Clinton & Obama on gun control.

In the '90s, Hillary Clinton, alongside her husband, was a champion of gun control. In fact, in 2003, she said that the Columbine school shootings of 1999 - and her desire to enact greater gun control - inspired her to run for the U.S. Senate. But now that she is desperately seeking big wins in states where hunting guns are commonly owned and in which this is an important issue to voters, she has propelled herself to standing as a champion of gun ownership rights. She is even painting her opponent, Barack Obama, as someone who wishes to take guns away from citizens.

Yet, Barack Obama has declared his respect for the Second Amendment, our right to bear arms. Barack Obama has declared that he believes that gun laws should be decided not at the federal level, but by local communities.

In truth, Clinton and Obama don't have entirely different stances on gun control and both support some measures, but none are measures which would affect - or which would likely even bother - most rural hunters. Both support restrictions on owning handguns, which are not used for hunting. Both support restrictions on owning certain semi-automatic weapons which are not used for hunting. Both support keeping guns away from unsupervised children. Both support a tighter control on knowing who owns what guns, so if you're only planning on using a gun legally (hunting, protection), this will not affect you negatively.

You should, however, be worried if you are planning on murdering someone or if you don't care if your children kill themselves or others. The rest of us won't be affected.

Here's the kicker: Clinton additionally makes vague statements in favor of gun control laws involving looking for early warning signs of potential misuse and keeping guns away from those "who shouldn't have them."

Check ontheissues.org for a summary of positions and quotes from the candidates.