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Obama has generally been cautious on the issue of gun control as a candidate and as president. He told voters In September 2008, “I’m not going to take away your guns.” The Web site for his 2008 campaign said he supports “making guns in this country childproof” and making the assault-weapons ban permanent, according to FactCheck.org.
The National Rifle Association has charged Obama with being anti-gun. The group cited a 1999 article in the Chicago Defender, a newspaper, that said the then-Illinois state senator supported a “500 percent” increase in the federal tax on the sale of “weapons he says are most commonly used in firearm deaths,” though it’s unclear what weapons that referred to. In the Senate, Obama supported an unsuccessful amendment by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would have expanded the definition of armor-piercing ammunition; Kennedy said the measure would “not apply to ammunition that is now routinely used in hunting rifles,” though the NRA contested that point.
After the deadly July movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., Obama promised to lead a national discussion about gun control, saying he thinks many gun owners would agree that “AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers,” not civilians. He blamed Congress for not acting on restrictions that he said would keep guns out of criminals’ hands and said current laws should be better enforced.
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Obama on Gun ControlObama's Statements (6)
After supporting measures during his run for Senate in 1994 that he said weren’t “going to make me the hero of the NRA,” Romney joined the group in 2006. In 2007, he said that as president, he would have signed an assault-weapons ban if the bill came to his desk. A few months later, he said he didn’t “support any gun control legislation.”
He said, “The effort for a new assault weapons ban, with a ban on semi-automatic weapons, is something I would oppose.”
In April, the former Massachusetts governor addressed the NRA, telling them he would defend gun rights as president. “We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners. President Obama has not; I will,” he said. “We need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters, and sportsmen, and those seeking to protect their homes and their families. President Obama has not; I will.”
After the July shooting in a Colorado movie theater, Romney called tightening gun-ownership restrictions “misguided,” saying the United States has “a lot of gun laws now” that don’t stop violence.
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Romney's Statements (3)
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