So, how likely is Obama to take our guns away?

[Mutatio Nomenis]

I'm asking this is all seriousness. I'm not old enough to own a gun yet, and indeed, I must wait at least another 10 months before even being eligible. I support Obama in all areas except for gun control, which doesn't work and the problems are with our ****ed up culture and economic class issues.

Can anyone give me a likely time frame for when Obama might restrict gun access? He's been a perfect president in my opinion and I really don't want to be able to hold the gun issue against him.

BTW, before you react and start flaming the Liberal, here is my lifetime list of presidents: Clinton (good), Bush (things got worse within a month of his election), Obama (extremely capabe).

[LukeA]

Um, never.

[Edward429451]

A thought provoking question for sure. It is said that the instant you give them your gun you are thier subject, and that a man who has his Rifle is instantly a citizen and free man.

But in a practical manner of speaking, arms will always be available to you, but the price will continue to go up, and the amount of hoops to stay under color of law lol. So if you want something better hurry before they do something new to cause prices to roll up again...

[Webleymkv]

In the current political climate, the chances of any major federal gun control legislation getting off the ground is pretty slim. Gun control has been a losing issue for the Democratic Party for over 15 years and the current party leadership knows it.

The Democrats lost control of congress in 1994 due in no small part to the passage of the AWB. Bill Clinton himself noted this and also commented that Al Gore's stance on gun control was a major factor in his loss to George W. Bush in 2000. John Kerry did not have a very good record on gun control as he voted to renew the AWB in 2004 and he lost to Bush the same year.

Also, part of the strategy that the Democrats used to re-take congress in 2006 was to run moderate and even mildly conservative candidates rather than far-left liberals in traditionally conservative-leaning states in the south, midwest, and west. These states generally aren't very supportive of gun control and a congressman or senator from such a state would do great harm to his re-election chances by voting for any major piece of gun-control legislation.

Don't forget as well that even if the President was able to get the support of congress for gun control legislation, the Supreme Court could still rule it to be unconstitutional. Given the decision of SCOTUS in Heller v. D.C. and the likelihood of a similar decision in McDonald v. Chicago, it's probably safe to say that we've got one of the most gun friendly courts in U.S. history.

Finally, pushing a gun control agenda right now would be politically foolhardy and Obama knows it. The Democratic party is facing a very tough midterm election this year and the president has already used a lot of political arm-twisting to get the most controversial parts of his agenda such as healthcare through. To use up so much of his remaining political capital on an almost certainly losing issue which could very well be the final nail in the coffin of the Democratic control of congress just doesn't make much sense. Also remember that the senate majority leader, Harry Ried, actually has a pretty good record on gun control despite being quite liberal on most other issues.

Now, if the Democrats manage to retain control of congress through the 2012 election and Obama manages to win a second term, there might be a better possibility of major gun control legislation. Given his prior record, Obama is certainly no friend to gun owners. However, in the current situation I don't view him as our greatest enemy either. The NRA is one of the most powerful special interest groups in the country and is no ally of Obama already. The President already has big enough fish to fry without giving the NRA and other pro-gun groups like GOA and the Second Amendment Foundation more political ammunition to use against him and his party.

[kozak6]

I think it's doubtful. This term, anyways.

So far, he has actually been more pro-gun than Bush. He has allowed guns into national parks, onto Amtrak, and supported repealing the Tiahrt Amendment. He has even earned an "F" from the Brady Campaign.

According to the Brady Campaign,

“The gun lobby’s message during the campaign was ‘if elected, Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history,’” Helmke said. “Last week, one journalist wrote that the National Rifle Association ‘should erect a statue of Barack Obama in front of its D.C. headquarters’ because he ‘has done more for firearm owners than any President in recent history.’ Avoiding the gun issue has done nothing to stop or slow the political attacks from the gun extremists.”

It would be fair to say that he doesn't seem the biggest fan of the second amendment judging from his past, but it's politically dangerous to do anything about it. Look at the response to health care situation. People were so upset as to show up with guns to health care rallies. If he actually did something about guns, the response would be absolutely over the top.

I think his plate is also a bit too full anyways.

[natman]

I suspect that if it were up to him, he'd pass some anti gun legislation. However, it's not just up to him, and unlike the Clintons, he's smart enough to realize it. That's why he got a health care package passed and they didn't.

He's also smart enough to realize that anti gun laws are political poison and that he has plenty of other priorities, again unlike the Clintons. In addition, the Heller decision has sucked the wind out of the sails of the anti gun movement. So I don't expect any major anti gun efforts from the Obama administration.

However, as always, we must be on our toes just in case.

[stephen426]

Originally Posted by Mutatio Nomenis

Can anyone give me a likely time frame for when Obama might restrict gun access? He's been a perfect president in my opinion and I really don't want to be able to hold the gun issue against him.

Wow... Are you serious?

Does the federal deficit mean anything to you? He tripled the deficit in one year!

While things were pretty bad economically when Obama took power, I think he has made some very bad decisions. Small businesses are the back bone of our economy. He claims that the healthcare bill was a great success, but who is going to pay for it? As a business owner, money is tight enough as it is. Where the heck is the extra money going to come from to pay for this? How many businesses will close as a result of this?

Big government leads to big spending and huge waste. The government is very inefficient compared to the private sector. Of course the private sector needs to be monitored or else we will have more fiascos like what happened with those huge investment banks on Wall St.

Socialism is not the change we want. It sucks the drive out of people and gets them used to hand outs. I worked in Spain for several years and I saw first hand what socialism does to the work force. Capitalism drives growth, ambition, and innovation. Businesses are what makes a country grow, not taxes.

So while I like what Obama has done for some gun laws, he certainly is NOT the perfect president. In fact, you will see just how much disgust there is with the Democrats this fall come election time. The Dems will be losing seats left and right. Just look at Massachusetts after Senator Kennedy died.

[Mike Irwin]

OK, question asked, question answered, and now we're driving down the road of purely off-topic political chat, which we don't do here at TFL.

Closed.