Alex J. Robinson, Robinson Armament Co. Supporting Mitt Romney.

[Janq]

Preface:
I was over at SigForums doing my weekly cruise when I came across a thread that frankly I just could not believe was true. It's so...well just read the following and enjoy.

I'm going to quote his initial posting and from there the rest is like a commercial for 'As The World Turns'...

---

Happy New Year 2008!!! Support Mitt Romney!!!

As a manufacturer of firearms, we have received countless calls from our customers who are buying because they’re afraid a Democrat will be in the White House a year from now. Based on the 1994 “Assault Weapon Ban”, I completely understand their fears.

In speaking with you and listening to the media, it has been a given that a Democrat (and most probably Hillary Clinton) will win this coming November. I want you all to know that this is not a foregone conclusion.

There are lots of great Republican candidates running for President. I can say great things about each and every one of them. Ron Paul and Fred Thompson are definitely conservative. Mike Huckabee is religious and down to earth. However, there is one candidate who is everything one could want in a candidate and more.

Mitt Romney is probably the most qualified candidate to run for President in decades. He is intelligent, a great organizer, and has the ability to accomplish the impossible. He has proved this time and time again in business, government, and with the 2002 Olympics.

America faces challenges on every side: the War Against Freedom (Some call it the “War against Terror”. This is inaccurate), energy, immigration, and firearm ownership to name a few. We need a leader who can unite Americans and get the right result.

Not only is Mitt the best Republican candidate, he is the most electable in November. There are many moderate Democrats who will vote for him because he’s simply the best leader for America.

Mitt Romney is a strong supported of the Second Amendment. I’ve worked on his campaign and find him to be exactly what he purports to be – a true American with the same values you and I hold dear. He’s running because he knows he can make a big difference. I’ve ask him to put his views on the Second Amendment in writing. They’re attached here. I haven’t seen a stronger written statement from any of the candidates.

Let’s stop worrying and start supporting the man who can and will make a difference. The sooner we all support Romney, the easier it will be to get him into the White House and the more secure our nation will be. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. (Oh, and keep buying our products so I can continue to help campaign.)

Sincerely,

Alex J. Robinson
Manager
Robinson Armament Co.
Email: zdf@robarm.com

Source - http://www.robarm.com/XCR_Mitt_Romney.htm

7:31 a.m. Jan 3, 2007

After posting the following statement in support of Mitt Romney on www.xcrforum.com, and www.ar15.com, I've received lots of input, mostly negative regarding Mitt Romney. Much of it could be regarded as hate mail. My email box is so full I can hardly get through it. Though not all of the comments are kindly written, I am, nevertheless, very thankful for all who have taken their time to write and post.

Our common goal, if I dare state it, is to get someone in the Whitehouse who will say no to gun bans (and fix the rest of the problems our country faces). Before supporting Romney, I asked his staff for his position on firearms. I was given the statement which I have linked below in July.)

Two of your comments have trouble me: 1) That he did sign a ban of "Assault Weapons" in Mass.; and 2) He stated he would sign anti-gun legislation if it came across his desk on "Meet the Press." I was not aware of this comment on "Meet the Press."

I have forwarded your (and my) concerns to his staff by email. I have asked for a clear statement that he will support and not ban the assault weapons. I also spoke to one of his top staffers who is in Iowa today. He promises a quick response.

I do still believe that in general Mitt Romney is the most qualified candidate for President. However, if he will not state unequivocally that he will protect and not ban our beloved assault rifles, I will not be able to continue to support him.

I will post any reply I get here. I thank you all for your fervor in protecting the Second Amendment. Be assured that I stand by you in this effort.

I sincerely hope for the sake of America that we can protect this most vital of all liberties.

Sincerely,

Alex J. Robinson
Manager
Robinson Armament Co.

Source - http://www.robarm.com/XCR_Mitt_Romney.htm

8:36 a.m. Jan 3, 2007

Here's the initial response from Romney's team:

I'll try to get more info for you... but I doubt if I can get a response out of Boston today. They are just neck-deep in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire. But, I'll take a look at some of those articles.

