He still supports the assault weapons ban. That’s a deal-breaker for me.
Yes, he supports it, and if it passes his desk, he’ll probably sign it, just like Bush would. That nothing has come to Bush in the 7 years he’s said he’d sign it suggests it won’t happen.
Still, Romney understands the right to keep and bear arms includes the right to have them with you for protection. Fred Thompson has said he supports allowing states to prohibit people from carrying their weapons for protection on public college campuses.
This is important in my state, where a gunman killed 32 people because nobody was allowed to have a weapon to stop him. Our state prohibits it’s citizens from having their weapons to defend themselves, and Fred Thompson said in response to a question that he supported allowing states to ban weapons from campuses.
So which is worse, not being able to buy a few guns that, if you wanted, you could purchase right now (the AWB didn’t require you to turn in weapons, it just kept you from buying in the future), or not being able to carry your weapon for protection?
Every candidate is a compromise, except maybe Hunter on this issue.
Meanwhile, Fred Thompson is a speech-grabber, having banned EVERY citizen from their free speech rights under the 1st amendment. Taking away the right to purchase a couple of more guns from the few people who would want to do so is bad, but not nearly as bad as taking away the 1st amendment rights to speech from EVERY SINGLE CITIZEN, at precisely the time (right before an election) that it is most important.