Is Barack Obama Banning Gun Owners from his Transition Team?

 Much has been made about president-elect Barack Obama’s stance in the second amendment on the blogs, including here. Between the questionnaire that Obama filled out when running for the Illinois senator, to the fact that Barack Obama was actually the director of an organization that actively tried to ban all rights of the people to keep and bear arms, one has to wonder how Barack Obama really feels about the second amendment.

 Here is a list of some of Obama’s record on the second amendment:

• As a state legislator in Illinois, Obama supported banning the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic firearms, increasing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms
• He supported a “ban” on the sale and possession of handguns on a political questionnaire
• As state senator, he voted against a 2004 measure that allowed self-defense as an affirmative defense to those charged with violating local laws making it otherwise unlawful for such persons to possess firearms.
• He voted against allowing persons who had obtained domestic violence protective orders to carry handguns for their protection.
• Obama has also stated his opposition to allowing citizens to carry concealed guns and supports a national law outlawing the practice

 So it really doesn’t come as any surprise that while searching to fill his transition team Obama seems to be weeding out not only those who apply for his transition team that own guns, but also those who apply whose family members own guns.

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is showing its hostility toward lawful firearm owners by “weeding out” job applicants who own firearms themselves, a Second Amendment group says.

Found in the questionnaire’s “Miscellaneous” section, question 59 reads, “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.”

 The article then goes on to say that is is unclear whether a candidate who owns a gun or who has a family member who owns a gun would be disqualified just for this reason. The question is on there for a reason and given what I perceive as not only Obama’s aversion to gun ownership but his hostility towards gun ownership I believe that a person owning a gun would be disqualified from serving on his transition team. I am not alone.

“Question 59 provides clear insight into how Obama and his people perceive firearm owners,” said ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. “The questionnaire poses a number of questions asking the applicant to reveal any unethical activities, or embarrassing Internet chats, then wraps up by asking if anyone in the applicant’s family owns a firearm.  Obviously, Obama feels that owning a firearm is akin to talking dirty in Internet chat rooms.”

“[A]s this litmus test shows, they have every intention of putting together an administration that is hostile to firearms ownership and to Second Amendment rights,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre

 Obama is vetting the people who will serve on his transition team for past behavior that could pose a potential embarrassment to Obama, and rightfully so.  But during this process they are including gun ownership as a potentially embarrassing behavior. I think that it is a very clear indication of where Barack Obama stands on the second amendment and also a clear indication of the kind of restrictions he will place on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

 President-elect Obama is already showing us his true position on the second amendment and not the position that he held during the campaign, He is going to come after gun owners. We can not let him get away with this if he does. We must stand firm and not let Barack Obama infringe upon the fights guaranteed under the constitution. We must make our voices heard. (While we still have a voice.)

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.