Feb 18 transcript in which Romney supports banning certain classes of firearms [The second amendment does not have a list of acceptedly weapons]:
Stephanopoulos: Let’s talk about guns. You were supportive of the Brady bill, the handgun waiting period, in the past. You signed an assault weapon ban into law and you said, in the past, “I don’t line up with the NRA.”
Now, you…
Mitt Romney: Well, on that issue.
Stephanopoulos: Now you’re a member of the NRA.
Mitt Romney: Yes, and I know the NRA does not support an assault weapon ban. So I don’t line up on that particular issue with the NRA, either does President Bush. He likewise says he supported an assault weapon ban. [I’ll point out that Bush is not running- is Romney saying he’s another Bush?]
Today we don’t have the Brady bill because we have instantaneous background checks. That’s no longer a operative or needed measure. [So I should be immune to criticism that I once supported it].
But I’m a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. I believe people, under our Constitution, have the right to bear arms. [Just not “assault weapons”]
We have a gun in one of our homes. It’s not owned by me, it’s owned by my son, but I’ve always considered it sort of mine. [I didn’t really lie when I said I owned a gun but didn’t]
Stephanopoulos: When did you join the NRA?
Mitt Romney: Within the last year and I signed up for a lifelong membership. I think they’re doing good things and I believe in supporting the right to bear arms.
I’ve been a hunter all my life, not frequently, but as a boy, when I worked on a ranch in Idaho, we used to go out shooting rabbits, because they were eating all the barley, and I got pretty good with a single shot .22 rifle, and been quail hunting more recently [at a photo-op hunt with other politicians].
So I’m a hunter and believe in Second Amendment rights, but I also believe that assault weapons are not needed in the public population.
[end transcript]
Romney’s “support of the Second Amendment” does not include those firearms that Mitt Romney thinks are “assault weapons”. I sure would like to know what his definition is, wouldn’t you?
The assualt weapons ban has been seen as very ineffective. What it has become is a political football for people to use to bash their opponents.
The bill would have passed in Mass anyway, so Mitt went to the legislature and the NRA and got it to actually help gun owners in Mass. He tackled the morass of Mass gun laws in the process.
I give him an A on the issue.