On May 20, 2016, the National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Donald Trump for the presidency. NRA Executive Director Chris Cox said:
“The stakes in this year’s presidential election could not be higher for gun owners. If Hillary Clinton gets the opportunity to replace Antonin Scalia with an anti-gun Supreme Court justice, we will lose the individual right to keep a gun in the home for self-defense. … So the choice for gun owners in this election is clear. And that choice is Donald Trump.”
Certainly, for gun-owners and all who value our Second Amendment Constitutional right to bear arms, the choice in the November election cannot be starker: Hillary is an avid gun-control proponent and hypocrite, as she spouts gun-control while surrounded by armed Secret Service agents whom she disdains. See “Hillary Clinton is a monster, say Secret Service agents“.
In contrast, Donald Trump’s position on gun rights is clearly in defense of the Second Amendment. Here is his official position:
(1) Clear understanding of and firm commitment to the Second Amendment:
“The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.
The Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all law-abiding Americans. The Constitution doesn’t create that right – it ensures that the government can’t take it away. Our Founding Fathers knew, and our Supreme Court has upheld, that the Second Amendment’s purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. This is about self-defense, plain and simple.
It’s been said that the Second Amendment is America’s first freedom. That’s because the Right to Keep and Bear Arms protects all our other rights. We are the only country in the world that has a Second Amendment.”
(2) How to protect our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms:
Given his unequivocal commitment to the Second Amendment, the rest of Trump’s policy statement on gun rights is about how he, as President of the United States of America, would protect our right to keep and bear arms, including:
- Enforce the laws on the books by:
- Punishing violent criminals via expanding Project Exile, a program in Richmond, VA, whereby if a violent felon uses a gun to commit a crime, you will be prosecuted in federal court and go to prison for five years – no parole or early release.
- Empowering law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves: “Our personal protection is ultimately up to us. That’s why I’m a gun owner, that’s why I have a concealed carry permit, and that’s why tens of millions of Americans have concealed carry permits as well. It’s just common sense.”
- Fix America’s broken mental health system by:
- expanding treatment programs;
- getting the violent mentally-ill off the street before they can terrorize our communities.
- Defend the rights of law-abiding gun-owners:
- Eliminate gun and magazine bans: “Gun and magazine bans are a total failure…. Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice. The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own.”
- Fix, not expand, the national background check system that’s been in place since 1998.
- National right to carry: “a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry.”
- Allow our military to carry firearms on military bases and recruiting centers.
H/t FOTM‘s maziel and Conservative Tribune.
~Eowyn
