States Loosen Gun Laws Under Obama

Posted: 02/24/10

States are pushing through new measures and reviving old laws that expand gun rights, as the White House largely ignores the issue.

Gun advocates had feared President Obama would move quickly to restrict arms and ammunition upon taking office. But a year later, the issue appears to be low on his agenda, disappointing supporters of stricter gun control.

Last week, lawmakers in Virginia voted to repeal a ban on purchasing more than one handgun a month and passed another measure that allows people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. Other states are making similar moves, according to the The New York Times:

Arizona and Wyoming lawmakers are considering nearly a half dozen pro-gun measures, including one that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. And lawmakers in Montana and Tennessee passed measures last year - the first of their kind - to exempt their states from federal regulation of firearms and ammunition that are made, sold and used in state. Similar bills have been proposed in at least three other states.

"We expected a very different picture at this stage," Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told the Times. The campaign issued a report card last month giving Obama failing grades on the issue of gun control.

Helmke and other gun control advocates accuse the administration of balking on campaign promises to revive the assault weapons ban, increase the availability of gun crime data, and tighten regulations on gun show purchases.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/24 ... der-obama/