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The New York Times/ ­- Politics, Qua, 18 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Romney Warns Gun Lobby of a Second
Obama Term
By TRIP GABRIEL ST. LOUIS — As he works to
energize the conservative base ahead of the general
election, Mitt Romney came to the annual gathering of
the National Rifle Association on Friday seeking
support from a powerful group that has not always
embraced him. His backing while Massachusetts
governor of key laws opposed by the national gun
lobby – an assault weapons ban and a waiting period
to buy firearms – has engendered skepticism, if not
hostility, among many gun owners. But in the speech
he delivered here, Mr. Romney breezed past those
issues to touch a more fundamental nerve: the gun
lobby’s fear that a second term for President Obama
would give him another Supreme Court appointee.
The 4.3­-million­-member gun group fears that a remade
court could lead to restrictions on firearms. “In his first
term,” Mr. Romney’s said, “we’ve seen the president
try to browbeat the Supreme Court. In a second term,
he would remake it. Our freedoms would be in the
hands of an Obama court, not just for four years, but
for the next 40. That must not happen.’’ Before Mr.
Romney spoke, a spokesman for the gun lobby,
Andrew Arulanandam, said it was looking for exactly
this kind of statement. Mr. Arulanandam said that the
biggest fear of N.R.A. members was that an altered
Supreme Court might reverse two 5­-to­-4 rulings since
2008 interpreting the Second Amendment as
guaranteeing a fundamental right to individuals to bear
arms. The most recent ruling, the McDonald case in
2010, is seen as opening the way for challenges to
local laws restricting gun ownership. Another goal for
Mr. Romney here is to close some of the cultural gap
with gun owners. He was lampooned during his 2008
run for the Republican nomination for exaggerating his
hunting career, at one point, when pressed, saying that
the game he had experience with were rodents and
rabbits, “small varmints, if you will.’’ More recently, Mr.
Romney revealed that he owned a couple of firearms,
and in a debate in January he described a hunting trip
to Montana. His guide on that outing was a respected
sportsman, Rob Keck, who in an interview described
taking Mr. Romney for two days of hunting elk and for
one shooting pheasants on a private ranch. “He
admittedly didn’t grow up hunting,’’ Mr. Keck said, “but
let me tell you, he accounted for a number of birds on
that day.’’ So it was probably no surprise that Mr.
Romney has been accompanied here by Mr. Keck, the
director of conservation for Bass Pro Shops. It remains
to be seen whether hunters who view gun rights as a
top issue will enthusiastically support Mr. Romney in
November. David Ross, a longtime N.R.A. member
from Reading, Pa., who has been a grass­-roots
organizer for conservative candidates in his
battleground state, was skeptical. “Romney needs to
get people like me passionate enough for his
campaign to win in November, and I think that’s going
to be heavy lifting,’’ said Mr. Ross, who was attending
the convention with his son, Clinton, an Army reservist.
“He was for an assault weapons ban when he was
Massachusetts governor. What changed? And how do
we know he’s not going to change back? This is the
chameleonlike thinking that is my biggest fear.’’
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