Thanks for taking a shot or two on behalf of Mitt--it's an important work you're doing. We are very grateful for your support. If we can't get a response before Wednesday, ***** and I will both be in Boston and collect some extra facts.

Talk to you soon!

Source - http://www.robarm.com/XCR_Mitt_Romney.htm

Since I first posted that I was supporting Mitt Romney, I've received literally hundreds of emails and tens of calls. The just of these emails is:

1) Are you crazy?
2) Are you stupid?
3) Romney is as bad as Hilary.
4) I was considering your product, but now I'm not. and
5) We're going to do all we can to make your business and you suffer.

Many of you have treated me like a lost soul and, in a Christian spirit, have tried to tell me how wrong I am in a courteous way. I greatly respect that.

Many of you have been extremely mean and nasty and have vowed to destroy me and my company. You want me to remove all references to Mitt or you'll keep it up until I do.

I've tried to explain that there's a reason I'm not just caving in on this. I'm going to state it one more time in the hope that you will be able to understand it.

First of all, I agree with you all that we need a President who will protect the Second Amendment without reservation. I was aware that Mitt did not have a great record in Mass. However, I felt that Mitt had become a little more conservative in this area.

I am very busy running a firearms company making one of the best and most unique Assault Rifles in the world. To design and manufacture our rifles has not been cheap. I've got a lot more on the line than a personal firearms collection. That being said, I've looked at the political field and made the personal determination that Mitt Romney is the person who could most likely beat any Democratic contender. He also has many virtues that could lead this country out of some real messes.

I could have supported Fred Thompson or Ron Paul. They both have values close to mine. However, my personal political analysis told me that neither would have a chance.

Should I have put up money and used my time to support someone whom I felt had little chance of winning? If you had the kind of money I had on the line, you'd go for whom you thought was most likely to win too.

Before I even began supporting Mitt, I asked his staff for his position on Assault Rifles and the Second Amendment. They gave me a written document regarding his position on the Second Amendment. It took it at face value thinking that he had come to his senses. I did ask his campaign people during two fund raisers if I could get a separate statement that he would protect the Assault Rifles. They got back to me with his Second Amendment statement and said that my issues were covered by that document. I felt that was a good enough response.

I was overseas when Mitt did his "Meet the Press Interview". Nobody, even those who know I've been supporting him, told me about the interview. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to troll these websites all day. That is why you see so few posts from me here on AR15.com or elsewhere.

As soon as I learned of his extremely negative comments on Meet the Press, I contacted his staff. I have posted the contents of my email to his top staffers so I won't bother to go into those details here. In essence, I want to know who is feeding him this tripe and try to understand the reason he's not supporting the Second Amendment fully. Then I hope to change his opinion.

Many of you want me to disassociate myself from Mitt Romney. That would be a very dumb thing to do if his mind can be changed. I think my initial thoughts about Mitt were right - He's one smart cookie and he's got a good chance being the next President. He actually did better than I though he was going to do in Iowa. (Perhaps he'd done a lot better if he wouldn't have made so many mistakes on Meet the Press. I don't know.)

I'm sure of one thing: If someone doesn't get him to change his position on firearms and he gets elected, we're going to be very sorry. It may be a moot issue, he may loose in the next few states and give up. I don't think this is going to happen.

I'm trying to be a realist here. I'm am doing my best to "Protect Your Right to Bear Superior Arms." It's really quite sad that so few of you can understand what I'm trying to do.

One would think that you'd rather be right than be a winner. You'd rather have something to complain about than keep your right to keep an bear arms. You'd rather complain about me than do something that is going to make a difference.

You can sit back at your computers and be as divisive all you want. You can belittle me all you want. I have decided that no matter what you say or do, I am going to stand my ground. I am going to make a difference. I do not want a Democrat in the White House under any circumstance.

All I can promise is that I will do my best to convince Mitt and his staff that they need to support the Second Amendment fully which means they need to protect the ownership of all type of firearms by all lawful owners. I will keep you all posted as soon as I learn anything.

Sincerely,

Alex J. Robinson
Manager

Source - http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.htm...f=137&t=658011

Here was my response back to their campaign staff.

