Obama aims for pro-gun vote

[Mags]

Barack Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation.

But he is nevertheless making a play for pro-gun voters in rural Pennsylvania.

By highlighting his background in constitutional law and downplaying his voting record, Obama is engaging in a quiet but targeted drive to win over an important constituency that on the surface might seem hostile to his views.

The need to craft a strategy aimed at pro-gun voters underscores the potency of the issue in Pennsylvania, which claims one of http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9398.htmlthe nation’s highest per capita membership rates in the National Rifle Association.

Barry will do or say anything to win. It's quiet obvious.

[DarienComp]

1. "quiet obvious."

Are you series?

[leftofcool]

2. Trying to get that NRA vote, eh? Good luck with that.

[Squatch]

3. I'm in the NRA and I'm voting for Obama

[leftofcool]

11. Well, there is at least one of you

[Squatch]

14. Well, based upon my conversations

at my local shooting club today, there are quite a few more than just one of us.

[jedr]

21. I'm a liberal, and a gun owner/hunter and am voting for Obama;

The left needs to come to grips with it's stand on gun ownership. Most of us feel the assault rifles have one purpose, to kill people, and need to be controlled. But I own many heirloom guns handed down form generation to generation, and enjoy shooting. Lumping them all together and banning them is the downfall of too many candidates. The book " Deer Hunting with Jesus" , written by a liberal( Joe Bagenat), has a fine discussion on this subject. I am somewhat surprised to hear Obama has taken this stand, but the man is smart and may well have done the right thing. ( flame away!)

[rzemanfl]

30. "Deer Hunting With Jesus" is an important book. As I recall

he made the point that more people own guns than vote.

[enfield collector]

43. I'm a Liberal gun owner and am one of the 80% who do not hunt.

You reference "Assualt rifles", you are aware that by definition and assualt rifle is controlled under the 1934 NFA and require and extensive FBI background check with approval from your local sheriff, fingerprints and a $200 tax. I would also like to point out that JFK and Dr King were killed with "hunting" rifles.

[formernaderite]

45. I am too...but no way he wins those for whom

gun rights is a litmus test. Not gonna happen.

[pocoloco]

4. "Hillary is gonna take our guns away"

First thing I heard after she announced!!!


Obama is no dummy

[GarbagemanLB]

5. Oh god...from that article:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton does not appear to be making the same level of effort. She has reminded audiences in the last few months that she learned to shoot a gun during childhood vacations in Scranton and bagged a duck as an adult.

:rofl: :rofl:

[Mags]

8. Will the Barry folk just give up anything and everything of principle just to have

him as Pres. do you folks not have any thing you will stand up to ? Is it just because he is Barrack H. Obama, or do issues matter?

[GarbagemanLB]

12. Speaking of principle, you can't even call him by his legal name. Look in the mirror before you talk

[Mags]

15. His legal name is Barrack Hussein Obama, how's that?

[GarbagemanLB]

18. Please use that, then. You do your gal a great service with your posts.

[Mags]

26. get over it, he is a blank screen, he can be anything to anyone, remember his book?

[XemaSab]

27. My principles are that hunters are our natural allies

and we should reassure them that they will be able to continue their sport under President Obama. :D

[enfield collector]

44. only 20% of gun owners hunt., what about the other 80%

who own them for defense or other legal purposes?

[Mooney]

42. What the fuck are you talking about?

You posted a thread to this effect last night. Are you going to actually cite examples of where you've observed behavior that leads you to this conclusion, or are you just going to ask the same baseless rhetorical question over and over again.

Oh wait... let me guess... if we have to ask what you mean, then we wouldn't understand anyway, right?

[joeybee12]

6. PLEASE! Keep calling him Barry!

I love that! And I love that the people who raised him weren't happy he dropped that nickname.

Well, he's conned a lot of people so far...the NRA members should just drink the Kool-Aid and follow along.

[bluestateguy]

7. The NRA does not like Jack McCain

And they may very well sit this election out.

