Does Obama’s nominee for head of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives oppose the Second Amendment?

Things had been looking up for gun-rights activists. In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in D.C. v. Heller that Washington’s handgun laws were unconstitutional. In the summer of 2010, in McDonald v Chicago, the court expanded that ruling to apply to handgun laws in all 50 states.

Even President Obama seemed relatively open to Second Amendment rights, saying on the campaign trail: “I believe there is a Second Amendment right. I think it is an individual right. I think people have the right to lawfully bear arms.”

Now, it seems that when it comes to Obama and guns, he was for them before he was against them.

Just in Time for Christmas

Delaying Tax Vote Could Crash Stock Market

US News

Failure by Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts, especially locking in the 15 percent capital gains tax rate, will spark a stock market

sell off starting December 15 as investors move to lock in gains at a lower rate than the 20 percent it would jump to next year, warn analysts. [See who gets the most money from the financial industry.]

While it is unclear how bad the sell off could be, it could wipe out the year’s gains, they warn.