It has been a week in which national news has been dominated by a couple of issues that impact directly on gun owners’ civil rights.  One of those issues is the fait accompli that Mitt Romney will almost certainly be the Republican candidate for President in the next election.

Romney does not have a good record on gun owners’ issues from my perspective, though he has shown signs of coming more to our side in recent years.  Some see it as strictly a political move on his part, some are more hopeful.

One skeptic on the issue is my old friend Frank James.  There are lots of gun bloggers out there, and Frank’s is one of the few I have on my RSS feed.  Frank has little respect for politicians who are soft on this issue – he refers to Mitt Romney as “Mittens” – and he had this to say in his blog recently:

http://frankwjames.blogspot.com/2012/04/mittens-to-address-nra.html

Like Frank, I’ll be watching and listening with interest when Romney joins several other political powerhouses to address the NRA gathering in St. Louis this coming Friday.  Hopefully, it will be on C-Span or some other venue where the nation can watch, listen, and use their life experience and their own BS detectors to gauge the sincerity of the speakers.

Feel free to comment. I’m particularly interested to hear from Massachusetts readers who lived under Mitt Romney’s governorship from 2003 to 2007.

1 COMMENT

  1. Romney is a windsock, so if he wins the presidency, the key will be giving him the right congress to work with.

  2. Rick Santorum’s departure from the presidential race could not come soon enough for Mitt Romney… All politicians will lie, I suppose, but Romney almost makes it into an art form. He’s pretty much an master at changing his positions and serving up mis-truths on a dime. I really have a bad, bad feeling about him. And, I still have a horrible feeling that Obama will win in 2012. I’m very worried about the years ahead.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRcbDm3xn0Y

  3. While I agree that “Mittens is not much of an improvement over Obama, as it turns out, who is running against Obama may not matter at all, as far as to what the outcome of the election will be?

    This is because Obama will simply re-elect himself, with the aid of a Spanish based Vote counting firm, owned by one of Obama’s largest financial contributors, that will control and can report any winner or outcome they want to, with absolutely no way to trace the actual votes cast by the individual polling places.

    Below is the information regarding this Foreign Vote counting firm:

    When the Spanish online voting company SKYTL bought the largest vote processing corporation in the United States, it also acquired the means of manufacturing the outcome of the 2012 election. For SOE, the Tampa based corporation purchased by SKYTL in January, supplies the election software which records, counts, and reports the votes of Americans in 26 states–900 total jurisdictions–across the nation.
    As the largest election results reporting company in the US, SOE provides reports right down to the precinct level. But before going anywhere else, those election returns are routed to individual, company servers where the people who run them “…get ‘first look’ at results and the ability to immediately and privately examine vote details throughout the USA.”
    In short, “this redirects results …to a centralized privately held server which is not just for Ohio, but national; not just USA-based, but global.”
    And although the votes will be cast in hometown, American precincts on Election Day, with the Barcelona-based SKYTL taking charge of the process, they will be routed and counted overseas.
    SKYTL itself is a leader in internet voting technology and in 2010 was involved in modernizing election systems for the midterm election in 14 American states.
    But although SKYTL’s self-proclaimed reputation for security had won the company the Congressionally approved task of handling internet voting for American citizens and members of the military overseas, upon opening the system for use in the District of Columbia, the University of Michigan fight song “The Victors” was suddenly heard after the casting of each ballot. The system had been hacked by U of M computer teachers and students in response to a challenge by SKYTL that anyone who wished to do so, might try!
    Nevertheless, in spite of warnings by experts across the nation, American soldiers overseas will once again vote via the internet in 2012. And because SKYTL will control the method of voting and—thanks to the purchase of SOE–the method of counting the votes as well, there “…will be no ballots, no physical evidence, no way for the public to authenticate who actually cast the votes…or the count.”
    The American advocacy group Project Vote has concluded that SKYTL’s internet voting system is vulnerable to attack from the outside AND the inside, a situation which could result in “…an election that does not accurately reflect the will of the voters…” Talk about having a flair for understatement!
    It has also been claimed that SKYTL CEO Pere Valles is a socialist who donated heavily to the 2008 Obama campaign and lived in Chicago during Obama’s time as Illinois State Senator. Unfortunately, given what is known about the character of Barack Obama, such rumors must be taken as serious threats to the integrity of the 2012 vote and the legitimate outcome of the election.
    Though much has been written about the threat of nationwide voting by illegals in November, it is still true that most election fraud is an “inside” job. And there now exists a purely electronic voting service which uses no physical ballots to which an electronic count can be matched should questions arise. Add to this the fact that the same company will have “first count” on all votes made in 14 US states and hundreds of jurisdictions in 12 others, and the stage is set for election fraud on a scale unimaginable just a decade ago.
    Perhaps Obama had reason for supreme confidence when he said “after my election” rather than “in case of” to Russian President Medvedev a week ago.

