The Trace Uses Trump Assassination Attempt To Attack Bruen Decision

As most TTAG readers know, the “media” organization The Trace is actually the propaganda arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun empire. It masquerades as a newsroom solely to provide cover for members of the corporate media who republish their stories as if they’re actual news.

So, it should come as no surprise that organization is continuing its more than two-year effort to discredit the critical U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

In its latest Bruen-bashing editorial, hot on the heels of its latest series about the decision, The Trace tries to make readers think that Ryan Routh, the Democrat donor and latest attempted Trump assassin, will likely walk free because of the Supreme Court ruling.

“Supreme Court Ruling Threatens Gun Charges Filed in Trump’s Alleged Assassination Attempt,” the headline reads. First let’s set the “Alleged” part aside. There was an assassination attempt, no “Alleged” to it. The man arrested is the “alleged” would-be assassin, but I don’t believe any thinking person really believes there wasn’t an attempt on Trump’s life.

But I digress. The story’s subhead tries to drag readers even deeper into believing Routh will walk free because of Bruen. It states: “A Trace review of federal court cases found that several defendants have had similar charges tossed out since the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision dramatically expanded Second Amendment protections.”

The gist of the story is, of course, that the Bruen decision was so ill-conceived that the alleged assassin will be able to walk free to try again. That supposedly proves that the ruling was wrong and should be further discredited.

In discussing the gun charges filed against Routh, the story states: “The felony charges filed against the suspected gunman in the apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump have been repeatedly challenged—and sometimes dismissed—as unconstitutional in the two years since the Supreme Court decided New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a landmark case that dramatically expanded Second Amendment protections.”

Of course, Bruen did no such thing. The ruling was pivotal because it finally set a standard that recognizes the Second Amendment rights Americans have had all the time, but that were frequently infringed.

Is it possible that the gun charges could be thrown out because of Bruen? Possibly yes. But those charges were filed in order to hold the alleged assassin in custody while a case of attempted murder and/or other serious charges are prepared against him. In the end, it’s likely he will spend a lot of time in federal prison, the Bruen decision notwithstanding.

In all fairness, The Trace does finally mention that fact for those who happen to read all the way to the end—in the fourteenth paragraph of the 15-paragraph story. In our current headline-crazed society, it’s likely most readers will never make it that far. Instead, they’ll tell their friends something like, “Hey, did you see the guy who tried to kill Trump is going free because of that terrible Supreme Court ruling in 2022?”

Of course, folks at The Trace already got what they wanted from the story. The Homeland Security News Wire quickly picked up the story and posted it verbatim. And several people posted the story to their X accounts as gospel.

It’s likely that over the next few days, anti-gun “mainstream” media outlets around the country will pick up The Trace story and run with it. And that will result in more people being brainwashed with The Trace’s extremely slanted “reporting.”