During the debate last night, Mitt Romney was asked about his support of Brady and a ban on assault weapons.
Posted on 01/25/2008 9:59:59 AM PST by JRochelle
During the debate last night, Mitt Romney was asked about his support of Brady and a ban on assault weapons.
MR. ROMNEY: I do support the Second Amendment, and I believe that this is an individual right of citizens and not a right of government. And I hope the Supreme Court reaches that same conclusion.
I also, like the president, would have signed the assault weapon ban that came to his desk. I said I would have supported that and signed a similar bill in our state. It was a bill worked out, by the way, between pro-gun lobby and anti-guy lobby individuals. Both sides of the issue came together and found a way to provide relaxation in licensing requirements and allow more people to to have guns for their own legal purposes. And so we signed that in Massachusetts, and I said Id I would would support that at the federal level, just as the president said he would. It did not pass at the federal level.
I do not believe we need new legislation.
I do not support any new legislation of an assault weapon ban nature, including that against semiautomatic weapons. I instead believe that we have laws in place that, if theyre implemented and enforced, will provide the protection and the safety of the American people. But I do not support any new legislation, and I do support the right of individuals to bear arms, whether for hunting purposes or for protection purposes or any other reasons. Thats the right that people have.
I think it might be helpful to review Dave Kopels thoughts on Mr. Romneys views of the Second Amendment and gun ownership as published in National Review.
Romneys Record Similarly, this years presidential candidate from Massachusetts has a thin record to back up his claims of support for the Second Amendment. On his website, you can find two accomplishments:
First, in 2004 he signed a bill which reformed some aspects of the extremely severe and arbitrary gun-licensing system in Massachusetts. This would be an impressive accomplishment if that were all the bill did. But the bill also made the Massachusetts ban on assault weapons permanent. (The previous ban was parasitic on the federal ban, which expired in September 2004.) The bill that Romney signed was a compromise bill, approved by both sides in the Massachusetts gun-control debate and widely supported by both parties in the legislature. The NRA considered the bill to be a net gain, but its hardly the unalloyed, pro-rights success that Romney now claims. As governor, Romney declared his support for banning so-called assault weapons.
The other accomplishment noted on the website was Romneys signing of a 2005 bill that improved some technical details for hunting with muzzle-loading guns.
Other than the 2005 proclamation, there is little evidence of executive leadership by Romney on Second Amendment rights; rather, he tended merely to accept reform bills which could pass even the Massachusetts legislature.
But Romney occasionally considered the Democratic-dominated Massachusetts legislature too soft on gun owners. In the summer of 2002, the Massachusetts house overwhelmingly passed a bill to relax the states lifetime ban on gun ownership for persons convicted of some misdemeanors. Faced with a bill that had passed the left-leaning House by a huge margin, Governor Romney declared his opposition, while allowing that he would back a much more narrow proposal (Boston Globe, July 17, 2002, page B4). (The narrower proposal was eventually included in the 2004 bill which he did sign.)
Running for re-election in 2002, he bragged, We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts. I support them. I wont chip away at them. I believe they protect us and provide for our safety. At the least, Romney generally didnt show leadership in making Massachusetts terrible gun-laws even worse. For example, his 2002 anti-crime plan included no new gun control (Boston Herald, August 21, 2002).
Conservative? Hmm. Lets continue.
Romneys website brags about how he balanced the Massachusetts budget without raising taxes. That depends on what the meaning of taxes is. Unmentioned on the Romney website is how he dealt with a state budget gap: namely, by quadrupling the fee for a Firearms Identification card (FID) to $100. Without a FID in Massachusetts, you are a felon if you possess a single bullet, even if you dont own a gun. The FID card is required even to possess defensive pepper spray. Thus, an impoverished woman who wanted to buy a $15 can of pepper spray was forced by Romney to spend $100 for the privilege of defending her own life (North Shore Sunday News, August 8, 2003).
This year, Romney has been portraying himself as a staunch Second Amendment advocate. But when he was interviewed by Glenn and Helen Reynolds, he displayed little understanding of the Second Amendment and had difficulty articulation anything more than platitudes and slogans.
Conservative? Paying $100 to carry pepper spray? Lets continue.
Unreliable Friends of Convenience Mitt Romneys attitudes on guns like his double flip-flop on abortion appear to have more to do with political expediency than with conviction. While an expedient and cynical friend like Mitt Romney would probably be better for gun owners than would a sincere and fierce enemy like Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, it is still worth wondering what President Romney would do if his political calculus changed yet again.
