Romney: New Gun Laws Wouldn't Matter

Here's Mitt Romney's assessment of the Dark Knight massacre that claimed 12 lives: Different gun laws would not have made any difference. Even though the candidate has supported stricter gun controls in the past, he said on CNBC yesterday: "I still believe that the Second Amendment is the right course to preserve and defend, and I don't believe that new laws are going to make a difference in this type of tragedy." He called Colorado's gun laws "very stringent," adding: "Our challenge is not the laws. Our challenge is people who, obviously, are distracted from reality and do unthinkable, unimaginable, inexplicable things."

Romney backed a ban on assault weapons—including the AR-15 used in the Aurora rampage—when he was governor of Massachusetts. The weapons are legal in Colorado, where few modifications have been made to gun laws since the Columbine massacre. “I believe the people should have the right to bear arms, but I don’t believe that we have to have assault weapons as part of our personal arsenal,” Romney said on Fox News in 2004. He won't get much push-back from President Obama, who also plans not to take any action on stricter gun control laws in the wake of the bloodbath. (More gun control stories.)