Mitt Romney on Gun Control
February 13th, 2007 by Syd
Former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney announced today his candidacy for POTUS. So let’s take a look at how Mitt comes down on guns:
Former governor Mitt Romney, who once described himself as a supporter of strong gun laws, is distancing himself from that rhetoric now as he attempts to court the gun owners who make up a significant force in Republican primary politics.
In his 1994 US Senate run, Romney backed two gun-control measures strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups: the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on gun sales, and a ban on certain assault weapons.
“That’s not going to make me the hero of the NRA,” Romney told the Boston Herald in 1994.
At another campaign stop that year, he told reporters: “I don’t line up with the NRA.”
And as the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2002, Romney lauded the state’s strong laws during a debate against Democrat Shannon O’Brien. “We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them,” he said. “I won’t chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety.”
Today, as he explores a presidential bid, Romney is sending a very different message on gun issues, which are far more prominent in Republican national politics than in Massachusetts.
He now touts his work as governor to ease restrictions on gun owners. He proudly describes himself as a member of the NRA — though his campaign won’t say when he joined. And Friday, at his campaign’s request, top officials of the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation led him around one of the country’s biggest gun shows.
Romney says he still backs the ban on assault weapons, but he won’t say whether he stands by the Brady Bill. And after the gun show tour, his campaign declined to say whether he would still describe himself as a supporter of tough gun laws.
“He believes Americans have the right to own and possess firearms as guaranteed under the US Constitution,” spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom wrote in an e-mail. “He’s proud to be among the many decent, law-abiding men and women who safely use firearms. Like President Bush, he supports restrictions on assault weapons, but Mitt Romney has also worked with gun owners and sportsmen to ease the gun-licensing laws in Massachusetts.” Source
I’m hearing strains of “Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me…”
In January of 2007, he said,
… that he hopes states would continue to ease regulations on gun owners, and he expressed enthusiasm for guns and hunting. “I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I’m a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms…”
Then at the S.H.O.T. Show,
Asked by reporters at the gun show Friday whether he personally owned the gun, Romney said he did not. He said one of his sons, Josh, keeps two guns at the family vacation home in Utah, and he uses them “from time to time.” The guns are a Winchester hunting rifle and a Glock 9mm handgun, which Romney uses for target shooting . Romney also described himself as a sportsman who learned to shoot as a boy rabbit hunting in Idaho with a .22 rifle. He fondly recalled shooting quail last year at a Republican Governors Association event in Georgia.
Dude, it’s not about hunting…
….in 2005, Romney designated May 7 as “The Right to Bear Arms Day” in Massachusetts to honor “the right of decent, law-abiding citizens to own and use firearms in defense of their families, persons, and property and for all lawful purposes, including the common defense.”
But perhaps the most significant gun legislation Romney signed as governor was a 2004 measure instituting a permanent ban on assault weapons. The Legislature mirrored the law after the federal assault weapons ban, which was set to expire. According to activists at the time, the bill made Massachusetts the first state to enact its own such ban, and Romney hailed the move.
“These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense,” he was quoted as saying. “They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.”
So which way is it going to be, Mitt?
You know, I’m an optimist at heart. I still hold out the hope that people can grow, change and learn. SouthofBoston.com says:
Romney’s explanation is that his positions have evolved. That is fair enough if it involves one or two significant issues — or if a person undergoes a life-changing epiphany. But Romney is still the same old Mormon moderate he always was. The only difference is that he is running for president in a relatively conservative country instead of running for senator or governor in a very liberal state.
That means he has shifted his positions on everything from gay rights to gun control, abortion to taxes. Just last week, he toured a gun show in Florida with the president of the National Rifle Association and reminisced about how as a boy, “I worked on a ranch in Idaho and shot rabbits with a single-shot .22 rifle.” (There goes the PETA vote).
