Obama Spotlights an Unlikely Supporter of Assault Weapons Ban: Ronald Reagan

In his press conference on Wednesday to announce new proposals intended to help decrease gun violence, President Obama took the opportunity to shine a spotlight on an unlikely supporter of an assault weapons ban: Former President Ronald Reagan.

"Weapons designed for the theater of war have no place in a movie theater. A majority of Americans agree with us on this. And by the way, so did Ronald Reagan, one of the staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment, who wrote to Congress in 1994 urging them - this is Ronald Reagan speaking - urging them to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of military-style assault weapons."

In fact, the 1994 ban on assault weapons barely made it through Congress, passing by a margin of just two votes, 216-214. It was President Reagan's support of the ban that was credited in changing the vote of two former Congressmen - Wisconsin Republican Scott Klug and New Hampshire Democrat Dick Swett.

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