Jun 27, 2008 4:29 pm US/Pacific
Where Does Obama Stand On Second Amendment?
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Thursday's stunning decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a handgun ban in Washington, D.C., has put handguns at the center of presidential politics.
Republican John McCain and the gun lobby have accused Democrat Barack Obama of flip-flopping on the issue. The National Rifle Association is using the front page of its website to blast the Democrat with the headline "On The Second Amendment, Don't Believe Obama!"
The junior U.S. senator from Illinois has insisted that he supports both the law-abiding use of firearms and reasonable gun control. The NRA and the McCain campaign, though, claim Obama's record in the Illinois General Assembly shows him to be a gun grabber.
Obama was among just eight state senators who voted against a new law making it legal for Illinoisans to use guns to defend themselves in their homes, even if their own hometown should have a law saying that's not legal.
State Rep. Jim Durkin, McCain's Illinois campaign manager, said, "The Constitution is almost a God-given right to protect your family and your home and also on your property and to vote against that bill, to me says that he does not support the Second Amendment."
The Second Amendment's gun language was also an issue in 2004 when Obama ran for the U.S. Senate and spoke to CBS station WBBM-TV.
"I think that the Second Amendment means something. I think that if the government were to confiscate everybody's guns unilaterally, then I think that would be subject to constitutional challenge," Obama said in 2004.
In a separate interview, Obama said, "I have said consistently that I believe the Second Amendment is an individual right."
But McCain has countered "his position on the Second Amendment, or many other issues, he is changing his positions."
Obama will face flak from gun owners and the gun lobby through November. McCain's campaign plans to remind them that in 1996, on a local liberal group's questionnaire, Obama said he would a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns. He signed that questionnaire, but insists now that an aide wrote that answer by mistake.
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