Well keep your eyes peeled, because Romney, despite the NRA thingy, is no friend of owning guns either. Don't let the "couple of hunting trips" fool you. Right now he is in the Flop phase regarding gun control, after election, he may very well go back to the Flip.
- The MA AWB was already permanent years before the bill that Romney signed. The legislation did add anything new to the list of banned guns or restrictions. It was a bill that actually improved things slightly for gun owners.
- The MA legislature was, and is 90% Dem and extremely liberal to boot. They wanted to "do something" when the federal ban was expiring, because gun control is a winner in MA and there is no effective resistance to it, so it always passes. (They could have overridden him anyway easily)
- Despite the fearmongering by the anti's, the MA AWB was not expiring, but they wanted to pull some language from the federal ban into state statute, so that's what they did, even though it was an empty gesture.
- The MA supreme court had already ruled that 2A didn't apply to MA, so no state court challenge to a state ban was going to go anywhere.
- Romney was the first MA gov in years who had given the state level NRA affiliate, MA GOAL, an opportunity to meet with him, and they came up with a set of improvements to gun laws that they wanted. Romney basically took those and asked if they get added to the bill, would it be acceptable to both sides said yes, so he signed it.
- Now granted at the signing, Romney DID MAKE numerous anti-gun statements. However, it's thought that he just went with the copy he was given by his staff, or that he was just blowing smoke up the anti's you-know-what to help belie the pro-gun tidbits GOAL asked him to add into the bill.
I don't think Romney is a "gun guy", but I don't think he's an anti-gun guy either. And I think he's astute enough to know what will and will not fly with the American public, and he knows anti-gun legislation is a loser, and maybe it's just a gut unfounded feeling, but he seems like he's willing to fulfill the will of the people, be it the ones in MA, or the larger pro-RKBA views nationwide.
Obama, I think he's already shown he's willing to do BIG THINGS that are against the will of the people, such as the Affordable Care Act polling 60% against... Second term Obama would be even worse.
