Barack Shot Down By Court

In the wake of today's Supreme Court ruling affirming the right to bear arms, John McCain used the opportunity to remind voters how Barackists feel about gun rights.

"Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right -- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly," McCain said.

Barack used the opportunity to have a foot on both sides of the issue.

Obama said if elected president, he would uphold the rights of gun owners, but he said: "I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals."

Ironically, today's ruling may make it easier for Barack, and other liberal, blame the gun, types, to do their parsing. Gun rights voters don't have to fear the slippery slope that Barack represents quite as much now that the court has clarified the issue.

The court's 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

Although McCain's not so sure about Chicago's gun laws remaining in tact.

"Today's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans," McCain said in the statement.

And it appears he's right.

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

In Chicago, a ban on the sale and registration of handguns has been in place since 1982. Only police officers, aldermen and a handful of others are exempt from the ban.

Polls indicate that Americans are strongly on McCain's side, while Barack doesn't believe gun rights warrant a button on his website's issues list.

Nearly three out of four Americans — 73% — believe the Second Amendment spells out an individual right to own a firearm, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,016 adults taken Feb. 8-10.