By NRA-ILA
The 2020 presidential contest is now underway in earnest. On Tuesday, President Trump officially kicked off his reelection campaign to a packed house at the 20,000 seat Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.
Earlier that day, one of the two dozen or so contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination tried to have a rally of his own to draw attention to his signature issue of gun control. The difference between the two events speaks volumes about the role the Second Amendment plays in American politics.
At about 1:30 in the afternoon, a little-known U.S. Congressman from California’s 15th District held an event on the sidewalk across from NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. There doesn’t seem to be much point in mentioning his name, as he is polling at a pathetic 1% in his party’s primary race and just barely qualified to attend the first Democrat debate.
The location of the “event” (if that’s not too strong a word) was meant to be symbolic. Speaking to The Hill last week, the candidate boasted: “I’m taking the battle to the NRA’s doorstep with a new, broader package of commonsense reforms to end gun violence.”
The Hill article noted that “gun control” is the “centerpiece” of this individual’s “long-shot Democratic presidential bid.” Indeed, at his campaign launch in April, he told his audience that “this issue [i.e., gun control] comes first.”
It can only be assumed, then, that this “confrontation” with the NRA was a key moment in his effort to gain some national attention and raise his profile in a crowded field.
Instead, the gathering was an embarrassingly lame example of either extremely poor planning or rank disinterest in anything the individual had to say. With sun breaking through the clouds, accompanied by typical Northern Virginia heat and humidity, the crowd topped out at 18 individuals during the height of the event. This does not include the individual himself or a small contingent of reporters, but it does include his own staff and others who actually accompanied him to the site.
Adding to the humorous nature of the scene was the backdrop of a giant black tour bus that looked as if it could have held many dozens of occupants. Like a reverse clown car, it disgorged a “crowd” completely disproportionate to its size.
There’s nothing funny, however, about what this pretender would do to your Second Amendment rights in the far-fetched event he actually wielded power from the Oval Office.
The individual’s plan – which he misleadingly calls “A National Framework to End Gun Violence” – is basically a compendium of the worst thinking on gun control from the last 40 years.
Needless to say, the centerpiece of the “Framework” is a massive gun ban, in this case on what he calls “military-style semiautomatic assault weapons.” This likely refers to magazine-fed semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15, which not incidentally is America’s most popular centerfire rifle platform.
Unlike other recent proposals, his plan calls for forcing those who previously obtained the newly-banned guns lawfully to surrender them to the government for whatever compensation D.C. bureaucrats decided to offer. He calls this the option for the person “who chooses to follow the law.”
Any person “caught defying the law” by refusing to relinquish their lawfully-obtained and constitutionally-protected property, meanwhile, could expect to be criminally prosecuted under the plan.
Of course, the true threats to public peace and order do not “choose to follow the law,” and the types of firearms he proposes to ban are actually under-represented in violent crime in the U.S. And even considering the far more infrequent phenomena of mass shootings, semi-automatic rifles are under-represented in those crimes as well.
The rest of the individual’s proposed agenda is too lengthy to fully enumerate, but lowlights include:
- a mandatory 48-hour waiting period to take possession of a purchased gun (including, apparently, for those who already own guns);
- a ban on the private sale of firearms;
- federal licensing and mandatory training to obtain a firearm;
- a nationwide registry of every firearm, firearm owner, and firearm transaction in America;
- rationing of the purchase of handguns and ammunition; and
- a cap on the amount of ammunition that individuals may possess at any one time to 200 rounds per caliber or gauge.
The full list is considerably longer, but the obvious intent is to discourage gun ownership by making it as expensive, burdensome, bureaucratic, legally perilous, and socially unacceptable as possible.
Indeed, if he accomplished every item he proposes, American citizens would be worse off in terms of access to firearms than residents of many Western European countries that have no pretense of a “right” to arms and instead treat gun ownership as a tightly-restricted privilege.
Yet even as this plan was being unveiled to an audience that could barely fill a spacious utility closet, another, significantly larger audience was massing well ahead of President Trump’s official campaign kick-off later that night. That event packed the 20,000 seats of the arena, with an overflow crowd cheering the President on from outside the venue as well.
And it wasn’t just the numbers that told the tale. There was an enthusiasm and electricity to the crowd in Orlando that is simply unmatched in American politics today.
For Second Amendment supporters, the president has been a steadfast ally, refusing to bend to the will of anti-gun forces within the Democrat party, the legacy media, and increasingly in a business climate that appears to embrace virtue signaling even over company mission or shareholder value.
His years in office have seen some of the harshest, most sustained attacks against the Second Amendment in our nation’s history, and he has held firm to his promise to be friend to the law-abiding gun owner. None of the many gun control bills introduced into Congress have succeeded during his watch.