I just finished viewing Mitt's statements on "Meet the Press." See You Tube Clip http://youtube.com/watch?v=F9Ygw9CQ9po

No wonder the gun owners are so angry with Mitt and me for supporting him. He comes right out and says he'd sign and Assault Weapon Ban and ban any other "weapon of high lethality" or something to that effect.

I hate to say it but what Mitt said couldn't have caused much more damage. All he had to say was that he would protect the lawful ownership of firearms and prosecute those who misuse firearms. He didn't have to alienate a huge portion of his current and potential support base.

Do you realize that the Democrats who voted for the Federal Assault Weapon Ban in 1994 were run out of office in the next few years precisely because of angry gun owners? Do you have any idea how active gun owners are politically? Do your realize that the Department of Justice determined that the 10 years of the ban had no positive effect on crime? The reason the Assault Weapon Ban wasn't re-instated is that most of the Democrats were too scared to vote for it again and the Justice Department found it unenforceable and unnecessary.

Mitt is not running for the Governor of Massachusetts. He's running for the President of the United States. There's no need to cater to the ultra-liberal left. He's not going to get that vote anyway. He seems very ill advised to have made the statements he made.

I've asked you campaign guys several times to clarify this Assault Rifle issue. You guys kept sending me Mitt's statement on the Second Amendment. If Mitt really doesn't feel the Second Amendment applies to Assault Rifles, I wish you would have made that clear when I asked the question at least twice before.

Now I've stuck my neck out in support of Mitt trying to make a small difference in these primaries. I had no idea that gun owners were so angry at Mitt. You cannot believe the email I'm getting from current and potential customers. They've threatened to stop buying our products and sell the ones they have. They've threatened everything short of killing me. I kid you not.

Whoever is in charge of firearms policy for Mitt's campaign needs to talk to me and fast. There's no one in the country who knows more about this subject or who can talk about it more intelligently than I can.

Sincerely,

Alex J. Robinson
Manager
Robinson Armament Co.

Source - http://www.robarm.com/XCR_Mitt_Romney.htm

For even more comedy take a peek at the threads on this over at SigForum and AR15.com...

'Robinson Arms Backs Mitt Romney' - http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...7011059111/p/1
'Mitt Romney Support. What to Do? ' - http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.htm...f=137&t=658011

- Janq

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Herknav]

There's no one in the country who knows more about this subject or who can talk about it more intelligently than I can.

[Sig 210]

"I've asked you campaign guys several times to clarify this Assault Rifle issue. You guys kept sending me Mitt's statement on the Second Amendment. If Mitt really doesn't feel the Second Amendment applies to Assault Rifles, I wish you would have made that clear when I asked the question at least twice before.

Now I've stuck my neck out in support of Mitt trying to make a small difference in these primaries. I had no idea that gun owners were so angry at Mitt. You cannot believe the email I'm getting from current and potential customers. They've threatened to stop buying our products and sell the ones they have. They've threatened everything short of killing me. I kid you not.

Whoever is in charge of firearms policy for Mitt's campaign needs to talk to me and fast. There's no one in the country who knows more about this subject or who can talk about it more intelligently than I can."

From the frying pan into the political fire. He is back peddling fast.

Anyone know anything about this Robinson Armament Co?

[MR D]

that's so sad- Robar has great products too

I will miss them (if Mitt's mind can be changed...)

yeah right for thirty days right before the election then back to it's liberal anti gun stance after election - No Thanks

Go Huckabee!!

Go Thompson!!

Go Paul!!

(or Richardson if there has to be a Dem...)

just my $.02

[Herknav]

that's so sad- Robar has great products too

I will miss them (if Mitt's mind can be changed...)

Just to make sure we're on the same page, Robar markets finishes (Roguard, NP3) for firearms and pistolsmithing work. It is run by Rob Barrkman. www.robarguns.com

The Romney supporter quoted by Janq is Alex Robinson of the Robinson Armament Co., which makes "evil black rifles". www.robarm.com

I don't know either fellow. I just didn't want the wrong one drug over the coals.