Yet, as governor, he signed some of the toughest gun control laws in the country — and promised “I won’t chip away at them” — and was certainly no friend to the NRA back then. In his run for U.S. Senate in 1994, Romney said he supported a ban on assault rifles and the Brady gun control law. But now he has put Massachusetts in his rear-view mirror and it’s guns a-blazin’ — or .22 pop guns, at least. Source
In an interview with Phil Klein of the American Spectator during CPAC 2007, the following exchange took place:
PK: On gun control, I know you signed an assault weapons ban in Massachusetts in 2004, now I know you joined the NRA within the last year. Can you tell me if an assault weapons ban came up at the federal level, would you sign or veto that?
ROMNEY: Well, it depends on what it looked like, but…
PK: If it was something like the ‘94 bill…
ROMNEY: I have indicated that my position is the same as it has been which is I support the Second Amendment, but I also support (an) assault weapon ban, that’s why I signed a bill of that nature. That’s what I said back in ‘94. I’m in the same position that President Bush is. President Bush also says he supports the Second Amendment, but he would support an assault weapon ban. But the specifics of the particular ban are something that I’d have to look at, and it’s been a long time since we’ve looked at the particular types of weapons that might be involved. So my position is the same there as it has been before —
PK: But if the ‘94 one came up for vote again…
ROMNEY: Well obviously, we’ve learned some things since then. I haven’t seen the specific proposal at this stage and so I couldn’t comment on it until we had. We had an effort in Massachusetts on the part of some to ban 50 caliber rifles. I opposed that, indicated I would oppose that ban. You know, I think we have to be very careful in any way restricting Second Amendment rights. I support the Second Amendment. We’ve got a gun at our house, it’s owned by my son. I’ve hunted since I was a young man. I believe that people have the right to bear arms. But I also recognize that there’s some types of weapons that don’t need to be in the public’s hands, machine guns certainly, and I’d be open to consider appropriate kind of measures, but I’m not looking for blanket kind of prohibitions on people being able to have arms for their defense. Source
Romney Shoots Self in Foot in “Pandering to Gun Crowd:”
Officials in the four states where Mitt Romney has lived say the Republican presidential contender, who calls himself a lifelong hunter, never took out a license. Romney says that’s because he has seldom hunted where he needed one.
Questions about his hunting activities trailed Romney this week after he remarked at a campaign stop that he has been a hunter nearly all his life. The next day, his campaign said Romney had been hunting only twice, once as a teenager in Idaho and again last year with GOP donors in Georgia.
That was wrong, Romney said the day after that, adding that he had hunted rabbits and other small animals for many years, mainly in Utah. Hunting certain small game there doesn’t require a license…
…His staff refused Friday to provide details about his hunting history, including whose gun he used, with whom he hunted and whether he hunted in Utah as a college student or as an adult. He does not own a firearm, despite claiming to earlier this year. Source
So has Mitt had a “road to Damascus” experience and come over to the side of Truth, Gun Rights and The American Way, or is he just tuning his message to crowd he’s playing for? I don’t know. You’d have to be clairvoyant to know for sure. The flip-flops do raise questions, though. Is Romney a man who is guided by principles? Is he a thinker who has really changed his mind, or just a glib politician willing to say anything that gets him an advantage? To be honest, he could be either one. My positions on things have evolved over time, and I have to allow for the possibility of similar change in others. But, I must admit that the “I have a gun… I don’t have a gun…” thing reminds me of another politician from Massachusetts who is currently spending his spare time mixing ketchup.
Remind me again, which party nomination is this guy running for?
DAL357
The main thing Mitt Romney has going for him right now is that he isn’t John McCain or Mayor Rudy.
I think he’s a Republicrat or may be a Demolican.
[…] Front Sight, Press takes apart Mitt Romney on Gun Control. […]
I am really seeing a strong anti-gun force gaining more force against gun owners, from both sides. As a blackman, I will fight any gun control measures that would ban my right to own a firearm just like I would fight any ban to keep me from voting.
I own an assault weapons and I use that weapon to keep up my shooting skills, especially being in the National Guard. If anyone who is in the guard will tell you, we only shoot once per year and shooting is a skill that has to be refreshed.
So us gun owner who own assault weapons do so for thsi reason.
Who do Guiliani and Roomey think they’re fooling. because it isn’t me. The three Rhino’s that are running, which would be Rudy,Mit, and John have a good many bridges to mend with the conservative Republicans. Ranging from abortiong to immagration to gun rights, personally I don’t think they are going to get support from this side of the party. I know they don’t have mine.
