I like this one in particular:
“There’s no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons,” said California Gov. Ronald Reagan in May 1967, after two dozen Black Panther Party members walked into the California Statehouse carrying rifles to protest a gun-control bill. Reagan said guns were “a ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.”This article notes that Reagan then swung around to be very pro-gun rights in 1975 in "his column" in Guns and Ammo magazine, but post presidency he swung again:
The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 will be remembered as an important piece of legislation for gun rights. However, Reagan also cast his support behind the two most controversial pieces of gun control legislation of the past 30 years. His support of the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 may have directly led to the ban winning the approval of Congress. Congress passed the ban by a vote of 216-214. In addition to Klug voting for the ban after Reagan’s last minute plea, Rep. Dick Swett, D-N.H., also credited Reagan’s support of the bill for helping him decide to cast a favorable vote.Does the NRA blame Alzheimer's Disease for his later support of gun control, I wonder? I see from this article that he was not formally diagnosed with it until 2004, even though many suspect he started to suffer from it during his second term. (That linked article makes out a pretty convincing sounding case that he was, actually.)
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