Thursday, July 26, 2007
Romney endorses Manchester GOP fundraiser with automatic weapons
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer
BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) _ Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who supports an assault weapons ban, said he sees no problem with a Manchester City Republican Party's fundraiser where guests will use Uzis and M-16 rifles.
"No one is suggesting that automatic weapons be made available to the public. No one is suggesting that automatic weapons be made legal," Romney said at a town hall meeting in a school gym. "I support the Second Amendment. I support the ban on (automatic weapons). They're not connected with a fundraising event where they're using weapons not available to the public."
During his failed 1994 Senate run, Romney supported two gun-control measures strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association. As a 2002 gubernatorial candidate, he praised Massachusetts' strong antigun laws. And today he supports a ban on assault weapons.
The Manchester GOP fundraiser is planned for next month at the Pelham Fish and Game Club. Those who attend will get the chance to shoot Uzis, M-16 rifles and other automatic weapons. But Romney said using a weapon is different from the owning one.
"I've held the stick on an F-16 fighter jet. That doesn't mean I think the public ought to be flying F-16 fighter jets," Romney said. "Let the Manchester Republican Party do as it likes."
The former Massachusetts governor was dogged earlier this year about his hunting activities after he remarked at a campaign stop that he has been a hunter almost all his life.
The next day, in response to an Associated Press inquiry, his campaign said Romney had gone hunting just twice _ once as a teenager in Idaho and last year with GOP donors in Georgia. Officials in the four states where Romney has lived also told The Associated Press that he never took out a license.
Romney explained later that his staff was wrong and that he had hunted rabbits and other small animals for many years, mainly in Utah. Hunting certain small game there does not require a license.
On Wednesday, he tried to play up his firearms experience in New Hampshire.
"I've fired a machine gun. I was in Iraq and they gave me machine guns to fire at a target. I've fired an Uzi and I fired a couple of other weapons. ... It's hard doing that and keeping it on target," Romney said. "Those are difficult weapons to handle and our men and women have to handle them day to day out there."
He said participants in the Manchester GOP fundraiser would develop a better appreciation for the troops after the $35 fundraiser.
"I wouldn't want to be the sight of one of those things," he said. "Let them participate in that and come back with a much bigger appreciation for our military men and women in uniform in harm's way."
