Obama: My wife sees need for rural gun ownership by John McCormick HARLAN, Iowa -- From his days of campaigning in Downstate Illinois, Sen. Barack Obama has been asked plenty of times about his views on gun ownership.
But the Illinois Democrat and presidential candidate added a new wrinkle Saturday night while campaigning in conservative-leaning western Iowa, when he said his Chicago-native wife, Michelle, recently commented that she could see why rural folks might want to own guns.
Here was Obama's discussion of gun ownership and his wife's thoughts during a campaign stop at a middle school:
"We should be able to combine respect for those traditions with our concern for kids who are being shot down. This is a classic example of us just applying some common sense, just being reasonable, right? And reasonable would say that lawful gun owners – I respect the Second Amendment. I think lawful gun owners should be able to hunt, be sportsmen, protect their families.
"And by the way, Michelle, my wife, she was traveling up, I think, in eastern Iowa, she was driving through this nice, beautiful area, going through all this farmland and hills and rivers and she said 'Boy, it's really pretty up here,' but she said, 'But you know, I can see why if I was living out here, I'd want a gun. Because, you know, 911 is going to take some time before somebody responds. You know what I mean? You know, it's like five miles between every house.'
Poster Comment:
Michelle worries about violent urban crime, but doesn't feel the need to own a handgun in the city. Rather, she'd want one if she lived in a rural area. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, violent crimes are 50 percent more likely in urban areas than in suburban or rural communities. You're clearly much safer--all things being equal--out in the country than you are in Chicago. And of course, this is another instance where if the shoe were on the other foot--if a white woman said she might want a gun for protection if she lived in Chicago--well, you know how that would look.