Michael Steele Flip Flops on Assault Weapons

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Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:49 pm

RNC Chairman Michael Steele continues to reinvent his positions to be more in line with the party now heads. His latest change is to reverse his position on assault weapons.

Here is what Steele wrote in an email to supporters yesterday, “The Obama Administration has revealed its intention to reinstate the so-called “assault” gun ban — Step One of their plan to repeal the 2nd Amendment. Having already taken advantage of our country’s current economic woes to speed the largest, most pork-laden spending spree in history through the Democrat-controlled Congress, the Obama team is again using fear tactics to impose bad policy. Attorney General Eric Holder announced his desire to once again deny law abiding Americans their 2nd Amendment rights, using the ongoing violence in Mexico as justification.”

This sounds like the standard Republican position, so how does one reconcile this with what he told the Washington Post in 2006, “Society should draw lines. What do you need an assault weapon for, if you’re going hunting? That’s overkill. But I don’t think that means you go to a total ban for those who want to use gun for skeet shooting or hunting or things like that But what’s the point of passing gun laws if we’re not going to enforce them? If you want to talk about gun control, that’s where you need to start. We’ve got 300 gun laws on the books right now. At the end of the day, it’s about how we enforce the law.”

How seriously can gun rights advocates take Steele when three years ago he held the same position as the Obama administration? Michael Steele is turning into a big headache for the GOP. In fact, his situation is starting to remind of what the party went through in 2008 with Sarah Palin. All sorts of little surprises and inconsistencies are coming out about Steele because the RNC chose to elect a candidate based more on appearances than positions.

It is getting very obvious that Steele isn’t a good fit to lead the RNC. After they have taken two consecutive drubbings at the polls in 2006 and 2008, Republicans need a leader with credibility on the issues. Steele also suffers from a bit of Mitt Romney disease. Steele is from a blue state and like Romney he was more of a moderate then. Steele isn’t the sort of red meat conservative that the GOP rank and file seems to be craving. I am not a Republican, but flip flops such as this one, would seem to make Steele a part of the problem, not the solution, but the RNC is getting what it deserving for electing a leader based on skin color, not qualifications.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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