Thread: Romney signs off on permanent assault weapons ban

2004: Romney signs off on permanent assault weapons ban

TheRightScoop.com ^ | February 4th, 2012

Posted on Friday, April 13, 2012 4:44:10 PM
by SoConPubbie


Andrew Kaczynski dug up this Romney press release today from the Web Archive, showing that he signed off on a permanent Assault Weapons ban in 2004:
In a move that will help keep the streets and neighborhoods of Massachusetts safe, Governor Mitt Romney today signed into law a permanent assault weapons ban that forever makes it harder for criminals to get their hands on these dangerous guns.

“Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,” Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony with legislators, sportsmen’s groups and gun safety advocates. “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.”

Like the federal assault weapons ban, the state ban, put in place in 1998, was scheduled to expire in September. The new law ensures these deadly weapons, including AK-47s, UZIs and Mac-10 rifles, are permanently prohibited in Massachusetts no matter what happens on the federal level.

“We are pleased to mark an important victory in the fight against crime,” said Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. “The most important job of state government is ensuring public safety. Governor Romney and I are determined to do whatever it takes to stop the flood of dangerous weapons into our cities and towns and to make Massachusetts safer for law-abiding citizens.”

2004: Romney signs off on permanent assault weapons ban

Where Obama and Romney stand on gun control
Posted by Rachel Weinerat 02:20 PM ET, 07/20/2012TheWashingtonPost


In the wake of the tragic shooting in Colorado, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to explain what they would do about gun violence.

“Soothing words are nice,” said the mayor, an independent and gun control advocate who has not endorsed in the presidential race. “But maybe it’s time the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.”

Speaking to reporters Friday, spokesman Jay Carney suggested there would be no new policy in the wake of this shooting.

“The president believes we need to take common sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing laws do not get them,” he said. “And there has been progress in that regard in terms of improving the volume and quality of information in background checks.”

The candidates’ positions on gun control, which has been a back burner issue for years now, also seem unlikely to change.

“I’m not going to take away your guns,” Obama promised in September 2008. However, he advocated closing the loophole that allows for gun purchases without background checks at gun shows and for reinstating the assault weapons ban.

Obama kept his promises to gun owners but not to gun control advocates, who have beenfrustratedby the White House’s lack of interest.

The president signed bills allowing guns in national parks and on Amtrak. He has not pushed for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban — and Attorney General Eric Holder was reportedly chastised for suggesting he would. Nor has he moved towards closing the gun-show loophole.

In his remarks after the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona, Obama barely mentioned gun control, and it did not come up in his State of the Union weeks later. That March, Obama wrote an Arizona Daily Star op-ed calling for better background checks. But the tragedy did not inspire serious gun-control initiatives.

Yet the National Rifle Association is still ardently anti-Obama and gun enthusiasts still view him very negatively.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has actually been more active than Obama on gun control — albeit during his time in Massachusetts. Since leaving office, he has moved away from those positions.

While running for Senate in Massachusetts in 1994, Romney supported background checks and a ban on some assault weapons. “That’s not going to make me the hero of the NRA,” he said. Running for governor in 2002, he said, “We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts — I support them. I won’t chip away at them. I believe they help protect us, and provide for our safety.”

As governor, in 2004, signed an assault-weapons ban in the state. However, that law won support from some gun-rights advocates by making it easier to get and renew a firearms license. Romney also raised the state’s gun-registration fee from $25 to $75.

Romney joined the National Rifle Association in 2006, a few months before launching his first presidential bid. “I’m a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms,” he said in 2007.

Pressed by NBC’s Tim Russert on the issue that year, he said, “I support Second Amendment rights, but I don’t line up 100 percent with the NRA. They take some positions that are different than mine.” He continued to support the assault-weapons ban, reaffirming that position in a 2008 debate.

However, in a subsequent interview with conservative bloggers, Romney said, “I don’t support any gun control legislation, the effort for a new assault weapons ban, with a ban on semi-automatic weapons, is something I would oppose. There’s no new legislation that I’m aware of or have heard of that I would support.”

Romney’s position has not changed notably since. In a recent speech to the NRA, he said, “We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners.” He suggested that in a second term, Obama would do more to restrict gun rights.

But neither candidate seems poised to change current gun policy. Just as public opinion on gun control does not shift in the wake of such tragedies, both Romney and Obama are likely to play it safe.

Where Obama and Romney stand on gun control - The Washington Post

I wonder where they stand on movie violence and the influence of visual media on people that are not mentally stable.
Who is James Holmes? A deadly nobody…?

Friday Jul 2012
Posted by hillnholler in Editorial, News





James Holmes: “Somebody” for a day



Aurora, Colo. — Who is James Holmes? Nobody.

A shy non-entity. His neighbors didn’t know him. He was quiet, unobtrusive. A Mr. Cellophane.
A nobody who hoarded weapons.

A suspected killer who had to assume a comic book character identity to carry out a massacre with the highest number of casualties by a single shooter in U.S. history.

A meticulous planner, he allegedly killed 12 people and wounded at least 59 in a matter of minutes. He waited until the right part of the movie was showing to make moviegoers in Century 16 Movie Theater 9 watching the midnight opening of “The Dark Knight Rises” think the attack was just part of the movie. “We thought it was a joke,” some said.

This nobody allegedly had his hair dyed to match the Joker from an earlier Batman movie starring the late Heath Ledger. His attire, including a gas mask, mimicked Bane, the villain of the “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Is he mad? Or just a calculating nobody who wanted to be SOMEBODY.

Those who knew him in school described him as very smart but very quiet, with very few friends.
Until a month ago he was a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Medical School. He was having some academic troubles but was in no danger of being tossed out. He withdrew.

Supposedly when he graduated from college with honors in California he couldn’t find a job. How tough! So went on to get a doctorate. This nobody really had it rough!

The movie theater attack was in Aurora, Colorado, about 20 miles from Columbine. The two Columbine shooters killed 13 and injured 22.

He knew he had to up those numbers to outshine Columbine.

When police arrested him in the movie parking lot, he was heavily armed. Police later said his guns were legally purchased and he had started buying them in May.

Is he sick? Mad? Calculating? He managed to shut up the politicians for a day. Wow, what power!
James Holmes you are now infamous. You are all over Facebook, Yahoo News, the TV and international media. But you are still nobody. And soon you’ll be a nobody with a number.
— C.L.
©2012 Hill ’n Holler Review
http://hillnholler.net/2012/07/20/wh...deadly-nobody/

Was the Batman movie shooting imitated from scene in 1986 comic? | WashingtonExaminer.com

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What are the odds of somebody in the USA will get shot?

Originally Posted by Rhah

What are the odds of somebody in the USA will get shot?

These are the first numbers I came across. They don't give the odds.
You'll have to do the math. (Big numbers make my brain hurt. )

There were 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000.[4]

The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides,[5] with 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths in 2007 due to suicide, while 12,632 (40.5%) were homicide deaths.[6]
Gun violence in the United States - Wikipedia