Explore Candidates → President → Barack Obama on Gun Control
Barack Obama
on
Gun Control
- Abortion and Birth Control
- Civil Liberties and Domestic Security
- Crime and Punishment
- Education
- Environment and Energy
- Gay Rights
- Government and Elections
- Gun Control
- Health Care
- Immigration
- Internet and Media
- Iraq and Foreign Policy
- Medical Marijuana and Drug Policy
- Religion and Public Life
- Science
- Social Security
- Taxes and Budget
- Trade and Economics
"As I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns. What I think we can provide is common-sense approaches to the issue of illegal guns that are ending up on the streets."
Obama, meanwhile, proposes several gun-control laws, including restricting purchases of weapons and ammunition at gun shows, establishing a national database that would capture and record imprints left by bullets, and making gun locks mandatory. On the issue of prohibiting citizens from carrying concealed weapons, Obama said he believes national legislation should be passed to "prevent other states' laws [allowing citizens to conceal their guns] from threatening the safety of Illinois residents."
Obama was a board member of the Joyce Foundation which funds and maintains several gun control organizations in the United States.
Principles that Obama supports on gun issues: - Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons. - Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms. - Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test Jul 2, 1998
"I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manfuacturer's lobby. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone disrespected him, we have a problem of morality. Not only do ew need to punish thatman for his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there's a hole in his heart, one that government programs alone may not be able to repair."
"We need to make the expired Assault Weapon ban permanent."
He said the government needs to permanently reinstate an assault weapons ban and close regulatory loopholes that protect unscrupulous gun dealers.
Obama said the end of the ban--which means the gun industry will resume making and selling 19 types of military-style semiautomatic weapons--means America's streets will be more dangerous. Such weapons have accounted for a "disproportionate share of police fatalities," he said.
Principles that Obama supports on gun issues: - Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons. - Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms. - Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test Jul 2, 1998
"We've got to enforce the gun laws that are on the books. We've got to ensure that unscrupulous gun dealers aren't load up vans and dumping guns in our communities, because we know they are not made in our communities. There aren't any gun manufacturers here in the middle of Detroit. But what we also have to do is make sure that we change our politics so that we care just as much about those 30-some children in Chicago that have been shot as we care about those at Virginia Tech."