Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Obama and the Chicago gun ban




Has anyone in the MSM asked Obama whether he believes Chicago's ban on guns is constitutional? If they have, I haven't seen it.

While the constitutionality of the District of Columbia's ban on handguns was pending before the United States Supreme Court, Obama expressed at least three different positions on the issue. At one point he said he supported DC's gun ban. Then he said that he hadn't listened to the briefs, so he didn't have an informed opinion (I read a number of the briefs in the case on the Internet, but I didn't find any in audio format). After the Supreme Court affirmed the holding of the DC Court of Appeals that the ban was unconstitutional, Obama stated that he agreed with the majority opinion. Take your pick.

Constitutional challenges to Chicago's gun ban have now been filed. Obama has lived in Chicago for over two decades, so he has to be familiar with its gun laws. And, of course, Obama claims to be a constitutional law scholar. He presumably has some opinion whether Chicago's ban violates the Second Amendment. Someone should ask him what it is.

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