and looked at all the evidence " (Full transcript of the debate here). So, despite his deep knowledge of the Constitution both at the bar and in the classroom, he could not state that the strictest gun ban in the nation (which is strikingly similar to the ban in Chicaco) was contrary to an individual's right.

Obama went on to state that he felt any city could completely restrict that right:

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, and, you know, 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.

I wonder if Sen. Obama believes that states and local juristictions have the same ability to restrict first amendment rights? Fourth amendment? What about their ability to restrict newly found rights such as abortion?

The take-away from these statements is that while an Obama administration might not be openly hostile towards gun rights, it would allow those rights to be chipped away from all angles. Legislators at the Congressional, state, and local level would have carte blance to bring frivolous law suits against gun dealers and manufacturers, create new limits to the amounts and type of firearms you can purchase, and create a patchwork of minute laws that would make criminals out of citizens making good faith efforts while carrying or transporting their arms.

While the Billings Gazette may give Obama a pass on these issues and, like him, try to avoid delving too deep into his history, I will listen to his record and not his rhetoric.