Not only that, he has appointed two justices to the U.S. Supreme Court committed to the original understanding of the U.S. Constitution. The Second Amendment will again be before the court this year, and thanks to President Trump, it will be given the respectful consideration it deserves. That would not have happened if Hillary Clinton had succeeded in her bid for the White House.
President Trump mentioned the Second Amendment three times in Orlando, and the crowd responded each time with raucous cheering and applause.
Like his would-be opponent from California, the President has situated the Second Amendment squarely at the center of his campaign. President Trump, however, understands the fundamental place the right to keep and bear arms holds in American life. “We will protect our Second Amendment,” he promised once again.
Fortunately, President Trump will almost certainly not be facing the Congressman from California’s 15th District in the race for the White House. And while the president’s eventual opponent is likely to take a more “moderate” stance on firearms in the general election, there’s little doubt the gun control wish list unveiled last Tuesday was as much as anything a roadmap anti-gun forces hope will lead to the eventual destruction of the Second Amendment.
Bit by bit, they are hoping to change the terms of the debate and move the window on what is considered possible in infringing your rights.
Two views of the Second Amendment emerged on Tuesday, and it was clear which one was more widely embraced.
But make no mistake, there is still much work to be done to ensure that view also prevails in 2020. The media’s knives were out before the president even finished his speech, spinning familiar tales about the doom that surely await his electoral ambitions.
So we must do all we can to protect our freedoms in the 2020 elections.
This article originally appeared at nraila.org and is reprinted here with permission.
Steadfast ally? Not so much.
Bumpstocks? Suppressors? Due Process for Red Flag laws?
He is much better than we would have had with Hillary…..but he is a politician. Let’s not raise his pedestal too high.
yeah at best he is a fudd at worst he is pressured to be a fudd instead of a full on anti gunner.
The problem is that he follows right along with the largest and best-funded ANTI-RKBA organization in the USA.
Bump Stock Ban
Suppressor restrictions
Red Flag Laws
So, where have we heard all of those proposed? Who is the spokesperson for those anti-RKBA proposals?? None other than our own beloved Wayne LaPierre.
@ Specialist38 & TomC,
You lose all credibility when you mention Suppressor restrictions and Red Flag Laws, to which, Trump has done exactly… NOTHING on.
You got bump stocks, and your constant, incessant, bleating on that issue has exposed you as nothing but whining curds.
Oh yeah, promoting them doesn’t count for anything…
With YUJ knives in our backs.
Trump has said negative things about suppressors just like he did with bump stocks. He should be campaigning against red fag laws, and yet he has said positive things about them.
The way Trump got the bumpstock ban set the stage for future admenstruations to ban just about anything they want, just by ordering BATFE to “reinterpret” the law.
And if you want us to show up at the polls again to support the man maybe you should stop insulting people who don’t agree with your assessment of the situation. You need us to show up and vote.
“red fag”, is that some kind of Communist homosexual? ;>)
Vote for Biden and see what you get.
Trump is NOT a politician and says contradictory things all the time.
Methinks YOU are misdirected.
Pirate. Do not show up to vote. Or do. I don’t give a fuck. If you throw a tantrum and throw your rights away , so be it.
Don’t forget that even before the election, Trump was promoting “No fly, no buy.”
He has consistently been one of those “I support the 2nd Amendment, but…” people.
Partisan hacks are just that. They see only the color of the jersey.
don’t raise ANY politician too high.
Trump was and is the best real alternative, not the best theoretical choice.
But ya gotta admit, Trump can be hilarious. so he’s got that going for him.
This line (which is not actually true, BTW) prompted me to scroll back up to look at the byline on the article. Yep, NRA-ILA. I’m not even a little surprised.
With friends like this…
I agree. And if that means kicking the NRA to the curb because they can’t be saved (my preferred option), then that’s what we need to do.
Maybe he’s just trying to set himself up and run for D. Fienstein’s seat?
She can’t live forever unless she drank out of the same fountain RBG did.
Bump stocks today, suppressors tomorrow, if elected I will do more to you in the future. What a joke. Does not matter anyway if you live in Commie states of IL, CA, NY, MA, CN, RI, MD, NV, OR, WA, CO, HI, NM, and some of the other states that have teeter on anti-2nd Amendment more recently live DE, NH, VT and others. Only the Supreme Court of 6 seats of constitutional leaning justices will solve our problems. The 2nd Amendment is not second class to other amendments and is the heaviest regulated amendment of our constitution.
Oh, forgot NJ.
Many have put NJ in the rear view mirror as they left for greener pastures, lower taxes, less restrictive gun laws, the right to work without being forced to join a union, lower taxes, less congestion, more affordable housing, better quality of life, lower taxes and oh yes, lower taxes.