    Well, at least we can still pray for a better outcome, at least until our next, and perhaps lifetime President/Dictator, BHO, outlaws it via Executive Order?

  4. You do realize that, while the mainstream media reports on Santorum dropping out and bowing down to Mittens, that the actual process for picking the Republican nominee is the delegate process, which is nowhere near even halfway finished! Newt Gingrich doesn’t seem to have a prayer there, but Ron Paul is in fact within reach of using the delegate process to make this much more interesting. Mittens has no guarantee of getting the nominee yet.

    And on the gun front, Mittens is no friend, a self labeled “progressive” on such issues.

    Ron Paul, on the other hand, well … we all know where he stands on that. So get behind him on the delegate process to make this more interesting.

  5. “I’m particularly interested to hear from Massachusetts readers who lived under Mitt Romney’s governorship from 2003 to 2007.”

    Yeah, that’ll put quite a bit of it into perspective as far as Mittens is concerned. I expect very few positive comments, if any, by pro-gun Mass residents.

    You included a great bank of thoughts from Mr. James, and I agree completely. Of very specific interest is what he wrote the very next day:

    http://frankwjames.blogspot.com/2012/04/theyre-politicians-remember-that.html

    Republicans are not necessarily friends of gun owners, and the NFA, GCA, and FOPA are disgraceful travesties that will be sure to continue hurting us in the future until and unless they are fully repealed and removed WITH PREJUDICE.

  6. You echo my thoughts exactly Mas. The only reason I voted for Romney in the Wisconsin primary was because he’s the only candidate with any chance to beat Obama. At this point, I think that’s the best we can hope for. At the very least, I pray Romney will just stay away from the whole gun rights arena. At best, maybe he’ll come around to our way of thinking. There has been a lot of talk about his possible choice of running mates being either Paul Ryan, or our own Governor, Scott Walker. Either choice might help keep him on our side. I can hope, at least.

  8. Massad, Mitt made the AWB permanant here in MA. He also raised the license fee from $25 and good for 4 years to $100 and good for 6 years. He talks of not raising taxes but adding fees to everything.

  9. agreed. ‘hunting’ is just a political code word.
    kinda/sorta like ‘gay’ means homosexual.
    in this context: hunting means ‘that’s all’….meaning ONLY hunting.
    not self-defense or more. if Mr. Romney says the word *hunting*
    more than once during his NRA appearance, then PR not 2A rules.

  10. I will have to remain skeptical until I see what he does. But, of course he is preferable to Obama, so there’s my vote in general election.

    I hope Ron Paul will get behind the R. nominee, and ask his supporters to do the same thing.

  11. I understand why people will be anti-Romney because of his position on firearms and the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, most Presidential elections are kind of like a parchute jump, there is no middle ground. No fail-safe candidate who has a chance. I voted for Paul during the primary (when you vote with your heart), but I will vote for Romney in November (when you vote with your brain). I hope that some earnest, calm and well-spoken people can have a sit-down with Romney and actually make ground in swaying him, in his heart, to a deeper understanding of the Constitution and of the Second Amendment in particular.

  12. I don’t care what he says, he’s a politician and bears watching. I read Frank’s blog every day and usually agree around 90 – 95% of the time, maybe more.

  13. He goes with the wind on stuff and right now the wind is with gun owners. With all the pro gun laws being passed in a lot of states I really dont think he will mess with it. But I have been wrong on things before. On the other hand we know what we are going to get with Obama.

