tajitj
04-06-2008, 02:27 PM
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/04/ronpaulguns.html
ALBURTIS, Pa .--This small Pennsylvania town outside of Allentown plays host this weekend to a major regional gun show, which drew scores of enthusiasts to the cramped community center here.
It was a fine leisurely opportunity for presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, or at least their campaigns, to put in an appearance and talk about their stance on gun rights.
Both candidates, in fact, have said they support some sort of individual right to own a gun--with limits, of course. (They haven't been all that clear on what those limits are.)
Maybe it's just as well they didn't come. No Obamania or Hill-raisers here. "They can say whatever they want," said local resident David Hinkle. "They're trying to appease people. We don't believe them."
Many in the crowd believed Clinton or Obama are equally likely to attempt to regulate firearms. And honestly, there was true passion for only one presidential candidate here.
Yep. Ron Paul, the 72-year-old about-to-be 11-term representative from Texas who raised some $34 million and drew....
some 800,000 votes in Republican primaries this season, although amassing only a handful of delegates.
One Paulunteer, a member of one of the 1,400 Ron Paul meet-up groups that coagulated since last spring across the country, was passing out leaflets, which listed in detail Paul's support for gun rights. The Republican with the libertarian ideas is opposed to banning assault weapons, or mandating trigger locks, or anything that gets gun-rights activists up in, well, arms.
As for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee who already has enough delegates to ensure his convention victory? People here really aren't too fond of him either. One gun dealer said McCain has "spent too much time with Teddy Kennedy." Which sounded to him like a bad thing.
There was near unanimous agreement that the Arizona senator hadn't yet proved his conservative bona fides. For one thing, unlike Paul, McCain supports the Iraq war. And McCain is not in favor of abolishing numerous federal government departments as well as the Federal Reserve, as you will hear from any Ron Paul supporter. (See photo below)
"McCain's going to have to find a good running mate," Hinkle said. He suggested former candidate Mitt Romney.
While gun rights haven't played a major role in the election campaigns to date, that may change when the Supreme Court issues its ruling in a case that challenges Washington, D.C.'s total ban on handguns.
It will be the first time in modern legal jurisprudence that the nation's highest court has addressed the scope of the Second Amendment. That decision is expected sometime by early summer, which gives it many months to get going before the Nov. 4 general election, including the start of hunting season in many places.
--James Oliphant
I also put this in the News About the Campaign forum. Please delete this from this forum tomorrow.
ALBURTIS, Pa .--This small Pennsylvania town outside of Allentown plays host this weekend to a major regional gun show, which drew scores of enthusiasts to the cramped community center here.
It was a fine leisurely opportunity for presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, or at least their campaigns, to put in an appearance and talk about their stance on gun rights.
Both candidates, in fact, have said they support some sort of individual right to own a gun--with limits, of course. (They haven't been all that clear on what those limits are.)
Maybe it's just as well they didn't come. No Obamania or Hill-raisers here. "They can say whatever they want," said local resident David Hinkle. "They're trying to appease people. We don't believe them."
Many in the crowd believed Clinton or Obama are equally likely to attempt to regulate firearms. And honestly, there was true passion for only one presidential candidate here.
Yep. Ron Paul, the 72-year-old about-to-be 11-term representative from Texas who raised some $34 million and drew....
some 800,000 votes in Republican primaries this season, although amassing only a handful of delegates.
One Paulunteer, a member of one of the 1,400 Ron Paul meet-up groups that coagulated since last spring across the country, was passing out leaflets, which listed in detail Paul's support for gun rights. The Republican with the libertarian ideas is opposed to banning assault weapons, or mandating trigger locks, or anything that gets gun-rights activists up in, well, arms.
As for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee who already has enough delegates to ensure his convention victory? People here really aren't too fond of him either. One gun dealer said McCain has "spent too much time with Teddy Kennedy." Which sounded to him like a bad thing.
There was near unanimous agreement that the Arizona senator hadn't yet proved his conservative bona fides. For one thing, unlike Paul, McCain supports the Iraq war. And McCain is not in favor of abolishing numerous federal government departments as well as the Federal Reserve, as you will hear from any Ron Paul supporter. (See photo below)
"McCain's going to have to find a good running mate," Hinkle said. He suggested former candidate Mitt Romney.
While gun rights haven't played a major role in the election campaigns to date, that may change when the Supreme Court issues its ruling in a case that challenges Washington, D.C.'s total ban on handguns.
It will be the first time in modern legal jurisprudence that the nation's highest court has addressed the scope of the Second Amendment. That decision is expected sometime by early summer, which gives it many months to get going before the Nov. 4 general election, including the start of hunting season in many places.
--James Oliphant
I also put this in the News About the Campaign forum. Please delete this from this forum tomorrow.