Clinton's Missed Opportunity on Guns

Compared with the rest of the third presidential debate Wednesday night, the opening conversation about the Constitution was practically Lincoln-Douglas-like as the candidates answered questions and didn't interrupt each other. But the discussion of the seminal gun control case D.C. v. Heller was borderline incomprehensible unless you've recently taken constitutional law. And in giving an answer intended to express moderation on gun rights, Hillary Clinton missed a chance to express support for the original meaning of the Constitution.

Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News asked a series of substantive questions about gun rights. In particular, he asked about the 2008 Heller case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held by a 5-4 vote that the Second Amendment blocked regulations in Washington that essentially barred ownership of handguns.