Dems’ positions on gun control lacking

Before being questioned about it during Tuesday’s nationally televised debate, Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama had not readily addressed the subject of gun control. It hadn’t been part of their scripted talking points.

Even their Web sites today are void of a position statement on the gun control issue. By contrast, the three leading Republican candidates — Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney — have posted statements outlining their positions on this sensitive topic.

During Tuesday’s debate, MSNBC’s Tim Russert asked the candidates specifically about their positions on gun control.

Clinton said she had backed off a national licensing and registration plan she had supported previously but would like to reinstate the assault weapons ban. I wonder if she realizes many of the firearms we use for legal hunting have been labeled by some politicians as assault firearms.

Clinton also said: “Well, I am against illegal guns, and illegal guns are the cause of so much death and injury in our country. I also am a political realist, and I understand that the political winds are very powerful against doing enough to try to get guns off the street, get them out of the hands of young people. … You know, I believe in the Second Amendment. People have a right to bear arms. But I also believe that we can common-sensically approach this.”

My guess is the political winds to which Clinton was referring are legal gun owners and the National Rifle Association.

Speaking of licensing and registration of gun owners, Obama said: “I don’t think that we can get that done. … But here’s the broader context that I think is important for us to remember: We essentially have two realities, when it comes to guns, in this country. You’ve got the tradition of lawful gun ownership, that all of us (see), as we travel around rural parts of the country. And it is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt, fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot. And then you’ve got the reality of 34 Chicago public school students who get shot down on the streets of Chicago.

“We can reconcile those two realities by making sure the Second Amendment is respected and that people are able to lawfully own guns, but that we also start cracking down on the kinds of abuses of firearms that we see on the streets.”

I suppose we could start by actively enforcing the laws we already have on the books and quit passing legislation that only impacts the law-abiding gun owner.

When posing the gun control question to Edwards, Russert reiterated that Democrats had been leading the charge for registration and licensing of guns and asked: “It now appears that there’s recognition that it’s hard to win a national election with that position. Is that fair?”

“I think that’s fair,” Edwards answered, “but I haven’t changed my position on this. I’m against it. Having grown up where I did in the rural South, everyone around me had guns, everyone hunted. And I think it is enormously important to protect people’s Second Amendment rights.

“I don’t believe that means you need an AK-47 to hunt. And I think the assault weapons ban, which Hillary spoke about just a minute ago, as president of the United States, I’ll do everything in my power to reinstate it. But I do think we need a president who understands the sportsmen; hunters who use their guns for lawful purposes have a right to have their Second Amendment rights looked after.”

I wonder if Edwards realizes that it is already illegal to hunt game animals with a fully automatic firearm such as an AK-47 and that owning such a gun requires a federal firearms license and extensive background investigation.

On the Republican side of the aisle, the position statements of Huckabee, McCain and Romney can be summed up thusly: The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, a right that the government and the president have an obligation to protect. It is a right that protects us from tyranny.

As McCain wrote on his Web site: “Gun control is a proven failure in fighting crime. Law-abiding citizens should not be asked to give up their rights because of criminals — criminals who ignore gun control laws anyway.”

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.