  14. Romney is an empty suit who will say anything to get elected. His record is clearly anti-gun rights, and anyone who thinks he’s had a change or heart is either high on something, an idiot, and or delusional. But that said, I guess Romney “May” be better than the Judas-Goat called Obama, that we have now. I may be forced to vote for Mittens with one hand, while buying ALL the reloading supply’s that I can with the other hand! But as Michael Dukes said on his radio show “If the 2nd amendment Fails and your 100% sure that you are going to be disarmed; It’s time to get your weapon and Vote from the rooftops.

  15. Romney is a supporter of the Heller decision and the Second Amendment. What he means by that is that civilians can have a gun in their home if the gun is on the approved list. To him it also means that hunting and sporting clays are acceptable too if regulated properly. We are in deep, deep sh*t.

  16. Obama and Romney seem like two matching bookends on the issues. They both would like to re-initiate an assault weapons ban, neither seems to recognize self defense… but the biggest problem is the possible new Supreme Court justices they could appoint. I am hoping Romney would appoint more conservative justices, if Obama is re-elected the Supreme Court will flip to a liberal court and the 2nd Amendment will be in jeopardy. I’m voting for Mitt.

  17. Mas; thanks for the bump. In terms of referal numbers you rank right up there with TAM and SAYUNCLE. I also owe you a book review but I’ve been busy with tv nonsense and now the NRA Convention. I’ll get to it, I promise. As for the national politics, you know me, I will NEVER be politically correct…

    All The Best,
    Frank W. James

  18. @Paul Edwards: please link sources; I want to propagate this, if true, but need to corroborate it first. Thanks!

  19. I believe that Mitt understands that Governing Mass. is much different that being Commander in Chief. I do believe he will stand by his word to repeal Obamacare because it is not in the best interest of our country and that he will leave our 2A laws alone because he wants to avoid such a political third rail (political self preservation).

    Obama on the other hand us forcefully dividing the country in the cases of class warfare and labeling Republicans as anti-woman. With nothing to lose in his second term, I do see gun rights as being vulnerable. Congress would not pass such laws but still, his intent is loud and clear. Obama is a Chi-Town politician. Presiding via mandate, telling Congress and the Supreme Court how to do their jobs correctly which only undermines and insults those branches of government.

    I believe that Romney needs a conservative running mate to give him some legitimacy. He is a moderate which can appeal to undecided / swing state voters. He is not energizing conservatives, Tea Party, or gun owners with his sales pitch.

    All of this being said, I believe that those who do not want to see Obama for another 4 years can and must unite and not let it happen. This politically motivated ammo shortage / hoarding is crazy! Lets not repeat ’08.

  20. JeffG –

    “labeling Republicans as anti-woman…”

    I believe Ann Romney kinda put the lie about this, right out there. Good on her!

  22. a windsock? master at changing positions? lol great terms!
    i look at him like a teenage boy who will do or say anything to get laid. it is what happens after he gets laid that i worry about. i watch him on tv and he caters his answers to what he thinks the people in front of him needs to hear. i have never seen someone with so many positions on the same subject. he fast talks, he always sounds desperate and never sounds sincere. all his lies and 2 faced positions make me wonder why he is so desperate to become president. i’m afraid that if he becomes president he will do the only thing he knows how to do, dismantle my country and sell it off piece by piece like he did with his business in the private sector. he is just too desperate to become president for me to trust!

  23. Andy, I disagree–at least partly–with Frank James in the post you linked to. I think Reagan himself was genuinely against the Hughes amendment to FOPA. He was prepared to veto it, but the NRA convinced him that on balance it was better to have FOPA. Was it a bad call on NRA’s and Reagan’s part? I’m not so sure. Indeed some states are giving FOPA an extremely narrow interpretation. But FOPA is more than just the safe passage provision. It’s because of FOPA that we can buy ammunition without signing a registry and even mail-order it. It also contained FFL regulatory reform.

    If we’re going to blame anyone for the Hughes amendment, let’s start with Hughes. Then Charlie Rangel, who presided over the proceedings. It passed with a voice vote; no roll call was taken. There is reason to doubt it really had enough votes. But it was deemed (sound familiar) to have passed by Rangel. There is a video on YouTube of the proceedings, but I don’t understand the parliamentary maneuverings well enough to say for sure what happened.

