I was talking about those issues versus Reagan's performance on them. Reagan pushed for stricter gun control and even expressed support for the Brady Bill. Reagan also supported abortion as Governor of the State of California. Yet Reagan is regarded as the ideal that conservatives should aspire to be.
Reagan and later Bush proved beyond any doubt that the Republican Party hates gun control when it is promoted by the Democrats only.
Reagan prohibited the manufacture of new machine guns and papa Bush the importation of "assault" rifles which are still in the books and don't seem to bother the pro gun Republicans.
We were in a way lucky that Clinton got elected and he passed the assault weapons ban. If Bush had been elected, I believe he planned to do the same with the blessing of the Republicans.
As it happened, it gave the Republicans a way to fire up their conservative base and use them to gain the majority.