He said in 1994 that he supported the first AWB, and in 2007 he admitted that he would have supported the 1994 AWB.
Russert called the 2004 Mass. bill an “assault weapons ban”, and Romney used the same terminology. At the time, the gun rights group that supported the bill actually got mad about how their bill was characterized as a “gun control” bill. I’m sure they are no more happy that gun people are doing the same thing today.
And as he said, it provided a relaxing of licensing requirements, which was ONE of the reasons the gun-rights groups supported it. But in fact, as they explained at the time, the bill actually “un-banned” guns that were already banned in Massachusetts. The AWB in effect in Ma. was NOT tied to the federal ban, and was NOT going to expire when the federal ban expired.
The final bill signed by Romney removed guns from the list, and removed regulations, which is why the gun rights groups called it the best pro-gun legislation in the state’s history.
"I would have supported the original assault weapon ban." --Mitt Romney
That spin went nowhere.