Rewind: Mike Huckabee

Back when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was competing for the GOP nomination, I found him likeable and straightforward. I believe in the strict separation of church and state, however, and every time Gov. Huckabee crossed that line, he reinforced my hope that we never, ever elect a cleric to the office of President.

During Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night, I was reminded of one issue on which Gov. Huckabee and I absolutely agree: Second Amendment rights.

Here's what Sen. Obama said:

"The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals."

The Democratic nominee's reference to hunting brought to mind an interview that Glenn Beck did with Gov. Huckabee last October. Here's some of what Gov. Huckabee said.

"...the Second Amendment is not about hunting. I get so frustrated when some candidates asked about the Second Amendment, they start telling me, 'Well, I have a hunting license, and I’m a member of the NRA.' Look, so do I. It's not about the Second Amendment.

"The Second Amendment is about freedom. It's about protecting ourselves, our families, our property, and ultimately, if necessary -- I know this sounds pretty bold -- but from our own government, when they get out of control. That's what it's all about."

"...I wouldn't appoint an attorney general, as president, who didn't understand what the Second Amendment did, and it gives the rights to individuals, not to geographical locations, not to police entities. It gives that as a fundamental right, just in the same way -- if we value the First Amendment, then we have to value the Second. And I don't understand why more people, particularly in the media, who embrace, love, and herald the First Amendment, don't realize that, once you start chipping away at any of them, you chip away at all of them."

"...(the government confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens) is an ultimate violation of my basic constitutional right to protect myself.

"And unless I'm a criminal, they have no right to confiscate anything from me, especially -- see, they’re not confiscating my firearm. Here’s what we've got to understand. They're confiscating my constitutional rights. And once they take that one away, then they can take away every other right, the right of a fair trial, the right of speech, the right of assembly, the right of worship. It doesn't stop.

"And I'm not trying to be some, you know, radical guy. I'm just trying to say that this is a dangerous precedent, and those people who defend the destruction of the Second Amendment need to think through where they're headed with that."

Right on, Governor. Μολὼν λαβέ.