Romney Says Colo. Shooter Shouldn't Have Had Weapons, But New Gun Laws Won't Help

Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo

LONDON - Mitt Romney said today that it was "illegal" for the Colorado massacre shooter to have "many" of the weapons he had the night of the deadly incident, but he does not believe changing gun laws will prevent similar incidents from happening.

Asked in an interview with NBC News whether a citizen should be able to buy "6-thousand rounds off the internet," Romney responded, "Well this person shouldn't have had any kind of weapons and bombs and other devices and it was illegal for him to have many of those things already."

ABC News has confirmed that all four weapons used by the alleged shooter were legally purchased, as was the ammunition.

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A spokeswoman for Romney said the candidate was referring to the bombs in the alleged shooter's apartment when he suggested illegality of some of the weapons.

Romney went on in the interview to say that changing the law won't prevent these shooting incidents.

"But he had them," Romney added of the alleged shooter's arsenal of weapons. "And so we can sometimes hope that just changing the law will make all bad things go away."

"It won't. Changing the heart of the American people may well be what's essential, to improve the lots of the American people," Romney added.