[leftofcool]

13. Link please on this

First I have heard of them not liking a repuke

[MercutioATC]

9. Not all Dems are rabidly anti-gun.

Even if you don't shoot, it doesn't take a genius to see that there's nothing wrong with supporting gun owners' rights.

[apocalypsehow]

10. I'm afraid this entire issue is going to be rendered mute in June, when a reactionary, right-wing

five member wing of the USSC will probably rule that the Second Amendment - which was originally about the National Guard, not private firearms in private hands - guarantees some kind of personal "right" to own instruments of death and mayhem.

It will be a ruling based upon a misunderstanding of history & law, but I fear it will effectively end the gun control debate in the United States for a generation.

Oh well, at least there's a silver lining: the scum-buckets - and I've never known or heard of a gun owner who wasn't a right-wing scumbag - who own the little genital replacement devices known as "gun" will probably stay home and watch NASCAR instead of showing up to vote for McCain. This will be good for the Democratic nominee.

[leftofcool]

17. Really?

Oh well, at least there's a silver lining: the scum-buckets - and I've never known or heard of a gun owner who wasn't a right-wing scumbag - who own the little genital replacement devices known as "gun" will probably stay home and watch NASCAR instead of showing up to vote for McCain. This will be good for the Democratic nominee.

We own 3 guns, we are both liberal Dems, don't watch NASCAR and both have Ph.D's

[sk8rrobert2]

22. ever been to Iowa?

Iowa turned out more democrats for their caucus than republicans. Go to any Iowa highschool or community college and you will find alot of eligible voters who are gun-owners and are Democrats. The Mid-West is full of communities of gun owning democrats. To call a whole group of people scumbags when you don't know who they are is bigotry.

[XemaSab]

29. Back in 2001 I spent the summer on a hunting club in South Carolina

there were 4 good old boys that we hung out with... all WWII era crusty old Southerners. They were racist, sexist, and had enough firepower to refight the Civil War.

3 of them had voted for Gore, and they heckled the CRAP out of the fourth, who freely admitted he had been mistaken in voting for Bush.

[rzemanfl]

31. You just insulted me and a lot of others at DU. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

35. I'm no fan of guns but the 2nd is quite clear

that people have a right to keep and bear arms. By the way, the National Guard is simply not mentioned. I know lots of gun owners who are neither rightwing nor scum buckets. If you live in a rural state, or even a semi-rural state like NH, guns and hunting are a part of the life and culture and history of the region. The house up the road from me dates back to the colonial era. The fellow living there at the time was the organizer of the local militia that marched down to concord. There is no misreading of history here, except by you.

[wileedog]

38. Sorry no

"and I've never known or heard of a gun owner who wasn't a right-wing scumbag, who own the little genital replacement devices known as "gun" "

I know several who are anything but.

I know many more who are moderates who disdain the Dem party because of this issue. They perceive all Dems as anti-gun, and it is not a fair perception.

The 'genital replacement' comment is beyond retarded too BTW.

[Squatch]

40. "which was originally about the National Guard"

The Second Amendment was written in 1789.

The National Guard came into existence in 1903.

So, there goes that little theory of yours. Sorry.

[NJSecularist]

16. What a bunch of bullshit.

Obama came out against concealed weapons the other day. If he was really going for the pro-gun vote, he would have never committed to being against concealed weapons.


Some of you throw so much bullshit around hoping that it sticks it is disgusting....

[leftofcool]

19. So Politico lies now, eh?

Funny, when they are praising O they tell the truth.

[NJSecularist]

24. Did you even read the article?

In Pennsylvania, there is a significant population of pro-gun owners. Obviously, Obama wants those votes. So does Hillary.

What this article doesn't mention is that Obama came out against concealed weapons a few days ago. If we was really pandering to the pro-gun vote, HE WOULD NEVER COME OUT AGAINST CONCEALED WEAPONS.

But go ahead, keep trying for that ultimate GOTCHA against Obama. It's not coming. You guys just keep reaching and reaching.

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. Reasonable people can support gun ownership AND be against

concealed carry. Hunters don't need to keep their weapons hidden as they sneak up on their prey - criminals do. Concealed carry puts more concealable weapons on the street, and that means they will be available for being stolen, in burglaries, robberies, car break-ins.

