New Op-ed at Fox News: Reaction to D.C. Gun Ban Decision

You can read the entire piece here.

The Supreme Court's decision Thursday affirming that people have a right to own guns evoked all sorts of reactions. Let's just go through a few of them.

1) One of the strangest was Barack Obama's claim that the court had essentially confirmed what had been his positions all along. . . .

2) Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daily, whose city had a lawsuit similar to the case just decided in DC filed against it yesterday, attacked the Supreme Court's decision as favoring those with power. . . . .

3) District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty had his own prediction: "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence." . . . .

For equal time, here is Cass Sunstein's take on Obama's views on guns and the death penalty:

A top legal adviser to Obama says both cases are consistent with his previous positions. "I don't see him as moving in his statements on the death penalty or the gun case," says Cass Sunstein, a former colleague of Obama's at the University of Chicago. Sunstein says Obama is "not easily characterized" on social issues . . . .

But not even Time magazine is convinced by the sudden changes:

But Obama's sudden social centrism would sound more convincing in a different context. Since he wrapped up the primary earlier this month and began to concentrate on the independent and moderate swing voters so key in a general election, Obama has consistently moved to the middle . . .

To me, the problem is that "not easily characterized" seems another way of saying that these changes cannot be easily explained.