The Boston Globe

Politics

Brown reverses stance on gun laws

Joining a chorus of politicians calling for tougher gun regulations following Friday’s elementary school shooting, US Senator Scott Brown reversed his position on Wednesday and spoke out in support of a federal assault weapons ban.

Brown, a Republican, had long said he opposed any new federal restrictions on guns and believed the issue was best left to each state.

Comments

Still trying to attract attention toward himself.  This is the worse kind of exploitation.  Who cares what he thinks especially when he changes his mind as often as Mitt Romney does.  He's trying to position himself for another election by using this horrendous tragedy to grab headlines.  It's time to go away from elected politics and return as a lobbyist.

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Darn. I had one of those well crafted replies that I read before I hit the reply button. Consider the deletion my Christmas present to you and the other haters of common sense.

Right, right ... conservatives 'reverse their position',  liberals evolve. 

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Ha! Love it.

Like a tall reed of grass, Scott bends whichever way the wind blows.  Just a few days late on this one, Scott, but keep trying...

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????  Read the article.  He supported a Massachusetts assault weapons ban, and now he favors a Federal ban.  Is that really 'blowing in the wind' ???

Scott was a U.S. Senator and had many opportunities to take the position that he now takes subsequent to the massacre (and subsequent to his term of office).  He passed on every opportunity until now.  That's blowin' in the wind.  It's really too bad but once elected as a U.S. Senator he was like a football team with a lead playing prevent defense.  They always seem to lose and now he has too.  Hopefully, Scott's 15 minutes of fame will be a cautionary tale to future politicians.  Elizabeth Warren followed right in his footsteps when she ignored reasonable questions at her first news conference.  She may find 6 years feels like 15 minutes as well.

 

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The USA is way behind Brazil in gun deaths this year. We have had only around 10,000. Brazil is at 34,000. So we have a long way to go. Assault weapon bans wont change a gun culture.

Who cares?

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I do. Thanks for asking.

Well I don't, and I'm sure very few do.  The massacre in Aurora didn't do it for him?  Moral idiocy.

Brown wants us to think that he really really supported a national ban on assault weapons all along, its just that he hoped it would happen state by state. Please spare us. And while he is on record for repealing Obamacare, will he soon favor nationalizing mental health care benefits, or should that be state by state also? 

Oh, it took this? The other massacres weren't sufficient? You couldn't imagine this? Senator, principle and sensible policiy requires more than a finger in the air, which is your specialty.

 

As someone who voted for him I do have to say, this is pretty pathetic knee-jerk pandering. 

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I think it's dispicable, extremely audacious, and actually stupid for him to exploit this tragedy by telling us where he stands.  Unbelievable pandering!

God forbid he should have an opinion, especially if it conflicts with Barbara's.

Give' em a taste of Washington … and they might even do a one-eighty on the right issue for the wrong self-serving reason. Back to your wigwam and your war whoops, chief Brown!

Regardless of anyone's opinion of him, Sen. Brown is a public figure, so it makes perfect sense that he would weigh in on this issue and that it would be newsworthy. No reasonable man, whether he changes his position or not, would not at least re-evaluate it in the wake of these events.

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Public figure?  He's an irrelevant lame duck who will be gone in a few weeks.  He no longer represents us.  He's exploiting the tragedy to attract attention for a future election.  I think the strategy of his making these comments are politically stupid.

If he was still in office I doubt he'd be saying this.

He is pulling a Mitt Romney....Flipping and Flopping to try and appease the voters he will need shortly....he will meet with failure just as Mitt did...

BTW..Where does Brown stand on ending tax breaks for the rich people ?

Pathetic! This guy is cut from Romney-cloth.

Scott Brown should be a lobbyist for race track owners, gambling interests and business persons like Donald Trump.  Most of these people have more money than brains.  He would fit in well. . . .and he'll make more mony.

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The reason Scotty lost to Warren is simple: he's a jerk. Flip, flop,flip, flop: a Republican tenet. Good riddance.

Easy. Scott runs democratic as he can until elected, then shakes the nifty etch-a-sketch that mittens had left over and becomes whatever the panderers and the lobbyists tell him to be when elected.  Does anyone see a pattern here?  Send the jerk back to Wareham.

From the lack of support that I see for Scotty here, most people that supported him before he became a loser have now assigned him to the irrelevancy bin and don't bother to read or comment on anything about him anymore.

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http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/12/20/senator-scott-brown-leads-democrats-new-poll-special-election-were-held-today/o1AY9J1Q6i6w30YP7A07wM/story.html

The difference between an "assault rifle" and a hunting rifle is appearance.  Banning assault weapons will, no doubt, generate some votes for its proponents, but it won't do much to mitigate gun violence.  If you want to do that, make it much harder to buy a gun, make mental health records accessible, reduce the size of magazines, ban lethal (hollow point) ammo except for the police, and never name or show the picture of a mass murderer.

lots of suggestions on banning guns or certain types of guns but I do not hear any suggestions of how to prevent entrance of unauthorized individuals  to a school . Nor do I hear of any method to identify behavior problems and the assistance available for treatment for those who need it.This tragedy requires anumber of realistic solutions that some lawyer cannot sue the school departments for their efforts to prevent a reoccurance.Removing  Christian practices from the schools and replacing them with other practices or beliefs has not proven to be an asset in creating a positive moral fiber of years gone by.The Emperior of Japan was prevented from invading the mainland of the US by reccomendation of his Naval Commander that the populus was well armed. It is well to remember the actual history of the 2nd Ammendant  and why it is the second one in the Constitution. ......an unarmed people is an invitation to invasion by an armed one.....The Progressive Liberals have forgotten the true history of this country and its founding.