Barack Obama may not be the most pro-gun candidate ever to run for president, but he’s not a raging gun-control fanatic, either. His official website states that “Barack Obama believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms.” Even if he were anti-gun, his sway on the issue would be limited by the significant number of pro-gun Congressional Democrats and by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the Second Amendment does in fact create an individual right to own guns.
That’s why it’s a bit alarming to read that gun sales are up this year, despite a slumping economy, and that some — including the spokesman for Smith and Wesson — attribute this increase to people’s desire to get out and buy guns before Obama makes gun purchases difficult or impossible. This illustrates what may well be the weak spot in Hal Herring’s strategy to make the Democratic party more appealing to sportsmen by getting it to soften its position on gun control. What if sportsmen don’t believe Democrats when they start saying that they’re pro-gun?
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