It is a crying shame that NJ has such a corrupt state government, the Dems have run this state into the ground in the past 40 years. Each governor and state legislator more corrupt and incompetent than the last. Our current excuse for a governor got a law passed that makes it a felony for merely possessing a magazine holding more than 10 rounds. Each magazine counts as a felony. No grandfather purchase, no excuses. With the state system of registration/permits required to purchase a handgun; I wonder if they plan to do any searches for these horrible death-dealing magazines? They wouldn’t do that, would they?
Nobody’s FORCED to “Join A Union”! Buy IF you want to be Better Payed, Job Security and Healthcare Benefits, joining a Union is the way to go. I’m a member of Iron Workers Union since 1967, and still am, though I retired sixteen years ago. You might ask as to why I’m still in a Union as a Retiree, too stay in Practice and Updates in New Construction Methods being used and developed…
Ask King George how his gun confiscation worked out???
Trump, while not an enemy of the 2nd A, is not much of a friend. That said, we would be much worse of with the Hilderbeast or any of the current non contenders for the Demonrat nomination.
So if he is not primaried, what is the plan to hold his feet to the fire, especially since he will be even more reckless since he will not be up for reelection?
There’s an Old Saying in Retail, “If you can sell you’re product to only 1% of 100,000 people, you’ve already made a profit”. That’s all it takes to Win, 1%…
What fucken retailer that went bankrupt did you learn that from? If the gross on that 1% does not add up to the cost, then you just lost money. You don’t sell to the 1%, you have loss leaders for the 1% and high grossing items for the other 99%.
1% of ~320 Million Voters is STILL ~3.2-Million Votes, enough to decide a election…
One percent of ~320 Million Voters is STILL ~3.2-Million Votes, enough to decide a election…
gosh, trump is so horrible. let’s keep him around for another term tho’, shall we? all those awful mealy mouthed non- committal comments regarding enumerated rights show to some degree that he is dodging issues important to some of y’all. imagine that type of behavior being demonstrated in an attempt to alienate as few of his supporters as possible. i’d much rather see total commitment to my single interests, but when you’re that high up and the margins are slim you might want to moderate a bit regardless of your beliefs. it’s a shame i have to prefer some form of dishonesty to steadfast virtue signalling, but i’d prefer to keep the socialists at bay. at least i can delude myself into hoping it’s all towards the best possible outcome under current cultural tendencies. the candidate many of you would have is perfect on many levels; holding office in the first place is probably not one of them.
comparing swallowells clown parade to galore- grabber’s campaign seems straight out of an echo chamber. sometime next year we’ll know who to fret about and it won’t be this fuktard.
but perhaps panacea is what this site intended. he can’t lose, so why vote?
Embrace the pain mortals.
The Dems should just nominate Michael Avenatti and Jussie Smollett for President and V.P.
If trump learns a lesson in 2020 and still runs in 2024, I might give him a chance. Otherwise, he doesn’t need my vote. He’s not pro 2A, he’s pro NRA and they love him back.
Does California produce anything other than NUTCAKES that run for and obtain elective office? Lest I forget, Trump is not necessarily a “bargain”, but respecting the California product, give me a break, please.
I see the concerns in all of the comments. Some of the same comments are repeated daily it appears. There is No 3rd choice. It is either someone like crazy Joe, Shallowell and Pocahontas to name a few OR President Donald Trump. President Trump is not even hinting at things like Shallowell did in Virginia this week. Some of the comments make me think they came from trolls or rhinos. Also, not voting next year is a vote for the democrat nominee. I know it is early but it is time we get and remain positive about President Trump. Yes, I am aware of the bump stock issue and suppressors. However, the continual hashing of those issues does not change the choices we will have next year. If anyone has a better choice than any of the democrat nominees or President Trump then please present it most haste.
Well said. Trump with all his human faults, tweets, sometimes-crazy talk, spray on tan, hair style is still the man we need for the job right now.
Does anyone really think he would have been elected if there were a viable alternative?
Who else would have come in to ‘drain the swamp’? It is a slow process but give the man credit; everything he does makes the heads of every Dem in government explode. That is a good thing. My motto has evolved to; ‘if the Dems are for it I must be against it. Pick a subject or issue and try to see if your thoughts/values align with those of the Dem party. Even one?
Forget getting along with them, reaching across the aisle or whatever. Defeat them at every opportunity, crush them like the bugs they are. They are dangerous busy-bodies intent on ruling and dictating every aspect of you life.
“not voting next year is a vote for the democrat nominee”
That’s exactly the falsehood fear mongering that people like you said in 2016. It’s simply not voting. Even voting 3rd party is voting for that 3rd party candidate. People will gripe about how the GOP had both houses of Congress and accomplished very little and in the same breath say they need to be voted to remain in office come election time.
