Cam Edwards, host of NRA News, emails to make a few points about Obama’s record and position. As you’ll recall, Obama has said that he believes that the Second Amendment protects an individual right but that this right is subject to reasonable restrictions. His remarks on the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the D.C. gun ban were generally taken to be supportive but did not explicitly endorse it. And he has disavowed anti-gun statements his campaign made on guns in 1996 and again last year, blaming them on staffers each time.

Edwards calls attention to a line from Obama’s The Audacity of Hope: “I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manfuacturer’s lobby.” That is pretty hard to square with an individual right. In 1999, Edwards points out, Obama called for a 500 percent increase in the tax on ammunition. Edwards concludes, following Jacob Sullum, that Obama’s support for gun rights is “toothless.” He adds, “Only in his support for gun control laws does Obama show any teeth, and dating back to his days as a state legislator, Obama’s been more than willing to take a bite out of your rights.”