Mitt Romney is just another opportunistic liar.
To make matters worse, he is ignorant of the purpose behind the 2nd Amendment.
The founding fathers basically said, in effect, “We don’t trust the English government,” and broke away from it to set up their own government, about which they then said, “And we don’t trust our own government that WE are setting up now–that’s why we are enshrining the right to keep and bear arms in our founding document–IN CASE CITIZENS EVER NEED MILITARY WEAPONS TO DEFEND AGAINST TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT.”
“Assaut weapons ban?”
Any politician who comes out and says he is against “assault weapons” is telling us that HE IS THE KIND OF POLITICIAN THE FOUNDING FATHERS WARNED US ABOUT!”
VOTE “NO” on Romney and every other ignoramus who favors infringement of your absolute right to keep and bear arms.
If you think this post is misinformed, educate yourself about the Second Amendment here:
http://www.secondamendmentdocumentary.com/
. . . where the world’s experts –left and right– agree: The Second Amendment is NOT ABOUT DUCK HUNTING.
Mitt Romney is following in John Kerry’s footsteps!
This past Sunday Feb. 18, Mitt Romney was interviewed by George Stephanopoulus on his news program. Romney said he totally supports the Second Amendment and the NRA, BUT he definitely supports a ban on “assault weapons” and the like.
He claimed that he is an NRA member. When asked how long he has been a member, Romney said for about a YEAR now!
Didn’t we see this during the last Presidential election? Whenever a photo opportunity presents itself, these individuals (Romney and Kerry) suddenly become gun advocates to sway the votes of the uninformed gun owners and hunters! The past legislative records of these people, however, always prove otherwise.
We, the voters, weren’t fooled by Kerry in 2004. John Kerry was a wolf in sheeps clothing trying to fool gun owners. Hunters and gun owners need to beware: Mitt Romney is getting fitted for his new sheep outfit!
True, Romney doesn’t have the strongest record in favour of 2A rights. But compared to Rudy and John, he’s BY FAR the better candidate on this and practically every other issue. Not to mention he’s got far more experience as an executive and succesful problem solver; and far more charismatic and articulate to boot.
If the primary in my state were today and I wanted to support the best candidate with a realistic chance of winning both the GOP nomination and the presidency, I would definitely vote Mitt Romney. While I wish he was a stronger supporter of 2A rights, I blame his weakness in this area on ignorance rather than malevolence. He will learn, just as he has in other areas. He’s the best realistic choice we’ve got, so I support him. Better to have a candidate capable of gradually learning and evolving on issues than one dogmatically opposed to change no matter how wrong they are.
Found this in Wikipedia.
Gun control: According to his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Romney “is a supporter of the federal assault weapons ban. Mitt also believes in the rights of those who hunt to responsibly own and use firearms.”[107] July 1st, 2002 Mitt Romney signed a permanent ban on Assault Weapons. “Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,” Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony with legislators, sportsmen’s groups and gun safety advocates. “These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.”
[…] Mitt Romney on Gun Control […]
MITT ROMNEY JOINED THE NRA IN AUGUST 2007 as per the BOSTON GLOBE NEWSPAPER
Does not matter. Once Fred Thompson enters the race he will be the instant front runner and Rudy/Romney will just be another “also ran”.
You may not know that Meg Whitman is the President of eBay and Mitt Romney’s Finance Chairperson. On July 30, 2007. Matt Halprin, Vice President, eBay Trust and Safety, issued a General Announcement further restricting the sale of gun related items. We need to know exactly where Romney stands and will continue to stand if elected.
I have sent the following to Mitt Romney at https://www.mittromney.com/CommentForm.
The announcement at the end of this message recently appeared on eBay as a General eBay Announcement
Message from Matt Halprin ? New Listing Restrictions on Gun Parts 07/30/07.
It increases the anti-gun stance of eBay and has antagonized thousands of law-abiding gun owners who will probably quit eBay. It has also generated an alert from the NRA. It is becoming known that Meg Whitman, President of eBay, is also your Finance Chairperson. It has been reported that her stance is anti-gun.
