Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Mitt Romney’s lie your ass off to get elected tour took the stage at the NRA’s annual meeting and uttered a barrage of falsehoods about President Obama and guns, so extreme that most of them had no relationship to any facts.
Romney had several of his now patented Mittens whoppers including, “And if we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes. I will.”
The problem with Romney’s claim is that there is absolutely no truth to it at all. In fact, gun control advocates have been very upset with the Obama administration, because they have proposed no gun control legislation. President Obama went as far as to tell the nation that he had no plans to reinstate the assault weapons ban.
On April 10, 2009, the White House said, “Obviously, we, while we were overseas last week, were surprised and shocked at the news at what had happened in New York. … That’s one of the reasons that increased money to hire more police officers as in the Recovery Act. I was asked specifically about assault weapons. I think the president would — the president believes there are other strategies we can take to enforce the laws that are already on our books.”
Romney stood before the NRA and claimed that Obama is limiting gun ownership, “This administration’s attack on freedom extends even to rights explicitly guaranteed by our Constitution. The right to bear arms is so plainly stated, so unambiguous, that liberals have a hard time challenging it directly. Instead, they’ve been employing every imaginable ploy to restrict it.”
But it is Mitt Romney who has a record of limiting gun ownership, and supporting a national assault weapons ban.
Let’s look at Mitt Romney’s record on the Second Amendment. Did you know that back in 1994, Romney supported the Brady Bill and the 5 day waiting period? Were you also aware that this self-proclaimed champion of Second Amendment rights signed the nation’s first permanent ban on assault weapons while governor of Massachusetts?
Here is Romney on Meet The Press supporting the assault weapons ban:
Mitt Romney stood before the NRA and lied about both President Obama’s record, and his own. Many gun owners have been conditioned by groups like the NRA to unthinkingly support Republicans. They have been told that the Republican Party will protect their Second Amendment rights.
Romney also claimed that Obama is proposing new laws to restrict gun ownership, and he promised to only enforce existing laws. President Obama has not proposed any new gun ownership laws. He has proposed zero new laws that would restrict gun ownership. When pressed on this claim, the Romney campaign can’t name any specific gun laws that Obama has proposed.
Mitt Romney also tried the tried and true tactic of whipping up paranoia in gun owners by claiming that if Obama wins a second term, he is coming for your guns, “In a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election.” (The truth is that if Romney wins a first term, gun owners should be very concerned).
There is absolutely nothing in Obama’s record or comments to suggest that he has some secret anti-gun agenda planned for his second term. Since he can’t run on his record, Mitt Romney was trying the only strategy that he has at his disposal. He is going to lie about President Obama every day and hope that voters cast their ballots not for him, but against the president in November.
Just like in 2008, the biggest to threat to gun ownership won’t come from the candidate on the left. It is the Republican nominee that NRA members should be most concerned about. Gun control isn’t a big issue for the Obama administration. They seem to have little interest in it. In contrast, Mitt Romney has shown more than an interest in limiting the Second Amendment. He has actually done it.
This is a point that many gun owners who habitually vote Republican and fall prey to the NRA’s persistent right wing brain washing, which was on full display at their convention, won’t understand. The NRA is more interested in getting Republicans elected than protecting Second Amendment rights. This is why the NRA was so happy to give Romney a forum for his lies. The NRA knowingly helped Mitt Romney deceive their members and all gun owning Americans.
If you are one of those people who is worried about your Second Amendment rights, your best bet isn’t Mitt Romney.
It’s the reelection of Barack Obama.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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