Romney Courts the Gun Lobby

Romney didn’t hesitate to use patriotic slogans to pump up enthusiasm at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association in St. Louis. In the process, he drew a bead directly on President Barack Obama. The general election is still a good six months in the future but the campaign has already begun.

“All of you can be proud,” Romney called to a cheering crowd during his address on Friday, adding that the NRA was only concerned with one issue: the “long and unwavering defense of our constitutional rights and liberties.” Romney then said that was his political goal as well.

This marked Romney’s first campaign appearance since his closest rival, Rick Santorum, gave up on his bid for the nomination. Romney also used the opportunity to accuse Obama of wanting to limit the right of Americans to carry guns — a charge seriously doubted by many experts and commentators in Washington. “If we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes. I will,” Romney cried to the cheering crowd.

Delegates Applaud Romney’s Speech

On the other hand, Romney never mentioned the most recent shooting incident when white self-styled “amateur policeman,” George Zimmerman, shot an unarmed teenager to death in Florida. The case unleashed a wave of protest across the nation because the police at first took no action against the shooter.

Police justified their inaction by citing an especially generous right to self defense in Florida — a law that the NRA gun lobby was instrumental in implementing in the state.

The influence of the strictly conservative NRA in an election is considerable. No president and no candidate wants to pick a fight with them. Critics accuse Obama of coddling the organization and calling off any disputes with the NRA since the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that it was legal to carry weapons in public.

Attacks on Obama

Lax laws governing the sale of firearms is another hot issue. This has caused an increase is gun running from the United States to drug cartel bosses in Mexico. In the last five years alone, the Justice Department confiscated 94,000 guns in Mexico, 64,000 of which had come from the United States. The front men buying the guns don’t have far to go to make their purchases. Most of them head straight to one of the 8,000 American gun dealers near the Mexican border.

Neither did Romney ever broach that subject in St. Louis. Instead, he served his conservative audience a steady diet of attacks on Obama. “This President is moving us away from our Founders’ vision,” Romney declared, accusing Obama of attacking economic, religious and individual freedom and adding, “In a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election.”