"Obama woos Pennsylvania gun owners". That will be tough for BO with his ban-handgun association.

[jody]

Obama woos Pennsylvania gun owners

The Politico reported Sunday that rather than touting gun control legislation he has consistently backed, the Illinois senator instead is highlighting his constitutional law experience.

Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22, has the nation's highest per-capita membership rates in the National Rifle Association, Politico noted. Obama faces rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who leads in state polls.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Guns are a cultural lens through which they view candidates," Kessler said. "If you are seen as way off on that issue, then you seem way off on everything. If you are seen as OK, if the lens is clearer, then they continue to look at you and size you up on other things."

To gain credence among gun owners, the Obama campaign has sought the help of state Rep. Dan Surra, a Democrat with an "A+" rating from the NRA, to form a coalition of supporters who can campaign for Obama.

A political chameleon changes images to blend in with the audience.

Will BO be able to appear pro-gun given his anti-gun history?

The most effective way would be for BO to tell voters "I promise to veto every bill that comes to me as president that infringes upon the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment."

[GarbagemanLB]

1. is this sort of like Hillary claiming she loves duck hunting and claiming she's always loved guns?

[jody]

3. You bet, I wish HC would also promise to veto bills that infringe upon RKBA. n/t

[YDogg]

6. I loved the video of Hillary slamming back a shot.

No wait, she sipped. So is she one of the guys, or what? I'd be more impressed if she was taking a body shot from Mark Penn's navel.

[ihelpu2see]

21. There Should be More regulations on hand guns... nt

[Prefer]

2. PA is about rifles, not hand guns

Handguns are for crime, rifles are for hunting.

[jody]

4. Handguns are the most effective, efficient tool that law-abiding citizens can use to exercise their

natural, inherent, inalienable right to self-defense.

That's why 850,000 sworn law-enforcement officers choose handguns for self-defense.

[Hepburn]

5. Wow....

...a Hillbot who loves violent weapons...who woulda thought.

:sarcasm:

[jody]

8. I'm a Yellow Dog Democrat and I'm tired of losing presidential elections.

[Hepburn]

11. So you support violence???

How is that working out for you?

[jody]

12. I support the Democratic Party that promises "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right

to own firearms".

What political party do you support?

[Hepburn]

25. The progressive arm of the Democratic Party that supports,,,

...strong gun control.

Any other questions?

[jody]

37. Glad to meet you. It's a shame you can't support the Democratic Party on the 2nd. n/t

[derby378]

40. Speak for yourself...

This progressive Democrat supports the Second Amendment.

[leftynyc]

41. Some of us support ALL the bill of rights

Running against the 2nd amendment is suicide for the dems - how many times do you need to see that issue hurt us?

[SteveM]

16. Keep trolling: your smear is becoming the face of gun prohibition.

[Hepburn]

22. LOL....

...I am trolling? :rofl:

Oh, what a slam...NOT!

[Irreverend IX]

20. Violence is an inescapable part of human existence.

As someone once said, "It is the privilege of those who have never faced violence to disparage the power to resist it." Hurricane Katrina showed us that the lawless state of nature is never far beneath the surface of "civilization," even in the richest country on Earth. Some people like to think they'll never face violence and live accordingly, and I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when they try to impose their naive value system on others.

[Hepburn]

24. So is taking a crap....

...your point?

[Irreverend IX]

36. Gun control is predicated on the idea...

That we live in an "orderly society" where private citizens have no need for tools of violence. Analysis of human history shows this to be a naive and short-sighted idea.

[Prefer]

27. So rifles are ineffective for self protection?

And what about hand grenades, what is your position on carrying concealed hand grenades?

[jody]

38. Suggest you participate in DU's Guns Forum and educate yourself about RKBA, apparently you know

very little about the issue.

[sasquatch]

9. "Handguns are for crime, rifles are for hunting."

There is some gray area there because most people own handguns for self defense and are responsible gun owners. But a small amount of people use them to for illegal activity though.

[PM7nj]

33. Come to North Philly or Camden, NJ and tell me handguns are not a problem.

I have no problem with rifles... but all this craziness with handguns has to end. It seems that every day another teenage kid dies from gunshot wounds.

[SteveM]

15. I and tens of millions of Americans own handguns. We are not criminals.

[DeschutesRiver]

32. I agree

My dh and I are semi-retired attorneys and independent voters. We've had a cc permit for >25 years; haven't had a single thought of or been the cause of some crime wave. It is simply preposterous to suggest that I give up my right to self protection, because our society can't enforce existing gun laws effectively against those who use guns with criminal intent. I am all for that - for every single dollar and resource we have to elminating the violent uses of guns to commit crime and mayhem. I am thankful I've never had to use it, and equally thankful that should my life be put in jeopardy from a sudden random violent crime event, I have a chance to live past it. My main motto is flee from danger; if there is no escape, then use a self defense strategy that will succeed. So far, the first choice has worked just fine.

