Stricter gun legislation a low-priority for Obama

By John McCormick Tribune Newspapers

April 27, 2009

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In July 2007, when the presidency was still a long-shot proposition, Barack Obama stopped at Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago to deliver a fiery sermon challenging the government, the gun lobby and the public to do more to stop gun violence.

"Our playgrounds have become battlegrounds. Our streets have become cemeteries. Our schools have become places to mourn the ones we've lost," he told a standing-room-only congregation at the Far South Side church. "The violence is unacceptable, and it's got to stop." As he expressed outrage over 32 Chicago public schoolchildren having been killed the previous school year, Obama called for better enforcement of existing gun laws, tighter background checks on gun buyers and a permanent assault weapons ban.

"A couple weeks ago, cops found an AK-47 near a West Side school," he said then. "That type of weapon belongs on a battlefield, not on the streets of Chicago."

Fast-forward to the present: 33 Chicago public school students have been slain so far this school year.

But even as Obama has packed his agenda during his first 100 days in office, he has mostly bypassed the contentious gun issue, despite its importance in Chicago and other cities.

Gun and ammunition sales have surged across the nation since Obama's election because of fear that his administration will put additional restrictions in place. But, so far, Obama and Democrats in Congress have given no indication that they will re-impose an expired ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons.

Earlier this month, Obama suggested he does not believe the reauthorization of a federal ban is politically viable now and expressed greater interest in stricter enforcement of existing gun laws and efforts to more widely distribute gun tracing information to local law enforcement.

"The president supports the Second Amendment, respects the tradition of gun ownership in this country, and he believes we can take common-sense steps to keep our streets safe," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. "The administration included $2 billion in funding in the [stimulus bill] for communities to hire more police officers and to enhance their crime-fighting technology."