‘Swallowswell’, A tool no one can use. That first scene looks like a funeral service at the burial site. smh.
Maybe that is why he is so angry and frustrated; imagine going through life with a name like that. Bet he was teased and tormented his entire life.
Trump is not a friend to the 2nd amendment. He has actually done more to hurt our rights than Obungo. Just about ready to pull my plug on TTAG.
Horseshit. Soros troll.
If you got the grit, click here:
https://www.mailing.wideopenmediagroup.com/unsubscribe/?x=a62e&m=yZ&mc=8&s=pGC&u=u&y=8&z=O6VQdyX&pt=unsubscribe
Comparing crowd sizes of a 1% candidate to an incumbent President is kinda ridiculous.
The anti-gun side thinks this is the right time to push gun control in a Presidential election. And we have a con man in the White House pretending to support the Second Amendment.
So, nothing to worry about, is there?
This FOOL from California has a better chance of flying over the moon than becoming President .5 1/2 million N.R.A members will make sure he doesn’t see the inside of the white house.
So who exactly are all of you pro 2A people going to vote for in 2020? It seems to me there are 3 options. Vote for Trump and at least keep your guns, not vote and maybe keep your guns or vote for whichever dem gets the nod and lose your “right “ to keep your guns. It seems pretty clear to me. And that’s even if the NRA is not around anymore.
Just saying.
In 2016 it was clear from the polling that the popular and electoral vote where I am would go to the lying sack of shit Republican not to the lying sack of shit Democrat. So, I went with a write-in. At least I did not have to hold my nose or hose off my boots after voting.
2020 will play out the same. I do not want Trump to win again. Nor do I want any of the anti-gun candidates to win. So I’ll watch the polling for where I am and choose best as I am able when the time arrives.
This is your right of course. Vote for someone who has no chance whatsoever of winning anything. Watch that candidate lose with dignity and stand on your principle. Congratulations, you have just wasted your vote.
I for one am tired of voting for candidates who lose like gentlemen and lick the boots of the Dems. I want an ass-kicker who will take no prisoners but beat the opposition down until they surrender. As I look around, the only candidate who even comes close to that is Trump; with all his warts. Is he perfect? Hell no! But he is the best we have at the moment. All the other Repubs are too interested in being liked by the press and the Dem establishment. Politics is a dirty business not for the faint of heart. Most don’t have the stomach for it. They lay out where they won’t go and what they won’t do because it is too icky. Their opponents see that and make a bee line for that area; I give you John McCain and Mitt Romney. Each of them had opponents who slapped them around throughout the campaign and the best they could muster was to be ‘offended someone would think that of them’. Give me a break! Do you want to win or are you content with “competing like a gentleman”?
OH! Yeah, a write-in candidate, what a big JOKE!
PATRON49IFT said it best and it is worth repeating:
“This is your right of course. Vote for someone who has no chance whatsoever of winning anything. Watch that candidate lose with dignity and stand on your principle. Congratulations, you have just wasted your vote.”
As stated, “This is your right of course.” Anyone wanting to waste their vote is free to do so. Often we are forced to chose between 2 evils, however, there is a clear difference in the 2020 presidential election and there will not be, as there never is, a viable 3rd choice. Keep in mind that the democrats don’t care who you vote for as long as you don’t vote republican!
Trump has shown himself to be indifferent to, or a fair-weather friend of, the 2A. He doesn’t fight for it and gives it some lip service in front of certain audiences. He’s certainly not a stalwart defender of 2A. All of his opponents are avowed enemies of 2A and will do anything they can to destroy and abuse it. None respect your rights, and most advocate for confiscation. That puts him far ahead in my book.
Trump is the best available alternative, not the perfect alternative.
Swalwell’s proposal is a arbitrary and random list of anti-gun actions, with no analysis and no rational connection to his stated goal of “eliminating gun violence”.
For example, why impose a limit of 200 rounds? Where is the analysis that makes 200 rounds the “right” amount of ammo that a gun owner could own to “reduce” gun violence? Would the government limit a person to owning 200 books? Or limit a person to writing only 200 words?
These types of arbitrary proposals aren’t about violence at all. They are about CONTROL.
Furthermore, people such as Swalwell won’t stop with measures such as those proposed, because they won’t have any impact on violent crime. If those measures are passed, the control freaks will seek more gun control, with the goal of eventually eliminating the private ownership of guns. Swalwell’s type prefers gun control over criminal control. That way they get to control the law abiding.
These arbitrary types of laws might just get struck down once and for all in NYSRPA vs NYC.
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