"People are being pretty reactionary," Greene said. "There's a small contingent of folks in and out of the gun-owning community concerned that Obama's election is such a revolutionary change that it could portend mayhem. I think it's hysteria."
Obama's record on gun rights is conflicting enough to give ammunition to either side.
Obama's campaign website said he "respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms" and promised that he would "protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns."
Seeking to reassure gun owners, Obama told a campaign audience in Ohio in October: "I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won't take your handgun away."
But Obama has also said he favors "common sense" gun laws, and as an Illinois state legislator he voted to support a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms. He has said in the past that he opposes allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons.
The sum of those positions prompted the National Rifle Assn. to warn its members during the campaign that Obama "would be the most anti-gun president in American history."
Obama "says he's in favor of common sense gun laws," Irwin said. "Well, what people up north think is common sense is something different from us down here in Texas. The criminals have all this illegal stuff. I don't want to fight them with a handgun if I can get an AK. I'm entitled to that. I should be able to defend my home."