EVERY ILLEGAL WEAPON ON THE STREETS WAS LEGAL IN ITS ORIGIN.

There is no inconsistancy in supporting gun collectors and sport shooting, and trying to keep guns out of the hands of inner city gangs.

[Irreverend IX]

39. Criminals don't obey concealed carry laws - duh.

Concealed carry permit laws allow law-abiding gun owners to carry for personal protection, and they have met with resounding success in every state where they've been instituted. 48 states now allow concealed carry, Obama's home of Illinois and Wisconsin being the only two that don't. Studies in many states have found that CCW permit holders have crime and arrest rates far lower than those of the general population. If Obama opposes concealed carry, he's got a hell of an uphill battle ahead of him.

Also, the Second Amendment is not about hunting. It is about defense of self and state.

[jody]

20. BO's problem is he was a board mbr of the Joyce Foundation, rabidly anti-handgun, and they offered

him the position of president.

Would an anti-abortion foundation offer its presidency to a pro-abortion person? NO!

Would an anti-handgun foundation offer its presidency to a pro-handgun person? NO!

BO's past flirtations with gun-grabbers and his support for banning semi-automatic firearms will cost him the pro-gun vote.

The sad thing is BO has opposed the Dem Party platform which says "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms".

Oh well, BO has semi-rejected Rev. Wright for his hate filled sermons so it's interesting to see BO change again and semi-reject his gun-grabber friends.

BO is a political chameleon who will say anything to get votes.

[mkultra]

23. its perfectly legit to be for gun ownership and gun control

The second amendment does say "a well regulated militia" not a "completely unhinged and oversight free militia"

Not every gun owner is a rabid no-law fruit.

[XemaSab]

25. Why should we alienate hunters and other outdoorspeople over this one issue?

Hunters should be the biggest environmentalists of all, but they consistently vote Republican because they think the Democrats are trying to take their guns.

We need these people back on our side if we're going to move forward on the environment.

[UALRBSofL]

28. OP thanks for posting the article

I found it interesting. This would make a good talking point for Clinton on the stump speech, kind of a way to compare and contrast Obama's NRA issue.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Huh?

"Barack Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17003563
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17003563/page/2/

Obama also spent time with his grandfather, sometimes playing checkers with the locals at Alii Park, spear fishing in Kailua Bay or listening to Stevie Wonder and Billie Holiday records.

It's naive and silly to think that someone who was born and raised on not just one island (Hawaii) but TWO (Indonesia), wouldn't fish. :eyes:

Looks like Goldiewater Locks Clinton needs to quit exaggerating about spending all this time in PA. And I say this as someone from PA who grew up in the BIG CITY (Philadephia and multigenerational) with Field & Stream magazine in the house and had a father and grandfather who kept fishing and hunting licenses to trout fish and go upstate to hunt moose.

The sooner the idiotic broad-brushing stereotypes that seem prolific around here get blown away, the sooner the nonsense that was just posted will die off.

[jackson_dem]

33. Guns are another issue where Obama has moved to the right during his career

He once voted to ban the ownership of handguns in Illinois. Now he is running as a gun lover. For all the bs Edwards got for moving to the left look at Obama, who has been consistently dancing in the wrong direction: right.

[anonymous171]

36. What's wrong with protecting the 2nd amendment?

[Forkboy]

37. I know people who hunt. They'll be glad to hear this.

[benEzra]

41. I'm an "AK-47" owner who's voting for Obama...

because I think he is less beholden to the DLC zealots who created the "assault weapon" bait-and-switch, and I believe he is smart enough not to pull another 1994.




For those who wish to understand the gun issue, it is not about hunting. Only 1 in 5 U.S. gun owners is a hunter; the vast majority of us are nonhunters. Significantly more Americans lawfully and responsibly own "assault weapons" than hunt, and half of gun owners are Dems and indies...


More on the issue, at some length:

Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)



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The Conservative Roots of U.S. Gun Control

Thoughts on Gun Ownership