The Republican National Committee elected Michael S. Steele to be the 63rd chairman of the committee.
Michael Stephen Steele was born October 19, 1958. He is the first African-American to hold the position. Prior to this, Steele served as chairman of GOPAC and worked as a partner at the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf. He also served as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007.
However, his view on guns isn’t as strong as many of us would like. In a Washington Post interview on Oct. 16, 2006, he was asked:
Post: Your views on gun control?
Steele: My views are pretty much in line with the governor’s. I grew up under some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. You can have all the gun control laws in the country, but if you don’t enforce them, people are going to find a way to protect themselves. We need to recognize that bad people are doing bad things with these weapons. It’s not the law-abiding citizens, it’s not the person who uses it as a hobby.
Post: Should people have access to buy assault weapons?
Steele: 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.