Cheers,
Herk

[Sig 210]

"I don't know either fellow. I just didn't want the wrong one drug over the coals."

Me neither. Thanks for the correction: Edited my post.

[sniper58]

WOW! Very eye opening..............

[Janq]

For those that don't know Robinson Armament is a small relatively new manufacturer that historically makes some good and innovative products, their 'XCR' being the latest.
Go visit their website for more info on that.


http://www.robarm.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Arms_XCR

I personally have liked their product and was in fact going to order one as a pre-Hillary maneuver. That was untill Magpul began to indicate that the Masada was a serious non-vaporware product with a pre-election day debut expectation. I'm now leaning toward the Masada as opposed to the XCR purely based on the value and flexibility the Masada provides for it's projected price, as relative to competitors in the market including the near same priced XCR.
The XCR was my close second fall back.

And then I saw all this Romney ridiculousness last night. :(

- Janq

[Stetson]

Romney has done some good stuff but I question his religion ;Mormon. I think
this will hurt him big time in the rest of the country.It's still early yet hopefully
there will be somebody on the Republican side that will excite me.We've got eleven more months of ads to listen to.

[joffe]

I wasn't keen on an XCR before and definitely not now.

Seems someone has been bought and paid for by the political machine. Romney will say and do anything that his campaign advisers say will get him elected, I wouldn't trust one word to come out of his mouth.

[DOGOFWAR01]

Robinson Arms is located in Utah. Rommey is Mormon. Utah is the home state of the Mormons. End of Story.

Anyone alive the last 20 years or so, knows Rommey is anti-gun, so no excuses, esp the last 10 years with the availability of the internet.

There is only one full pledged 2A supporter up for election - Huckabee. A close second is Ron Paul and a distance third is Thompson (if Thompson supports McCain then Thompson is off my short list).

Based on Iowa, wait and see on NH, etc - Huckabee is the clear cut leader of the three.

No Demo for sure. If the Republicians end up with Rudy, Rommey, or McCain all three anti-2A for many years, I will write-in Thomas Jefferson.

[randytulsa2]

Wow, Dog, lay it out there. I was trying to think of a more delicate way to say it, but I guess I'm too late.

FWIW, I don't have a problem with any religious community (or other group) informing their members that one of the membership is running for something (or just opened a business, whatever) and they might want to help him out.

I'm inclined to speculate that that's what happened here with Mr. Robinson, and that it was all well and good- - until certain infelicitous particulars about Romney came out.

All the Demos, save Richardson are anti-gun. Most of the Repubs are, too.

ALL of them will say whatever they think it takes to get them elected (pro-gun, anti-gun, non-gun, smoking gun, cap gun) and will even vary their positions depending on their audiences or locations.

They ALL believe in one thing, though: that they want to be elected.

But that's ALL any of them actually BELIEVE in.

[FN1910]

My problem with Mr. Romney is I seem to like what he is asying today but that isn't what he said yesterday and his history says that he won't be saying it tomorrow. He seems to changes sides more than Bill Clinton and John Kerry combined.

[DOGOFWAR01]

I have friends who are Mormon. I have friends who are other beliefs. No problem for me or my family.

All groups encourage their members to do this and that including probably voting, the members just need to vote their mind and not blindly follow some organization - any organization.

Rommey is anti-2A, that is a fact, I do not care what his relgion is.

Again:
No Demo for sure. If the Republicians end up with Rudy, Rommey, or McCain all three anti-2A for many years, I will write-in Thomas Jefferson.

That leaves the Republicians Huckabee, Ron Paul, and Thompson to pick for me to vote for. Maybe I will not write-in Thomas Jefferson, maybe I will just vote for whomever the Democrats decides on just so my vote counts one way or the other.

[TyC]

thought i'd toss in my 2 cents. Being from utah and knowing Latter Day Saints (Mormons) I'd tell ya that the leaders of the LDS church have told the people to vote their conscience and nothing more. They have never endorsed any political party or person running. That has always been their stance and nothing has changed with Romney running for president.
I'm going to vote my conscience and it hopefuly it wont be for romney since i dont trust him.