Obama and Gun Control

The line from certain conservative activists has always been that even if Obama was acting moderately in office, that was only because he was hiding his true socialist, anti-American nature in order to get elected. I always thought this was crazy.

I also thought it was crazy for gun-lovers to worry that Obama was coming for their guns, since gun control was one issue he had never shown any interest in.

But now the word leaking out of the White House is that Obama plans to introduce the most "sweeping" gun control legislation in decades, possibly attempting to ban both large capacity magazines and interchangeable magazines. And it sort of looks like conservatives were right about this one. Perhaps it is true that Obama kept mum about guns because his political people thought it was an electoral loser, but now that he has no more elections to run in, and the national mood has been primed for action on guns by catastrophe, he is poised to act on his true instincts and try bold action to limit private ownership of military weaponry.

But then again, he remains very cautious in the sense that he is only doing what the majority of Americans want. Most Americans support limits on gun ownership and a majority support an outright ban on "assault weapons." The politics are still tough, because the minority who love guns cares much more about the issue than the majority who fear them, but if Obama pushes this issue he will have the polls on his side.