There has been a run on guns and ammo nationwide causing many distributors and manufacturers to stop taking orders until they can fulfill their backlog. The weapon of choice is any semi-automatic rifle previously banned during the Clinton administration. It is fully expected that gun owners will be disenfranchised, once again, under the Obama administration. Only this time it will be even worse.

President-Elect Obama has stated that he will "govern from the center." But, where is the center for the most liberal Senator in the U.S. legislature? Where is the center for a politician who:

• Doesn't know the first thing about firearms
• Supported the DC gun ban
• Voted in favor of the Chicago handgun ban
• Supported frivolous lawsuits against firearm manufacturers and dealers
• Is endorsed by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Ownership
• Stated his support for the most anti-gun judges on the Supreme Court and his dislike of the pro-Second Amendment judges?

Buried on Obama's new website, change.gov, was a statement about how he supports the tradition of hunting and angling as part of our national heritage. Also on Obama's website:

"Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets."

As of this writing, all of Obama's issue positions have been removed from the site.

The cynicism of gun owners comes from experience. The typical line of anti-gun politicians is to state that they're, "not going to take our guns away," right before they start banning the sale and manufacture of firearms.

It is expected that the Clinton gun ban will be reinstated permanantly and expanded to include even more semi-automatic rifles. It is also expected that ammunition will be heavily taxed to the point of being unaffordable. Ammunition will be registered. Private party transfer will be outlawed.

With a Democrat majority in both houses and Obama in the executive chair, there is no reason to be optimistic about this issue. It will take nothing short of an astonishing outcry from an overwhelming majority of the American public to make the Democratic majority think twice before sending legislation up to the White House. Politicians must be absolutely convinced that the magnitude of this issue is enough to get them thrown out of office.

Gun owners failed to defeat the Clinton gun ban in 1994. Since then, the popularity of the Internet and AM radio makes it possible for Americans to stay informed and act. We must not fail the second time around.

Jennifer Freeman is Executive Director and co-founder of Liberty Belles, a grass-roots organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the Second Amendment.
http://www.libertybelles.org
jennifer@libertybelles.org