I am sickened when I see resources going to apply a band-aid on this issue. Violence is a big ass problem in our society - and it is the one no one wants to tackle. Taking the right of gun ownership away from people who haven't a thought to use them in the commission of a crime is both pointless and actually a complete refusal to deal with the real issue. Because it is easier to do a "head fake" cure by pretending to strengthen gun laws to stop those "bad boys", than to figure out how in the hell to eliminate the rights/liberties of those who are just flat out criminals for whom society has no use. Hard to admit that we cannot stop violence, or the increase of it from disaffected and unstable elements.

We have completely awesome laws on the books for gun control, which are not enforced as they should be, so we already know that "gun control" is a fantasy with respect to it decreasing crime. That is just a fact. All these laws, and crime with guns rises still.

ETA: this is one of several issues that will cause me to vote for McCain, unless I see reality addressed by Obama, and a plan that is fair to law abiding citizens, who understand that our overworked police cannot be everywhere at once or all things to all people as situations arise. I've written off the clown Clinton, as she also had the position a few years ago, and has merely changed it for campaign (as on many other issues, like NAFTA, etc).

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I hope he doesn't go phony like Hillary and make up some story about hunting

or stage a photo op holding a hunting rifle and some dead pheasants. I think he's smarter than that. Seems to me politicians could handle this issue more convincingly by saying something like, "I'm not a hunter and I don't have much experience with guns. I'm not going to try to put one over on you by staging a fake hunting trip. The point is that what I personally have done with guns and what I think of them isn't important. The Constitution protects your right to keep and bear arms, and unlike the current president I understand that the Constitution is what matters. I intend to uphold your Second Amendment rights, and all the other ones as well."

[jody]

10. I agree, a no-nonsense promise with no BS about previous statements, votes, or association

with those who want to ban handguns or all guns.

BO and HC could win many blue-collar votes with a commitment like that.

[rodeodance]

23. Hillary's story about her father teaching her responsibility about guns is not made up.

[stray cat]

13. Giuliani was against hand guns and assault weapons on the street of NYC

Context is everything - a gun hunting and a gun pointed at you during an assault are two different things. Guns in the country versus in an elementary school I kind of view different from each other as well.

[jody]

14. Problem is criminals refuse to obey gun laws. I'm not worried about law-abiding citizens. n/t

[gmudem]

35. And?

When you're from a big city like Obama you ARE worried about handguns and their illegal use. That's just reality. People who live in rural areas and like to hunt need to realize that the situation in urban areas is completely different and we can't have the same policy for both urban and rural areas because it is completely stupid.

[jody]

39. BO is "worried about handguns and their illegal use"? Then enforce existing laws, prosecute and give

maximum sentence for committing a crime with a gun and make certain that sentence is served AFTER all other sentences have been completed, not concurrently.

When a judge sentences a criminal for committing a crime with a gun and that sentence is served concurrently with another sentence, the sentence for that gun crime is useless.

[SteveM]

17. I carried a shotgun to school in the 8th grade...

There I showed by classmates how a gun is handled safely and how it operates. Context sometimes is a product of our imagination.

[Vinca]

18. Obama basically supports second amendment rights, but how many

school shootings does it take for a country to wake up and decide our gun crazy mentality is just that - crazy. There's a sea of difference between rifles for hunters and automatic weapons for criminals. Hard to imagine Democrats seem to promoting handguns for all, but that's what this post implies. Guess if Hillary says we must love all guns, we must love all guns.

[stillcool]

26. too much nuance...

yes or no answers only please. And even then, neither one will ever be right. But hey...I'd much rather be caught up in 'bitter' and 'gun control', than be thinking about torture, war, homelessness and joblessness.

[Vinca]

29. Sorry . . . it's the elitist in me.

:rofl: Pass the latte, please.

[benEzra]

47. Automatic weapons have been tightly controlled for 74 years...

and only 1 in 5 U.S. gun owners is a hunter.

Much of the "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme originated out of ignorance of those two facts. The "assault weapon" issue is about the most popular non-automatic target rifles in America, not automatic weapons.

[stillcool]

19. Perhaps we should gather some 'evidence'...

of what Senator Obama has 'said' about the issue?

Obama: 'Common Sense Regulation' on Gun Owners' Rights

February 15, 2008 2:09 PM

ABC News' David Wright, Ursula Fahy and Sunlen Miller Report: After another campus shooting, this time in his home state of Illinois, Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama offered thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families. But no new ideas for gun control.
---------------------------------
In fact, in the speech Obama gave immediately after the Virginia Tech shootings last April, he never uttered the phrase "gun control."

Today Obama reiterated his support for tighter enforcement of laws already on the books – such as stronger background checks and enhancing programs to trace the provenance of guns used in crimes. He would also seek to close the loopholes that currently apply to firearms purchased at gun shows.

But asked today about the DC handgun ban currently being reviewed by the US Supreme Court, Obama declined to take a position for or against its Constitutionality but did express broad support for the rights of local jurisdictions to make such decisions for themselves.

