Posted on 10/15/2008 10:59:07 AM PDT by tiniyo
State Senator Barack Obama signed his candidacy papers for Congress in early December. Later that month, he missed a key gun control vote in Springfield. () When Hyde Park State Senator Barack Obama packed his family off for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii, he thought he would rest up before a grueling Congressional campaign this winter. Instead, he created the first major issue by missing a key senate vote for a gun control measure.
The bill, which would have made unlawfully carrying a firearm a felony instead of a misdemeanor, failed in the state senate by six votes in a special post-Christmas session.
Obama said he was on a long-planned vacation to visit his 80-year-old grandmother in Hawaii and that his infant daughter became ill while there, preventing him from leaving early to make the vote.
Obama and the two other major candidates in the Democratic primary, incumbent Congressman Bobby Rush and State Senator Donne Trotter, all support the bill and have identical positions on gun control. But his rivals were quick to use Obama's absence against him.
"As far as doing the job he is expected to do for his community, [Obama] dropped the ball," said Trotter, who attended the special session and voted for the gun measure. Trotter said Obama's presence could have changed the outcome since several senators voted "present" to avoid taking a positions on the controversial bill when it appeared that there would not be enough votes for passage.
Rush contrasted his post-Christmas activities with Obama's. "I was working on a public service campaign to prevent gun violence over New Year's while Obama was vacationing," said Rush, whose efforts included running paid newspaper ads and making public appearances warning against gun violence.
"We have to keep fighting gun violence and that's where my focus is even if that is not where Senator Obama's focus is," said Rush.
Could anything be more shameless than Obama usig Jim Webb to pretend Obama is a conservative on guns?
Found the same link myself but couldn’t get to the article. Thanks for posting.
Well, since he was now running for Congress, he couldn’t afford to have a blatant anti-gun vote on his record. He couldn’t vote “present” without incurring the wrath of his fellow liberals so he skipped town (or used the excuse of a sick daughter) to avoid committing one way or another. He’s always thinking of the next step in his ascension and will betray anyone who might get in the way. BTW, that says a lot about Michelle’s ability as a mother if she can’t handle a sick child while he flies home as scheduled to vote on a supposedly important, and tightly contested, piece of legislation.
Guess they “didn’t have the votes.”
That's rich. A former Black Panther for gun control.
Obama is clearly a clandestine 2nd Amendment fanatic. And when he gets into office, he’ll restore the 2nd Amendment to all its glory. :)
The Illinois law was originally written to only apply to certain classes of criminals (gang members), and leave the crime of concealed carry as a misdemeanor for otherwise law-abiding citizens. A few changes later, and the felony applies to all, with the exception of police and and certain politicians.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.