Barack Obama On Guns

Here's a preview of Obama's thoughts and policy on guns come January 20th.

How would you address gun violence that continues to be the #1 cause of death among African-American men?

You know, when the massacre happened at Virginia Tech, I think all of us were grief stricken and shocked by the carnage. But in this year alone, in Chicago, we've had 34 Chicago public school students gunned down and killed. And for the most part, there has been silence. We know what to do. We've got to enforce the gun laws that are on the books. We've got to make sure that unscrupulous gun dealers aren't loading up vans and dumping guns in our communities, because we know they're not made in our communities. There aren't any gun manufacturers here, right here in the middle of Detroit. But what we also have to do is to make sure that we change our politics so that we care just as much about those 30-some children in Chicago who've been shot as we do the children in Virginia Tech. That's a mindset that we have to have in the White House and we don't have it right now.

2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum July 12, 2007

During a debate in Nevada, all three Democrats said they opposed implementing a national gun licensing registry and effectively acknowledged that establishing strict gun controls is unworkable and a political minus for Democrats

I don't think that we can get that done," Obama said, but added that he would work as president for "common sense enforcement" such as facilitating efforts to trace guns used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers.

Interesting. Any thoughts?