From the Democratic Debate on January 15, 2008, moderated by Tim Russert.

RUSSERT: Senator Obama, when you were in the state senate, you talked about licensing and registering gun owners. Would you do that as president?

OBAMA: I don't think that we can get that done. But what I do think we can do is to provide just some common-sense enforcement. One good example -- this is consistently blocked -- the efforts by law enforcement to obtain the information required to trace back guns that have been used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers.

That's not something that the NRA has allowed to get through Congress. And, as president, I intend to make it happen.

But here's the broader context that I think is important for us to remember. We essentially have two realities, when it comes to guns, in this country. You've got the tradition of lawful gun ownership, that all of us saw, as we travel around rural parts of the country.

And it is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt, fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot.

And then you've got the reality of 34 Chicago public school students who get shot down on the streets of Chicago.

We can reconcile those two realities by making sure the Second Amendment is respected and that people are able to lawfully own guns, but that we also start cracking down on the kinds of abuses of firearms that we see on the streets.

Despite what some of you seem to think, there will be no movement to ban guns. One of the things O'bama (still can't help meself) successfully did was to not allow wedge issues to be used any longer. He, and most leading Dems, understand at long last that by using the issue of inner city crime as a reason for banning all guns simply drives off the most important part of the base in the Democratic Party, that being middle class folks. Someone above made the erroneous statement that the majority of folks in this country would support a gun ban, or something like that. In fact, most Americans are firmly in support of the right to keep and bear arms. Our President (elect) understands this. He understands we must deal with the problem of violence in poor urban areas, and that we must respect the rights of average citizens. Solve hopelessness and you will end most crime in urban environments. My guess is he will focus in economic areas almost exclusively, and we will see little attention paid to this, in spite of what the wackos believe.

All the best,

Mick