[Use BugMeNot to bypass site registration.]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...
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."
That's a lot more than just "rhetoric." Now that
some are trying to help him
erase the past, it would seem fair to require proof that he really
has "reformed."
I'll change my opinion if he provides the right and unequivocal answers to some clear questions. If he won't, and he won't, you'll know he continues to be just another in a long train of power-mad political swindlers, which of course, he is:
1. Do you believe that the Constitution is the "supreme law of the land" and that the Bill of Rights acknowledges the birthrights of all Americans?
2. If so, should these rights be proactively protected from infringement by all levels of government, including city, county, state and federal? Will you direct the Department of Justice to do this?
3. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider constitutional.
4. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider unconstitutional.
5. Does the right to bear arms include the right for any peaceable citizen to carry them concealed without a permit, as in Vermont?
6. Do you believe that Americans have a right to own, use and carry weapons of military pattern?
7. Do you support or oppose
Project Exile-type programs, and do you agree with current NRA management’s call to “enforce existing gun laws”? Where is the Constitutional authority for this, and how do you square it with "shall not be infringed"?
8. Do you support or oppose licensing requirements to own or carry firearms? Why?
9. What specific gun laws will you work to get repealed?
10. If elected, will you back your words of support for firearms rights up with consistent actions? How?
11. How will you personally atone for your past support of citizen disarmament edicts?
I'm sending these questions to the Romney campaign. Don't hold your breath.
[Photo from Organization for Mitt Romney blog: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, and National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre talk with attendees while touring the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Orlando, Fla., Friday, Jan. 12, 2007. Romney has formed a presidential exploratory committee for the 2008 election. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhac)]
