Romney Wrong on Guns, AGAIN

From the National Association for Gun Rights:

“Wrong Again Romney” proves he doesn’t like guns or know anything about them

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to display his contempt for gun owners. In yesterday’s Foster’s Daily Democrat, Romney made convulated statements about the Second Amendment, but reinforced his earlier positions that citizens can't be trusted with many types of firearms. To make matters worse, Romney clearly has no understanding of firearms or the basic firearms laws of this country.

"No one is suggesting that automatic weapons be made available to the public. No one is suggesting that automatic weapons be made legal," Romney said at a town hall meeting in a school gym. "I support the Second Amendment. I support the ban on (automatic weapons). They're not connected with a fundraising event where they're using weapons not available to the public."

Wrong again, Gov. Romney. Automatic weapons are legally owned by hundreds of thousands of citizens across the country, who have undergone extensive background checks from local and national law enforcement and are heavily -- and unconstitutionally -- regulated in their use, travel and possession. The 1934 National Fire Arms Act allows anyone who purchases a $200 federal tax stamp after passing a background check to possess a fully automatic weapon (often called NFA weapons ), which are all registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Currently, there are 366,000 of these firearms legally owned by Americans (Small Arms Review, Feb. 2007).

There is no documentation that a legally owned and registered NFA weapon has been used in the commission of a violent crime.

NFA weapons (legal machineguns) are different from the so-called "assault weapons" Gov. Romney banned in Massachussets in 2004, a fact lost on Romney as he stumbled through a legal briar patch in yesterday's comments.

"I've held the stick on an F-16 fighter jet. That doesn't mean I think the public ought to be flying F-16 fighter jets," Romney said.

Wrong again, Gov. Romney. The Constitution is clear: our right to keep and bear small arms “shall not be infringed”. That document explicitly protects citizen's rights to own firearms, with no "sporting use" requirement stated.

Romney apparently believes that the Second Amendment protection only applies to duck hunters.

Romney has a long history of supporting gun control. He signed the permanent Massachusetts assault weapons ban and was a vocal proponent of the Brady Gun Registration Act, the Feinstein Assault weapons ban, and many other infringements upon our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Romney claims to support the Second Amendment, but in the same breath calls for more gun control. You can’t have it multiple ways.

Read the e-mail alert here.

Visit NAGR's Presidential Watch page here.

UPDATE on Giuliani Protest

This is the latest Email alert from Rocky Mountain Gun Owners concerning last night's conservative protest of Giuliani's fundraiser:

Yesterday, Republican Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani held a fundraiser in Denver.

Hosted at the mansion/home of former Denver Nuggets star Kiki Van DeWeghe, the event was meant as a strict money gatherer for Giuliani's frontrunner campaign.

Only one problem: Giuliani is adamantly anti-gun, with a record to prove it.

Being the first in a series of collaborative efforts between Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights, we wanted this one to be a surprise (to both the organizers of the event and the attendees). Rest assured we'll let you know when there is another event.

A small number of hardcore RMGO activists met outside the Cheeseman Park mansion, where valet attendants waited for the rich (tickets were $4000+ apiece for the personal discussion) to meet with the former New York mayor.

Dressed in nice clothes, with smiles on our faces, we handed out this flyer (http://www.nagr.org/Giuliani.pdf) to the fatcats as they walked in.

Thinking we were part of the event staff, they happily took the flyer as we said "If you care about your right to own firearms you'll want to see the incredible anti-gun record of Mayor Giuliani's."

Responses always vary, but few refused the flyer. Even John Elway read it, and seemed to be shocked by the label of "Liberal" on a Republican.

Friends, this kind of thing hurts politicians. It's extremely demoralizing to a politician and their staff when people aren't fawning all over them, trying to shake their hand, get a picture with them, and "get access" to someone with the kind of star power a frontrunner for president generates.

Even more effective is the affect this kind of activity has on politicians and political operatives who attend these events. They see an organized group going after someone who could become the next President of the United States. If a group has the guts to go after someone with that kind of power, they certainly will go after a State Legislator who votes wrong. It can do nothing but improve their behavior.

I like to call these events "Accountability Activities". Hold politicians accountable, and it's remarkable what we can accomplish.

Undoubtedly, this pressure (remember, they are in a battle to secure the Republican nomination, where being a conservative is the only thing that counts) will make them lie. Hours after the Virginia Tech shooting, Sen. John McCain (who may be more anti-gun than Giuliani) issued a statement saying this tragedy had not changed his mind on guns. Clearly, his campaign people saw the tragedy as a way to position McCain closer to gun owners, who can have an inordinate sway over who becomes the GOP nominee. But it's all a farce, as McCains long record on guns reveals.

Of course, there are groups out there who will provide cover for these politicians. We'll try to tell you when that happens, but you'll need to apply a lot of your own discernment.

This election season you're going to be told a lot of things that simply aren't true.

One thing you're sure to hear from every Republican candidate is "I support the Second Amendment." Don't let that statement stand on face value.