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

"The city of Chicago has gun laws, so does Washington, DC," Obama said. "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gangbangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our Constitution."

Obama often boasts, in his stump speeches, that he would be a President who understands the Constitution because he has taught the Constitution. Today a reporter asked for his interpretation of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, which gun owners often cite in their arguments against gun control.

Obama said this: "There's been a long standing argument by constitutional scholars about whether the second amendment referred simply to militias or it spoke to an individual right to possess arms. I think the latter is the better argument. There is an individual right to bear arms, but it is subject to common-sense regulation just like most of our rights are subject to common-sense regulation. So I think there's a lot of room before you getting bumping against a constitutional barrier for us to institute some of the common-sense gun laws that I just spoke about."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/02/obama-common-se.html

[Sinistrous]

28. Trying to introduce *common sense* into the gun control issue

is a non-starter. The oly position that will sway the Dirty Harry wannabes is support of the "right" to unrestricted carring of weapons anywhere, anytime, by anybody.

Obama shouldn't waste his time going after this block.

[SteveM]

30. With your attitude, sense of any sort is unlikely...

What is a Dirty Harry wannabee? Who is a Dirty Harry wannabee? Who has advocated "unrestricted carrying of weapons anywhere, anytime, by anybody"? ANY casual reference to this forum will reveal that pro-2A folks support keeping guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally incapacitated, and agreement that carrying guns should not be without restriction. There is consensus that you cannot carry anywhere. Where have you been?

Maybe you just wish to promulgate B.S. and untruths. We get a lot of that from some of the gun-controllers. Are you one of their wannabees?

[Vinca]

31. NYT, May 9, 1999 - Hillary Clinton Appeals For Gun Control Lobbying

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7D9173FF93AA35756C0A96F958260

I guess it all depends on which way the wind is blowing.

[kevinmc]

34. PA. White women begin to turn away from Clinton

LEVITTOWN, Pa. — Like many women over 50, Paula Houwen was eager to vote for Hillary Clinton for president.

"I was impressed when she was first lady. She wasn't the country's trophy wife," the 56-year-old suburban Philadelphia pharmacist recalled.

Today, though, Houwen's no longer a Clinton fan.

"I do not like the way Hillary Clinton has run her campaign," she said.

Clinton's strongest core of support — white women — is beginning to erode in Pennsylvania, the site of the critical April 22 Democratic presidential primary, and a loss here could effectively end her White House run.

A Quinnipiac University survey taken April 3-6 in Pennsylvania found that Clinton's support fell 6 percentage points in a week among white women. Nationally, a Lifetime Networks poll of women found that 26 percent said they liked Clinton less now than in January, while only 15 percent said they liked her more.

"These are Democratic women who waited all their lives for a woman president, but Hillary is not turning them on," said polling analyst Clay Richards.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/33411.html






Paid for by

[Neshanic]

42. Buy NRA Democrat. Check. Get Cabellas catalog. Check.

[RamboLiberal]

43. And she said last week she'd renew the Assault Weapons Ban

Which is absolutely hated with a passion by a ton of gun ownere in PA and other states. That will ensure she'll be the NRA's cover girl!

[stillcool]

44. More bullshit wedge issues...

I am so sick of guns, God, and gays. It is sooooo interesting seeing which "Democrats" bring this shit up.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/02/obama-common-se.html
Obama: 'Common Sense Regulation' on Gun Owners' Rights

February 15, 2008 2:09 PM

ABC News' David Wright, Ursula Fahy and Sunlen Miller Report: After another campus shooting, this time in his home state of Illinois, Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama offered thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families. But no new ideas for gun control.
---------------------------------
In fact, in the speech Obama gave immediately after the Virginia Tech shootings last April, he never uttered the phrase "gun control."

Today Obama reiterated his support for tighter enforcement of laws already on the books – such as stronger background checks and enhancing programs to trace the provenance of guns used in crimes. He would also seek to close the loopholes that currently apply to firearms purchased at gun shows.

But asked today about the DC handgun ban currently being reviewed by the US Supreme Court, Obama declined to take a position for or against its Constitutionality but did express broad support for the rights of local jurisdictions to make such decisions for themselves.

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

"The city of Chicago has gun laws, so does Washington, DC," Obama said. "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gangbangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our Constitution."

Obama often boasts, in his stump speeches, that he would be a President who understands the Constitution because he has taught the Constitution. Today a reporter asked for his interpretation of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, which gun owners often cite in their arguments against gun control.

Obama said this: "There's been a long standing argument by constitutional scholars about whether the second amendment referred simply to militias or it spoke to an individual right to possess arms. I think the latter is the better argument. There is an individual right to bear arms, but it is subject to common-sense regulation just like most of our rights are subject to common-sense regulation. So I think there's a lot of room before you getting bumping against a constitutional barrier for us to institute some of the common-sense gun laws that I just spoke about."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/02/obama-c...

[knixphan]

46. voice of reason.

Thank you.

[anonymous171]

45. Remember the days when Obama was "too conservative"?