  24. Re: ALE Says:

    April 13th, 2012 at 12:52 am
    @Paul Edwards: please link sources; I want to propagate this, if true, but need to corroborate it first. Thanks!

    I have viewed at least two different articles on this Foreign Vote Counting deal.

    However, this is the only link I can find now, to one of the articles.

    http://investmentwatchblog.com/foreign-company-buys-u-s-election-results-reporting-firm/

    Good Luck spreading this around, since opposition to the Novmember election results may be the only way to prevent Obama from achieving his goal of completing the conversion of America into his vision of a socialist, third world dictatorship.

  25. Love the blog Mas. It is the first thing that I open when I see it in my in-box.

    Regardless of his prior positions, he is likely to be our Republican nominee. This election is absolutely critical to the future of our great nation. We all need to support Romney and any Republican Congressional candidates. Look at the alternative. I’ll take a guy who is lukewarm on firearms any day over a gun-hating Obama. Just remember “I’ll have much more flexibility on things once I am re-elected”.

  27. While I’m not a huge fan of Romney’s stances on firearms, there’s a simple common sense issue here. Even if Romney wants to do something bad firearms wise, if he wants a second term in office, he’s not going to do it till second term.

    Obama is hitting that point where he can do whatever he wants if he gets a second term, he’s set for life at that point.

  28. Well, its 3:20pm Eastern now. I just watched Mitt on CSPAN deliver his address to the NRA annual meeting. I was going to be real snarky and angry, but I’ve decided against it. I just can’t do that. I really feel sad. Mitt spoke for 25 minutes or so. He spent exactly 90 seconds on the Second Amendment and gun rights. Of course as predicted his focus was not broadening carry rights, or repealing anything. He spoke almost like this was an aside. I don’t get it. Here he is talking to a 4 MILLION MEMBER organization dedicated to fighting for the 2A. Yet he ignores that. I really really feel sad. Once again, the Republican candidate in November is going to be someone I lack any enthusiasm about. Sad, very sad.

  29. Although there are better presidential candidates that I’d support and vote for, if it’s Willard Romney, then so be it. Obama hasn’t a snowball’s chance in Key West next November; he and his party can blame themselves for their incompetence and their ideology.

    For me and millions of other voters it will be ABO/ND: Anyone But Obama & No Democrats (yeah, I’m still irked about being force fed a soon-to-be ruled unconstitutional health care law).

    The key for us gun rights folks, and the battle to keep a close eye on, will be retaking the senate. And from the near-record seat changes back in the 2010 midterm elections, I’d say it’s not that much of a stretch to say it can happen.

    I really don’t give a tinker’s damn who the “R” presidential candidate is because the Incompetent Ideologue-in-Chief, along with his merry band of Progressive minions, has to go…

  30. Yeah, I will not be voting for anybody except Ron Paul in November.

    Romney’s a turd, and you know what happens to turds? WE FLUSH THEM DOWN THE TOILET. “Mittens” is just as bad as Obama, and possibly worse. How? He’ll pull the same liberal stunts, then all the crap that happens will get blamed on conservatives.

    Oh, well. If the general public is STILL stupid enough to think that a moderate can beat Obama (remember McCain?), then I suppose this country deserves its fate.

  31. Also; I’m gettin’ real sick of the “unite behind Romney” BS. I will NOT vote against my conscience, and I refuse to bathe my hands in the blood of thousands of war dead and dry them with the ashes of the Constitution.

    Voting for the “lesser of two evils” is what got us into this mess! If we constantly vote for the lesser of two evils, we will never, EVER get good men in office. I am disgusted by fools who demand fidelity to the Constitution, and then the second a candidate who follows it shows up, they dismiss him as “unelectable.”

    We’re freaking screwed. I need more ammo.

  32. I am always alarmed by anyone who says ‘I support the Second Ammendment, BUT…” and those who think it’s about Italian over/unders.

