Utah Senator Mitt Romney indicated that he is willing to work with Democratic colleagues to pass gun control legislation.
Speaking to reporters in early September, the freshman senator said he believed that background checks for individuals buying firearms would make the country safer.
“It certainly should be applied to commercial sales and finding a more comprehensive way to make sure that people are in the system that ought to be in the system,” Romney told sources quoted by The Hill.
Romney, a Republican who ran for president in both 2008 and in 2012, said he was willing to review a bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
“I’m looking at that. … Directionally, that is something I would support, but I have not read the legislation. That is something I would have to look at before I signed on,” he added.
This isn’t the first time the two-time presidential candidate has broke party ranks by throwing his political weight behind gun control. In fact, his unorthodox support for additional gun control legislation has been a staple part of his career.
In 2012, Politico reported that Romney’s take on guns and the Second Amendment has been all over the place. As early as 1994, an ambitious Romney was telling supporters that he does not “line up with the NRA.”
While he has adjusted this position several times, it’s safe to say that Romney has never been a pro-2A warrior.
“We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts — I support them. I won’t chip away at them. I believe they help protect us, and provide for our safety,” he said in 2002 when running for governor in Massachusetts.
There are times when you find him using the same exact language to describe firearms that Democrats do.
“Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,” Romney said in 2004 after signing gun control legislation into law in the state. “These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.”
Democrats and progressives typically use the term “assault weapon” to describe semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15, which fire one bullet when the trigger is pulled. Most handguns on the market today fit this same description.
Mitt Romney was elected to the U.S. Senate during the midterm elections in 2018. Two years earlier, it was rumored he was going to join the Trump Administration as Secretary of State. The pair met once, but a cabinet position offer never materialized.
