Political Football

There is a lot of news today on the 5-4 vote in support of the 2nd amendment. Keep coming back to this post I’ll throw more on the page as I get find interesting takes on the decision.

5-4 votes in general concern me, but this one enlightens more of Obama’s shifting stance on the subject than anything else. As noted in the reports below 3 of the 4 Supremes who voted in support of Washington DC’s handgun ban are Obama’s “ideal judges”. I don’t own a hand gun, they scare the crap out of me; but I understand 2nd amendment advocates when they fear the right “to have and bear arms” being removed.

This post is more about Obama’s changing stance, positioning toward the middle – yet clearly indicating in previous strongly worded statements that he does not personally support the 2nd Amendment. As we remember in the last CD2 campaign, we need to take the measure of the candidate, not listen to what they say on the stump – or what groups they try to gain endorsements from during the campaign.

This is indeed a scary time – and I repeat again for emphasis, the most important election in my lifetime.

I’m not strongly in one camp or the other on the 2nd amendment, but Obama can’t play on both sides.

Link to article below (from SCOTUSblog)

My Sense of the Bottom-Line from Heller

Thursday, June 26th, 2008 11:30 am | Tom Goldstein |

Individuals have a constitutional right to possess a basic firearm (the line drawn is unclear, but is basically those weapons in general lawful use and does not extend to automatic weapons) and to use that firearm in self-defense. The government can prohibit possession of firearms by, for example, felons and the mentally ill. And it can also regulate the sale of firearms, presumably through background checks. The Court leaves open the constitutionality of a licensing requirement.

D.C.’s laws are invalidated. The handgun ban is unconstitutional. The Court treats the District’s trigger lock requirement as categorical and not including a self-defense exception. It does not address whether the trigger lock rule would be constitutional if it had such an exception, though it suggests it would by referring to the right to have a “lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.”

The opinion leaves open the question whether the Second Amendment is incorporated against the States, but strongly suggests it is. So today’s ruling likely applies equally to State regulation.

and from Powerlineblog.com

Barack Obama now poses as a moderate on the 2nd Amendment, in the news today because of the Heller decision which Paul notes below. In fact, however, Obama has a long history as an enthusiastic supporter of gun control and a virulent opponent of handgun ownership.

The RNC has collected a wealth of information on Obama’s positions and statements on the right to bear arms here. Obama supported the D.C. handgun ban that the Supreme Court found unconstitutional in Heller. John Lott says that Obama once told him, “I don’t believe that people should be able to own guns.” In 1996, when he was running for the Illinois State Senate, Obama submitted a questionnaire in which he answered questions about gun control. Obama said that he favored a ban on handguns; click to enlarge:

Jim Geraghty has more, including the fact that Obama served as director of a foundation that, among other anti-gun activities, funded a book called Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.

In a separate post, Geraghty also makes a point that I should have made last night in conjunction with the Kennedy child-rape decision. Obama has said that he regards Ginsburg, Breyer, and Souter as model Supreme Court justices. He also has publicly disagreed with the Kennedy decision, which held that child rape, no matter how brutal or violent, cannot constitutionally be the basis for capital punishment. But what justices contributed to the Kennedy majority? Of course: Ginsburg, Breyer and Souter. Likewise, Obama is now contradicting his life-long stands by taking a moderate position on guns. But what justices dissented from the majority view in Heller? Ginsburg, Breyer and Souter. So pay no attention to what Obama says during campaign season about issues that come before the Court. Pay attention, instead, to how his “model” justices vote.

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