WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican John McCain opened fire with a full-bore political attack on Democratic White House rival Barack Obama after the Supreme Court upheld individuals' right to bear arms Thursday.
McCain, bidding to taint Obama's candidacy among gun-owners and rural voters, used the historic ruling to highlight how the Democrat's view of the US constitution's second amendment on gun rights had evolved down the years.
But Obama said the Supreme Court had backed his own view -- that the second amendment does not bar local governments from enacting gun-control laws to protect their citizenry from criminals.
"Unlike Senator Obama, who refused to join me in signing a bipartisan amicus brief (to the Supreme Court), I was pleased to express my support and call for the ruling issued today," McCain said in a statement.
He said the ruling was clear that cities such as Washington and Chicago that have banned handguns "have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans."
"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."
During his primary campaign fight against Hillary Clinton, Obama got in trouble for arguing that "bitter" small-town voters in Pennsylvania cling to guns and religion out of economic frustration.
The McCain campaign released a memo setting out how Obama had, in 1996, expressed support for a ban on the manufacture and sale of handguns but by this year, had equivocated on whether the Washington ban was constitutional.
But the Illinois senator said there was nothing in the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling to contradict his view that responsible gun ownership could be reconciled with legal limits.
"As president, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen. I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne (Wyoming)," Obama said.
"I have always believed that the second amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures," he said.
Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that Washington's outright ban violated the second amendment, which the court said guaranteed citizens the right to keep firearms at home for self-defense.
But Scalia said the court also took seriously the problem of gun violence in cities like Washington, and said the ruling leaves the city "a variety of tools" to combat the problem, including some regulation.
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