George H. W. Bush was another gun-rights friend of convenience, who (like Romney) bought himself a lifetime NRA membership shortly before running for president. And when circumstances made it convenient for Bush to become a gun-control advocate instead of a Second Amendment defender (only a few weeks after he took the oath of office and swore to defend the Constitution), Bush switched sides, and spent the remainder of his administration promoting restrictions on the Second Amendment.
OK So who do we vote for? Seriously.
Huck is the most pro 2A of the remaining viable candidates, and he has other [nanny state] issues.
If I had to choose an issue that I predict won’t be a national issue over the next 4 years, it is guns. If even the Dems are not willing to waste their political capital fighting that losing battle, I can’t imagine that a GOP President would be willing to do so.
I would not be surprised to see it continue to be an issue on the state and local level, though.
—and given some of his other recent actions, I hope no “assault weapons ban reaches the desk” of this President Bush in the next few months—
I’ve given up voting for someone I like. I detest all those who are left.
So I’m going with who can beat Hillary.
John McCain.
We are not going to get a conservative President this year. Then again, we don’t have one now.
I think Romney would leave this up to the states, unless the Supremes took over.
He's against it.
Our so called conservatives sound so much like the Rats that its scary.
I hope Ann Coulter addresses this.
Just say no to the NE liberal puke twins!
Huck is also the least constitutional as he stated he believes in the living breathing document. IMO that trumps his “pro” 2A stance.
I'm posting this from the website with the breaks clearly delinated to help me and others more easiler read this. And with the hot-links.
I hope you don't mind.
During the debate last night, Mitt Romney was asked about his support of Brady and a ban on assault weapons.
MR. ROMNEY: I do support the Second Amendment, and I believe that this is an individual right of citizens and not a right of government. And I hope the Supreme Court reaches that same conclusion.
I also, like the president, would have signed the assault weapon ban that came to his desk. I said I would have supported that and signed a similar bill in our state. It was a bill worked out, by the way, between pro-gun lobby and anti-guy lobby individuals. Both sides of the issue came together and found a way to provide relaxation in licensing requirements and allow more people to to have guns for their own legal purposes. And so we signed that in Massachusetts, and I said Id I would would support that at the federal level, just as the president said he would. It did not pass at the federal level.
I do not believe we need new legislation.
I do not support any new legislation of an assault weapon ban nature, including that against semiautomatic weapons. I instead believe that we have laws in place that, if theyre implemented and enforced, will provide the protection and the safety of the American people. But I do not support any new legislation, and I do support the right of individuals to bear arms, whether for hunting purposes or for protection purposes or any other reasons. Thats the right that people have.
I think it might be helpful to review Dave Kopels thoughts on Mr. Romneys views of the Second Amendment and gun ownership as published in National Review.
Romneys Record
Similarly, this years presidential candidate from Massachusetts has a thin record to back up his claims of support for the Second Amendment. On his website, you can find two accomplishments:First, in 2004 he signed a bill which reformed some aspects of the extremely severe and arbitrary gun-licensing system in Massachusetts. This would be an impressive accomplishment if that were all the bill did. But the bill also made the Massachusetts ban on assault weapons permanent. (The previous ban was parasitic on the federal ban, which expired in September 2004.) The bill that Romney signed was a compromise bill, approved by both sides in the Massachusetts gun-control debate and widely supported by both parties in the legislature. The NRA considered the bill to be a net gain, but its hardly the unalloyed, pro-rights success that Romney now claims. As governor, Romney declared his support for banning so-called assault weapons.
The other accomplishment noted on the website was Romneys signing of a 2005 bill that improved some technical details for hunting with muzzle-loading guns.
Other than the 2005 proclamation, there is little evidence of executive leadership by Romney on Second Amendment rights; rather, he tended merely to accept reform bills which could pass even the Massachusetts legislature.
But Romney occasionally considered the Democratic-dominated Massachusetts legislature too soft on gun owners. In the summer of 2002, the Massachusetts house overwhelmingly passed a bill to relax the states lifetime ban on gun ownership for persons convicted of some misdemeanors. Faced with a bill that had passed the left-leaning House by a huge margin, Governor Romney declared his opposition, while allowing that he would back a much more narrow proposal (Boston Globe, July 17, 2002, page B4). (The narrower proposal was eventually included in the 2004 bill which he did sign.)
