Newt Gingrich Attacked as 'Anti-Gun' For Supporting Initiative Banning Domestic Abusers From Owning Firearms

While Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has been attacked by his own party on several occasions for not quite being conservative enough -- whether it comes to his notorious extramarital liaisons or that pesky commercial where he acknowledged the existence of climate change -- he is now being criticized by gun enthusiasts in Iowa for attacking their Second Amendment rights. Specifically, Gingrich is under fire for supposedly supporting federal legislation that made it a crime for individuals convicted of domestic violence charges to acquire guns.

IowaGunOwners.org, a no-compromise gun rights group, as well as the National Association for Gun Rights, recently paid for robo-call ads across Iowa that accuses Gingrich of having an anti-gun record.

Newt supported the anti-gun Brady bill that created a national gun registry, a voice says in the robocall, reports The Des Moines Register. Newt also supported the Lautenberg law that takes away gun rights for crimes as simple as spanking your child.

The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, which includes the Lautenberg Law, passed as an amendment to the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997. It prohibits individuals from owning or using a fire arm if they have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense or if they have been subject to a restraining order involving an intimate partner or the child of such a partner.

R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for the Gingrich campaign, reportedly said the gun groups were incorrect with their claims since Gingrich actually voted against the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act, which instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers, in 1993.

Gingrich has been blasted by other gun groups for supposedly supporting gun control measures. The Georgia Gun Owners, a grassroots gun rights group from Gingrich's own home state, has reportedly asked their 6,000 members to call Gingrich's Iowa headquarters to complain about what they claim is his lax stance on Second Amendment rights.

However, Gingrich has promised that if he is elected he will protect what some say are the inherent rights of gun owners. While speaking to member of the National Rifle Association in April, Gingrich criticized the Obama administration for being the most consistently anti-gun administration and anti-Second Amendment administration that we have ever seen.

Gingrich then told his pro-gun audience that if he is elected president, he would sign a series of executive orders on his first day in office that would favor Second Amendment enthusiasts, one of which would instruct the State Department not to negotiate treaties that restrict gun rights.

Mitt Romney has also been smeared by gun groups for supporting gun control laws earlier in his career. Although the other GOP candidates, such as Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Buddy Roemer and Gary Johnson have solid pro-gun records, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas may be the most zealous pro-gun supporter. Paul introduced the Second Amendment Protection Act to Congress in 2007, which aimed to repeal the federal rule requiring five-day waiting period and background checks on individuals purchasing firearms, as well as the ban on semi-automatic weapons.