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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gave what could best be described as a middle of the road reaction to today’s Supreme Court ruling in the D.C. gun ban case. “I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures,” Obama said.

He described the ruling as reflective of his point of view, “The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view, and while it ruled that the D.C. gun ban went too far, Justice Scalia himself acknowledged that this right is not absolute and subject to reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe. Today’s ruling, the first clear statement on this issue in 127 years, will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country.”

Obama also made an appeal to the gun owner vote, “As President, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen. I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals.”

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His statement in favor of the ruling is a reversal from what he said last year in this story. I don’t understand why Democrats have to make the gun issue so complicated. In this case, there is no evidence that handgun bans reduce the amount of crime committed with a handgun.

I do not agree with the Court’s expanding of the ruling to cover trigger locks. Everyone agrees that trigger locks save lives, but if Democrats want to take the gun issue off the table, all they have to do is support Second Amendment rights, and I think the decision today made it much easier for them to do that. My state of Pennsylvania is a pro-gun state. Both Democrats and Republicans in the state are pro-gun, and the world has not come to an end, but national Democrats don’t like to talk about Second Amendment issues, and Obama is no different in that respect.

Obama’s statement