Running for re-election in 2002, he bragged, We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts. I support them. I wont chip away at them. I believe they protect us and provide for our safety. At the least, Romney generally didnt show leadership in making Massachusetts terrible gun-laws even worse. For example, his 2002 anti-crime plan included no new gun control (Boston Herald, August 21, 2002).
Conservative? Hmm. Lets continue.
Romneys website brags about how he balanced the Massachusetts budget without raising taxes. That depends on what the meaning of taxes is. Unmentioned on the Romney website is how he dealt with a state budget gap: namely, by quadrupling the fee for a Firearms Identification card (FID) to $100. Without a FID in Massachusetts, you are a felon if you possess a single bullet, even if you dont own a gun. The FID card is required even to possess defensive pepper spray. Thus, an impoverished woman who wanted to buy a $15 can of pepper spray was forced by Romney to spend $100 for the privilege of defending her own life (North Shore Sunday News, August 8, 2003).
This year, Romney has been portraying himself as a staunch Second Amendment advocate. But when he was interviewed by Glenn and Helen Reynolds, he displayed little understanding of the Second Amendment and had difficulty articulation anything more than platitudes and slogans.
Conservative? Paying $100 to carry pepper spray? Lets continue.
Unreliable Friends of Convenience
Mitt Romneys attitudes on guns like his double flip-flop on abortion appear to have more to do with political expediency than with conviction. While an expedient and cynical friend like Mitt Romney would probably be better for gun owners than would a sincere and fierce enemy like Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, it is still worth wondering what President Romney would do if his political calculus changed yet again.George H. W. Bush was another gun-rights friend of convenience, who (like Romney) bought himself a lifetime NRA membership shortly before running for president. And when circumstances made it convenient for Bush to become a gun-control advocate instead of a Second Amendment defender (only a few weeks after he took the oath of office and swore to defend the Constitution), Bush switched sides, and spent the remainder of his administration promoting restrictions on the Second Amendment.
Conservative? Read my lips. You decide.
The Supreme Court is in the process of deciding this issue right now, so what Mitt or anyone else thinks won’t matter. If your truly concerned, vote for Mitt and double up your contributions to the NRA!
If you look only at social issues, Huckabee is a Conservative. There are other issues you can quarrel with, but he seems to have some pretty good explanations and I think he might deserve another look.
Questioned about gun control, McCain said existing laws should be enforced, noting that the Clinton Administration has been "derelict" in doing that. But he also said that he supported the recent gun control legislation passed by the Senate and he also said that in light of the recent spate of shootings, new proposals by the Clinton Administration should be looked at by Congress and not dismissed out of hand. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/08/18/president.2000/thompson.mccain/
McCain flipped on guns
Senator McCain supported the interests of the Gun Owners of America 0 percent in 2005. (that's not good!)
Senator McCain supported the interests of the Gun Owners of America 100 percent in 2006. (wow, what a convenient flip!)
Based on lifetime voting records on gun issues and the results of a questionnaire sent to all Congressional candidates in 2004, the National Rifle Association assigned Senator McCain a grade of C+ (with grades ranging from a high of A+ to a low of F).
the POTUS picks Supreme Court Justices. Currently a HUGE lawsuit to restore the draconian gun laws in Washington DC is before the Supreme court. I will have to vote for the strongest 2nd amendment candidate first in the primaries and then in the general election......
its the 2nd Amendment that protects the rest of the constitution. It is our most precious freedom.
Carolyn
In endorsing Governor Romney, Craig Sandler said, "Throughout his career in both the public and private sectors, Mitt Romney has demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, integrity, and commitment to principle. As a New Hampshire resident, former law enforcement officer, and avid sportsman, I am supporting Governor Romney because he is the candidate who will protect our Constitutional rights and strengthen our nation."
Governor Romney On Parker v. District of Columbia: Governor Romney: It is my hope that the Supreme Court will reaffirm the individual right to keep and bear arms as enshrined in the Bill of Rights and protect law abiding gun owners everywhere. To further guard this fundamental liberty, as President, I will take care to appoint judges who will not legislate from the bench but will instead strictly interpret the Constitution. (Romney for President, "Governor Romney On The U.S. Supreme Court's Decision To Review Second Amendment Case," Press Release, 11/21/2007)
Nice try but when Mutt ran for Governor the NRA gave his liberal RAT opponent higher marks than they did Mutt!
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