Rocky Anderson on Gun Control

Justice Party challenger for President; former mayor of Salt Lake City

Only reason for assault weapons is to kill people quickly

Q: Would you limit the availability of assault weapons?

ROMNEY: I'm not in favor of new pieces of legislation on guns and taking guns away or making certain guns illegal. We have to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws that we have.

ANDERSON: We've seen just another instance of Mitt Romney completely flip-flopping on where he stood as governor of Massachusetts, to please the likes of the National Rifle Association. We need to end the stranglehold of the NRA on our government. There's one reason for assault weapons, and that is to kill as many people as quickly as possible. There was a federal ban on assault weapons. It expired in 2004. Obama promised four years ago to support the permanent reinstatement of that ban. That would have been the right thing to do, but he hasn't done it. Neither of these candidates will do the right thing when it comes to ending the influence of the NRA and, once and for all, getting assault weapons off the streets of this country.

Source: Democracy Now! Expanded Second Obama-Romney 2012 debate , Oct 16, 2012

Opposes absolute right to gun ownership

Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Absolute right to gun ownership"?

A: Strongly Oppose

Source: Email interview on presidential race with OnTheIssues.org , Feb 10, 2012

Six-point plan to help curb gun violence

Mayor Rocky Anderson's inaugural "freedom forum"--this one on gun violence--kicked off Wednesday. Salt Lake City's mayor initiated the discussion by offering his six-point plan to help curb gun violence. The mayor advocates laws that would like to force every gun owner to lock up his or her guns. If a child or a burglar steals an unlocked gun out of a home, he believes the homeowner should be held responsible for whatever crime is committed with the stolen gun. "Gun owners whose unlocked weapons fall into the hands of children or burglars must be held legally responsible," Anderson said. Other parts of the mayor's plan include enhancing penalties for minors who possess guns or for guardians who allow their children to possess guns; allowing municipal governments to pass their own guns laws; renewing the federal assault weapons ban; keeping better track of gun violence statistics and prohibiting guns in schools and churches. Source: Brad Snyder in Deseret News, "Tempers Rise" , Sep 30, 2004

Click here for definitions & background information on Gun Control. Click here for a profile of Rocky Anderson. Click here for VoteMatch responses by Rocky Anderson. Click here for AmericansElect.org quiz by Rocky Anderson.
*Other big-city mayors on Gun Control:*	*Rocky Anderson on other issues:*
Mike Bloomberg (I,New York City) Cory Booker (D,Newark,NJ) Julian Castro (D,San Antonio,TX) Rahm Emanuel (D,Chicago) Phil Gordon (D,Phoenix) Tom Menino (D,Boston) Michael Nutter (D,Philadelphia) Annise Parker (D,Houston) Mike Rawlings (D,Dallas) Jerry Sanders (R,San Diego) Antonio Villaraigosa (D,Los Angeles) *Former Mayors:* Rocky Anderson (I,Salt Lake City) Tom Barrett (D,Milwaukee,WI) Jerry Brown (D,Oakland,CA) Rudy Giuliani (R,New York City) Dennis Kucinch (D,Cleveland,OH) Sarah Palin (R,Wasilla,AK)	Abortion Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty

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