• Mike Huckabee strongly supports the right to bear arms and opposes restrictions on access to
firearms.

• "My position on the Second Amendment to the Constitution is as clear for me as the position
held by most journalists toward the 1st Amendment. While I do not consider myself a "gun nut," I
proudly own a variety of firearms and enjoy hunting as well as sports shooting. But even if I were
not a hunter or did not enjoy shooting, I would still be a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment right
of Americans to own firearms for self-protection and as a matter of principle."

• Huckabee also explained the rationale behind his stance: "There are 700,000 physicians in
the US and the number of accidental deaths caused by them per year is 120,000, making the accidental
death rate per physician 17%. Using the same logic, there are about 80 million gun owners, and the
number of accidental gun deaths per year among all age groups is 1,500. The same calculation reveals
the number of accidental deaths per gun owner to be 0.00188%. In other words, statistically, doctors
are approximately 9,000 more times more dangerous than gun owners. Yet, I hear no one suggesting we
ban doctors."

• Huckabee has his views on the issue of 'Castle Doctrine', a legislation which delineates
the person's right to "stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if
he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm."
Huckabee adds, "Personally, I think it?s the way it ought to be. We ought to have the right to
protect ourselves." 

• Obama addressed the June 2008 Supreme Court decision striking down the District of
Columbia's gun ban by saying, ?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. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view, and while it ruled that the D.C. gun ban
went too far, Justice Scalia himself acknowledged that this right is not absolute and subject to
reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe.?

?• Obama's gun control policy was widely expected to be in the direction of putting a curb on
the use of gun.

• Once he took charge as President, Obama declared his firearm policy by listing out certain
priorities.  Thus gun policy would be administered in two areas - 'ending the dangerous cycle of
youth violence' and 'addressing gun violence in cities'. 

• Obama has rather a long history of record of supporting the anti-gun policy in his public
career. Obama used to support radical anti-gun foundations such as the Joyce Foundation as early as
the 1994. Obama was also seen supporting the ban of weapons, imposition of taxes on arms and
ammunition and legislations intended to put a check on the use of guns throughout his career.

• However, Obama respects the gun owners' rights as had been mentioned in the Constitution.
"I have no intention of taking away folks' guns. It's important for us to recognize that we?ve got a
tradition of handgun ownership and gun ownership generally." 

• Obama also added that, "I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns. What I think we
can provide is common-sense approaches to the issue of illegal guns that are ending up on the
streets."

• Pertaining to the Second Amendment and individual gun owners' rights, "As a general
principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just
because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't
constrain the exercise of that right."

• Sarah Palin is a full supporter of the right to keep and bear arms as stated in the
Constitution. In her own words, "I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, I support
our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth."


• Sarah Palin has been a hunting and fishing enthusiast from the age of ten when she shot her
first rabbit.  She learned hunting and fishing skills from her father and describes the sports as
her hobbies. Palin herself has commented that her freezer is full of wild game.

• Being the lifelong member of NRA, Palin supports the campaign to end the ban on handguns
that had been in place for more than three decades.

• Palin vehemently opposes restrictions on access to firearms. Palin, as Governor of Alaska,
signed a multi-state amicus brief, part of which reads as follows: "The Framers were understandably
wary of standing armies and the powers of a potentially oppressive government ... The introductory
clause [of the Second Amendment], properly understood, confirms the primary benefit of the
operational clause -- a citizenry capable of defending its rights by force, when all other means
have failed, against any future oppression."

• Mitt Romney has been taking stands both against and in favor of the gun control issue.
Initially the former Massachusetts governor was on the side of strong gun laws.
 
• In 1994, while running for the Senate, Romney supported a couple of gun control measures
namely the Brady Bill which attempted to bring forth a five-day waiting period on gun sales and
another ban on some assault weapons much to the ire of the National Rifle Association and other
gun-rights groups. 

• In 2002 as the GOP gubernatorial candidate, Romney praised the state's stringent laws. "We
do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said. "I won?t chip away at them; I
believe they protect us and provide for our safety."

• However, as Romney ran in the US Presidential elections, his words and actions meant to
appease the gun owners of the nation. He openly reveals that he is a member of the NRA along with
working to ease the restrictions imposed on gun owners.

• As reported in January 2007, Romney said that "I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself.
I'm a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms." It was later discovered that
Romney had never been issued a license in the four states where he had lived.
 
• However, Romney continues to support the ban on assault weapons. "These guns are not made
for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting
down and killing people."

 

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