A Consistent Inconsistency?
I noticed something as I was reading two stories about Barack Obama and the 2nd Amendment. From Reason’s Jacob Sullum:
Responding to criticism that Obama has since changed his position on gun control, his campaign declares that “Obama has been consistent.”
From USA Today:
Obama also said he no longer supported broad licensing and registering of firearms, as he did when he was in the Illinois Senate.
So which is it? Has the Senator been consistent in his position on gun control? Or has he in fact changed his mind?
By the way, another question for Senator Obama on the 2nd. He says he supports the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans to “hunt, fish, protect their families.” Can someone explain to me then how he can also support the D.C. Gun Ban, which prohibits the possession of a functional firearm in the home for self-defense?
Look, clearly if Obama comes out and says the D.C. Gun Ban is unconstitutional, then that would almost bring up questions about Obama’s support for Chicago’s gun ban (in place since 1983). If he feels that ban is unconstitutional, why didn’t he ever work to get it overturned?
But if he holds with the statement that he believes in the individual right to keep and bear arms, but the D.C. Gun Ban somehow passes constitutional muster, I think it’s fair to ask (as Jacob Sullum suggested when I interviewed him today) Senator Obama to name an example of a gun control law that he thinks does or would violate the 2nd Amendment. As it stands, Obama’s turning an “individual right” into something the goverment can violate at will.
February 28th, 2008 at February 28, 2008 - 10:01 pm
[…] still anti-gun. But the campaign apparently has a dictionary with a missing page - the one with “consistent” listed on it. Countertop has a kick ass picture. I *heart* the VPC. I look forward to their […]
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 12:13 am
[…] Edwards outlines some Obama’s contradictions on guns: But if he holds with the statement that he believes in the individual right to keep and […]
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 8:50 am
[…] Question: Well, which is it? […]
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 11:05 am
In November, Obama said the D.C. Gun Ban Constitutional!
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 1:16 pm
Obama didn’t just fail to oppose Chicago’s unconstitutional handgun ban, he actively supported it by joining a small minority of legislators (and a minority even among Democrats) in opposing the law that created a limited self-defense exception to it.
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 6:55 pm
Obama is both a liar & anti 2nd Amendment as well as anti gun rights. He’s more anti individual freedom even than Hillary as hard as that is to imagine.
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 11:20 pm
[…] catch by Cam Edwards, who finds something, er, odd in two statements by the Obama campaign. Here’s the first […]
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 11:21 pm
He’s definitely got a problem which could hurt him badly in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. He’s clearly changing for political reasons. My advice would be to say when he was in the Illinois senate he was representing the people of that state, but as president he would be representing the whole country. Thats the best I can come up with. That along with a ’states rights’ argument, and saying he’s changed his mind about the issue.
February 29th, 2008 at February 29, 2008 - 11:49 pm
Senator Obama’s views are the same as Senator Feinstein’s, Shumer, Kennedy, Boxer, Clinton and most of the others who would like to see the 2nd Amendment stricken from the Constitution. Let him stand on his voting record and the anti gun organizations that he has belonged to over the years. Now he is trying to disassemble what he has said but his voting record in Illinois and in the Senate of the United States is public record and can’t be erased. Forget about the 2nd Amendment if Senator Obama is elected.
March 1st, 2008 at March 1, 2008 - 6:10 am
Hey1 Are you questioning his patrioti…uh, his sinceri…er, ahem… his hopefulness-ness?
March 1st, 2008 at March 1, 2008 - 2:49 pm
[…] Senators “friend of the court” brief for Heller [PDF], while Obama’s been very inconsistent, […]
March 2nd, 2008 at March 2, 2008 - 3:10 am
[…] A Consistent Inconsistency? […]
March 2nd, 2008 at March 2, 2008 - 8:16 pm
[…] Barack Obama on the other hand has displayed time and again (abortion, healthcare, Patriot Act, mandatory recording of interrogations) that he favours choice and respects freedom. However, I will not go so far as to call him a civil libertarian. Not with this and this and this. […]
March 26th, 2008 at March 26, 2008 - 7:43 pm
“Look, clearly if Obama comes out and says the D.C. Gun Ban is unconstitutional, then that would almost bring up questions about Obama’s support for Chicago’s gun ban (in place since 1983). If he feels that ban is unconstitutional, why didn’t he ever work to get it overturned?”
Because the DC gun ban is mandated at the federal level, it is unconstitutional. Local government in Chicago has the right to enact gun control law within its jurisdiction. There is no hypocrisy or inconsistency in Obama’s actions here whatsoever. Next!