Giuliani, Romney Shifts Fail to Allay Gun Owners' Suspicions

[swag]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aPjjVHHFo_rY&refer=home

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Republican Party in New Hampshire recently came up with a novel idea for a fund-raiser: having donors pay $25 to fire semiautomatic and automatic weapons at a Manchester gun range. It was such a success that party officials in other cities plan to hold similar events.

Guns haven't much figured as an issue in the Republicans' 2008 presidential campaign, overshadowed by the war in Iraq and health care. That will change tomorrow when the nation's largest gun-owners' advocacy group, the National Rifle Association, holds a forum in Washington where its members will assess the leading Republican candidates' commitment to their cause.

At least two of the party's frontrunners, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, have histories of support for gun control. While the two are shifting their stances, it may not be enough to overcome the suspicions of gun owners, who may be more attracted by former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.

``Giuliani and Romney have both been campaigning as pro- gun, but gun owners don't believe it,'' said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, a policy group in Bellevue, Washington. ``Thompson is going to be able to get a large chunk of gun owners'' because his record is ``very clean.''

Guns have often been a make-or-break issue for Republican candidates and the NRA, with its 4 million members, plays ``a critical role'' in the party's nominating process, said John Feehery, a Republican consultant and former adviser to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. ``It's one of those grassroots organizations you don't want to go out of your way to alienate.''

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[benEzra]

1. Romney and Guliani are both clueless...

one can't simultaneously pretend to be "pro gun owner" and support banning the most popular civilian target rifles in the United States. It goes to show just how clueless about the issue these two are.

Guliani's horrendous record on the 1st and 4th Amendments doesn't help him any, and Romney's "I've owned a gun and hunted all my life, oh, that's my son's gun, and I've hunted, er, once" was pathetic (as if hunting had anything to do with the issue in the first place).