Please consider doing something about this. I was hoping you will receive the nomination and would vote for you but with Meg Whitman on your team I may reconsider and so might many of those thousands of others.
I then included the email I sent to Halprin and his original announcement.
I sent by email to Matt Halprin and requested that the message be forwarded through:
http://cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=InlineSelfHelpWebform&wftype=2001&rcode=GS%25N00179&subject=Contacting%20Customer%20Support&bcrumb=+Home+%3E+Help+Topics+%3E%A0New+to+eBay%A0%3E%A0Getting+Help%A0%3E%A0Contacting+Customer+Support&instruction=&expirationDate=
Why throw your vote away to Romney when he has a flip flopping gun record when you can vote for someone that has a perfect gun voting record. RON PAUL always votes on the side of our RIGHTS and FREEDOMS. (This is what our military is supposed to be fighting to protect, unfortunately right now they are learning how to confiscate guns and are working with foreign militaries that lack even the most basic human rights).
Furthermore it’s not just about rights and freedoms, our country becoming bankrupt due to the excessive federal spending. Every single candidate running for president outside of Ron Paul is for huge federal spending. Our dollar’s value on the world market is dropping like a rock. All the republicans with the exception of Ron Paul want to continue the war on Iraq and most want to expand it with a war on Iran. We are talking trillions of dollars worth of spending fighting other people’s wars! All of the wounded soldiers are going to need to be supported and the costs are going to be enormous. Meanwhile both the Republicans and the Democrats have done nothing on border security which is the real terrorist threat. Bush has wasted more tax payer dollars then even Clinton and all the other republicans want to continue his wasteful spending on a war that is going no where. The democrats, even if they do pull out will still spend just as much if not more then Bush. Ron Paul is the only candidate that wants to make serious cuts to federal spending. By getting rid of Federal waste, local governments can get more money and it will be better spent then if the feds get their hands on it. At least your money will stay closer to your community and not sent overseas.
Right now due to the trade deficit China now has trillions of dollars that they are using to buy up our companies! This didn’t happen overnight the people in power do not have our best interests in mind. They are selling us out like Judas. All these trade agreements they get us tangled up in are for the benefit of a few and not for most Americans. Ron Paul wants to give us trade that benefits the American people’s interests not some global CEO.
Ron Paul has a lot of other good ideas that I don’t have time to go into but I encourage you all to look into him before chasing after whoever the corporate media is pushing on us. He has won more straw polls then the other candidates. If you check the after debate polls on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS etc… Ron Paul has won by a landslide. Why haven’t you heard about this – because the corporate media is owned by the very people destroying this country. They don’t control polls but they do control what they talk about on TV and if you don’t believe this just go back to sleep and keep believing that you’re free when you’re not. If you don’t believe me go read the declaration of independence and see in horror just how enslaved you really are.
Free people are not one pay check away from loosing everything! The federal reserve system has taken a currency that was worth something before they existed and then turned it into something that is worth 2% of what it use to be worth! (and the value is still dropping to 0%) This is called theft and this is the reason why most of you don’t really own anything. Ron Paul wants to end the theft! Join a RonPaul Meetup group and you will see that he has a lot more support then all the other candidates put together!
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/about/
I really admire Ron Paul. He’s a great American and probably the finest Constitutional thinker in American politics today. He also does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the Republican nomination, much less the general election. I prefer to support people who have some chance of winning and keeping Hillary-Barak-Edwards and company out of the White House.
The only true conservative running (unfortunately he is virtually unknown and without funding)is Mike Huckabee.
He is a strong supporter of the second amendment and its true meaning (nothing to do with hunting rights). Also thinks so called ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN IS TOTAL CRAP and just another ploy by the ignorant liberals to impose their gun control.
On Romney,
Given the political climate in Mass. regarding guns, Romney did a good job of representing gun rights laws. I am strongly in favor one’s right to bear arms, and don’t like any restriction. Notwithstanding his confusing stance on gun control, gun control on national political level is extremely complex. Romney may have given up assault rifles in Mass., but he was able to protect concealed carry laws. My opinion is that Romney is the candidate on the Republican side that can win in November. I’d take Romney any day over Democrats’ offerings.