President Obama’s Wednesday pitch for sweeping new gun control laws included a nod to a conservative icon: Ronald Reagan.

The mention of the former president’s support for gun control was a reminder that the relationship between the National Rifle Association and the GOP hasn’t always been a cozy one.

In presenting his new gun control proposals, Obama said that not only do most Americans agree with his call to ban assault weapons, but that Reagan also supported the idea.

“Ronald Reagan, one of the staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment…wrote to Congress in 1994, urging them — this is Ronald Reagan speaking — urging them to ‘listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of [military-style assault] weapons,’” Obama said....