  33. For me the choice is now simple-vote for the Republican candidate or Obama. I will never vote for Obama. If Romney is the Republican candidate, as appears likely, I will vote for him. It’s time for all of “us” to pull together or we will have four more years of Obama and his clown car administration AND a Liberal Supreme Court for another generation.

  34. Is Mitt a conservative? Not as much as Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee. Is he more conservative than Obama? Seven days a week and twice on Sunday. I think Obama in his second term will go around Congress on the 2A issue , I think if Mitt wanted to do something he’d at least go through Congress to try and get it done. A good running mate would help quite a bit.

  35. @ Paul Edwards : You know, comrades,” says Stalin, “that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how !

  36. I personally don’t think we need to worry, REGARDLESS of who gets elected. If a Republican wins, its guaranteed there will be no changes to gun laws.

    If Obama is re-elected, I don’t believe he will attempt any changes either – regardless of what Obama previously wrote on his website. I know Mas feels otherwise and I respect him, but in this issue I disagree. Barring some national tragedy involving guns, there simply will be no reason politically for Obama to expend political capitol to attempt a reinstatement of the “assault” ban. When Dianne Feinstein tried in 2009, her bill was voted down 8-80….so it will not happen. Bill Clinton was able to get his ban because he had a Democratic Congress, he had a lot of charisma that Obama does not have, and he was able to use recent events like the Waco Texas siege, to argue for the ban.

    If Obama tries, it will go nowhere. He simply does not have the clout and I think he’ll be more focused on health care.

    So quite frankly, I am not worried about it at all. I will not be buying additional ammo or more guns than normal. Happy shooting to all of you and be safe!!!

  37. @ Rod P

    Thanks Rod, I have heard that saying before, and it certainly boils the so-called Free Elections down to the very essence of a basic truth.

    Automation has been good for many things, but not for tallying an honest and true account of elections.

  38. Romney in the past was mostly anti-gun, but he may have changed his thinking a bit since – if he wants to win in November.

    Obama, on the other hand is rabidly anti-gun and just biding his time until a possible second term to unleash his hordes against us and put in a few more radically liberal Supreme Court judges who will be on the bench for decades, although with them in tipping the balance over to the extreme left, the Second Admendment will be destroyed very quickly.

    “It is alway calm before the storm.”

    Voting for Ron Paul is like taking an illegal drug. It may make you feel good for now, but in the long run, it’s bad for you. Don’t throw away a precious vote on Mr. Paul who doesn’t stand a snowball in Hades’ chance of winning.

  39. The POTUS election is the least of our worries, as the Electoral College is who actually elects the POTUS and has no need or requirement to vote as the populous vote does in it’s voting. Unfortunatly the GOP is pushing another “middle of the road” candidate that leans more left than right. Romney embraces global warming, socialized healthcare and the degradation of gun rights. I won’t vote for him.

    The local elections are where change will start, until we get Governors, Senators and Representatives that are actually willing to vote the heart of their constituancy rather than to further their own political ambitions. George Carlin said it best when he did his schtick about not blaming the politician for the stupidity of their electorate. I hear all this retoric about “term limits” we have them, they are called elections. Vote smart

  40. Dave B. makes a good point in that Romney will not “actively” pursue an anti-gun adgenda, I think Obama will and is doing so already.

    But I also think that we are in this mess because Republicans always seem to pick middle of the road candidates on this issue. I wish Paul had a better chance and if the convention somehow, someway puts him at the top I would be delerious with joy.

    But here’s something to remember despite all the doom and gloom that is heard now and then. We’ve seen an unprecidented expansion and recognition of 2A rights in the last 20 years. When I think of where we were 20 years ago and where we are today, today is so much better. Yes there have been set backs, but there have been more successes than set backs. Does the fight continue, of course it does! Look at how long it took women in this country to gain voting rights. Look at how long it took the commies in Vietnam to triumph. Don’t despair just because of events in the last year or four, stay the course, persevere.

    To the point, Romney may be an a$$hole but he goes with the wind, a wind we can blow. Obama, he’s an ideolog, he’s a true believer in a disarmed people and if he can’t get it one way, he’ll get it another.

  42. I may be mistaken but as president obama voted FOR guns in national parks and while i dont think i can vote for a democrat. I know i cant vote for romney.