Cling to Your Guns: Obama Lies about Gun Control

Few politicians have the gall to blatantly lie in their television ads. Barack Hussein Obama has plowed new ground in his audacity of deceit to run a political ad in which he claims he is pro-gun rights. When I heard it, I laughed out loud after I picked my jaw up off the floor.

With friends like Obama, who needs enemies? As a Life Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), I know Obama is no friend of my Second Amendment rights. He has an “F” from the NRA. Any gun owner needs to pay close attention to Obama’s words and, more importantly, his actions. Despite his few years as a politician, he has a long string of anti-gun votes.

Obama served on the board of the Joyce Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to anti-gun groups, from 1994-2001. He wrote in his own handwriting on a candidate questionnaire in 1996, when he first ran for the Illinois Senate, that he would like to “ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.” Similarly, in 1998, he supported a ban on the sale or transfer of all semi-automatic weapons. (NRA-ILA Staff, “Obama: Issue by Issue,” America’s 1st Freedom, Nov. 2008, p. 36) Back in 1999, Obama proposed increasing taxes on firearms and ammunition by 500 percent. He also called for a federal ban on gun stores within five miles of any park or school. A study of these “Obama Exclusion Zones” determined that over ninety percent of all gun stores would be forced to close and “most major metropolitan areas and their suburbs, and even small towns, would become ‘gun store-free zones’.” (Ibid. p. 39)

As an Illinois State Senator, he voted to limit handgun purchases to one per month in 2003. He supported S.B. 1195, another 2003 anti-gun bill, which would have banned “all single-shot and double-barreled shotguns 28 gauge or larger, and many semi-auto shotguns…along with hundreds of models of rifles and handguns.” (Ibid. p. 38) Any Illinois resident found in possession of one of these guns ninety days after passage would have been charged with a felony. Fortunately, the bill did not pass.

Obama voted ‘no” four times on S.B. 2165 in 2004. This bill would protect citizens from prosecution who used a gun in self-defense in their home against an intruder or attacker. He also said in 2004, “I am consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry.” He proposed “federal legislation that would ban citizens from carrying weapons, except for law enforcement.” He continues to oppose citizens’ right-to-carry laws, stating in April 2008, “I am not in favor of concealed weapons.” (Ibid. p. 39)

More recently in 2005, Obama supported Sen. Edward Kennedy’s ban on center-fire rifle ammunition used in hunting and sport shooting. Even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) opposed it. Fortunately, this Kennedy amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act failed. He voted “yea” on S.397 in the U.S. Senate in 2005. This terrible bill would have made firearms’ manufacturers responsible for illegal use of their products after sale. It would also have outlawed most types of rifle ammunition. (www.gunbanobama.com) Both Obama and his running mate Sen. Joseph Biden voted against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This bill protects legal firearm manufacturers from lawsuits resulting from the illegal acts of armed criminals. Obama supports Biden’s bill (S.2237) that would reinstate Brady Bill bans on “roughly 200 makes and models of semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and handguns on the basis of things like the shape of their grips, and on ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.” (“Joe Biden: The Voice of Anti-gun Experience,” America’s 1st Freedom, Nov. 2008, p. 41)

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the handgun ban in Washington, D.C. recently in District of Columbia v. Heller. Over 300 members of Congress joined in a brief asking the court to uphold the Second Amendment rights of individuals. Neither Obama nor Biden joined them. This decision was decided 5-4. Key to this landmark decision in defense of your individual right to keep and bear arms was Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito. Both Obama and Biden voted against confirming these justices and expressed strong disagreement with the Court’s decision. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the decision. At an August 2008 candidate’s forum, Obama stated he would not have nominated him or Justice Clarence Thomas who voted with the majority.

Biden, during a speech to the N.A.A.C.P. convention during the presidential primary, predicted: “The next president is likely to name at least one, if not three new Supreme Court justices.” (Wayne LaPierre, “Vote for the Second Amendment,” America’s 1st Freedom, Nov. 2008, p. 9) If you own guns of any type or believe you should have the right to do so, then you do not want Obama to be the one nominating Supreme Court Justices and hundreds of lower-level federal judges. If you, like the Founding Fathers, believe the Second Amendment is essential to freedom from government tyranny, then McCain-Palin is the ticket to support.

Obama would like to ban all handguns and semi-automatic firearms, revoke state Right-to-Carry laws, ration purchases of other firearms, and impose gun licensing and registration. (www.nrapvf.org) As NRA President John C. Sigler warned, “Taken together, Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden constitute the most anti-gun ticket ever to run for the White House.” (John c. Sigler, “Obama-Biden a Clear and Present Danger,” America’s 1st Freedom, Nov. 2008, p. 10)

The divide between Democratic and Republican views of the Second Amendment is clear in their party platforms. The 2008 Democratic Party platform says, “We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation, but we know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne.” This new concept that Constitutional protections are subject to regional differences has been dubbed “geo-constitutionalism.” It flies in the face of our Founding Fathers’ intent and the concept of equal protection under the law.

In contrast, the Republican Party platform states, “We uphold the right of individual Americans to own firearms, a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment. Gun ownership is responsible citizenship, enabling Americans to defend themselves, their property and communities.” Voters, cling to those guns! Vote for McCain-Palin.