US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney vowed to gun owners today that he would reverse what he called the restrictive gun policies of president Barack Obama.
Mr Romney, who has fumbled when talking about his experience with guns, took up the cause of sportsmen and other gun owners in an address before the annual convention of the National Rifle Association in St Louis, Missouri.
It was Mr Romney's first speech to a major conservative group since his closest rival for the Republican nomination, Rick Santorum, suspended his campaign this week. That cleared Mr Romney's path to take on Mr Obama, a Democrat, in the November 6th general election.
The former Massachusetts governor needs to win over conservatives, many of whom are gun owners, but they have shown limited enthusiasm for him.
"We need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters, sportsmen, and those seeking to protect their homes and their families," Mr Romney said. "President Obama has not. I will." His campaign released the remark before Mr Romney spoke.
Mr Romney's NRA appearance comes during a nationwide debate over gun rights and race after the Florida shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, by neighbourhood crime watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
A Romney campaign official said that decisions surrounding "Stand Your Ground" laws - which allow people to use deadly force when they believe their lives are in danger - should be left to individual states. Florida's version of the law has come under attack in the Trayvon Martin case.
Mr Romney dismissed the Obama administration's handling of gun rights, saying the White House operates outside of the original vision for American government.
"This administration's attack on freedom extends even to rights explicitly guaranteed by our Constitution," Mr Romney said. "The right to bear arms is so plainly stated, so unambiguous, that liberals have a hard time challenging it directly. Instead, they've been employing every imaginable ploy to restrict it."
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday showed that 68 per cent, or two out of three respondents, had a favorable opinion of the NRA, which lobbies against limits on gun ownership.
Some 82 per cent of Republicans saw the gun lobbying group in a positive light as well as 55 per cent of Democrats, findings that run counter to the perception of Democrats as anti-NRA.
But the poll also showed strong support for some gun controls including background checks, limiting the sale of automatic weapons and keeping guns out of churches, stores and workplaces.
Reuters