Romney Signed Law Banning Assault Weapons in Massachusetts

As governor, Romney was an advocate of gun control. Who knew? The president of the leading gun control group says Romney did a lot for stricter gun laws when he was governor of Mass.

“In their time in office, I would say with a pretty strong degree of certainty that Romney did more,” says Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Campaign, the pro-gun-control group named for former White House press secretary Jim Brady. “However, Romney has certainly gone further out of his way to pander to the gun lobby during the election.” When he was the governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed a ban on assault weapons, like the one used in the movie theatre in Aurora. “Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,” he said at the time. “These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” Romney also signed a law that raised the state’s gun-licensing fee to a hundred dollars, from twenty-five. New Yorker

So why does the NRA hate Obama so much?

"With the extent to which Romney has pandered to them, I think they have more confidence that he will do their bidding—or at least not work against them, relative to Obama.”

There's the other reason too. Obama is black. The NRA is pretty much aligned with tea party, rightwing extremist types.

(Updated July 25) As might be expected, Romney has since changed his mind about gun laws.