USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP,” Executive Director for NRA’s Institute for Legal Action Chris Cox tweeted Thursday. “We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA”
Cox was obviously doing damage control to a series of hip-shot statements the president has made in recent days, the most troubling being during a Wednesday meeting with lawmakers when he endorsed confiscating guns from people suspected of being dangerous:
“Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump ventured.
He was responding to comments from Vice President Pence that families and local law enforcement should have more tools to report potentially dangerous individuals with weapons.
“Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled, but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons,” Pence said.
“Or, Mike, take the firearms first, and then go to court,” Trump responded.
The “different president now” has also threatened to ban so-called “bump stocks” by executive order, called for universal “background checks,” called for raising the age for owning semi-automatic rifles to 21, endorsed expanded “mental health” prohibitions and even said he’d consider Dianne Feinstein’s pet bill, which would ban semi-autos for all.
Some, desperate to defend the president, are venturing unfounded hopes that he’s somehow lulling Democrats into a genius 3D chess trap. It sure doesn’t appear that way. If he secretly wanted to kill things, he wouldn’t be insisting on separating nationwide concealed carry reciprocity because it’s a “poison pill.”
What Cox is doing is reining Trump back in, getting him to “walk back” preemptive surrender-signaling and stick to NRA talking points. The thing is, those points bear very little relationship to “shall not be infringed,” and in fact represent “gun control” no matter how Fairfax wants to parse it and pretend otherwise.
In fairness to the president, they’re the ones who gave the green light on rate-enhancing devices. They’re the ones pushing “Fix NICS.” They’re the ones telling us we need not trouble ourselves with due process concerns over John Cornyn’s mental health blanket dragnet.
And they know none of that would make a bit of difference at halting “gun free zone” massacres.
What would?
We all know the answer to that. All, evidently, except for the one guy who ought to know better than everyone.
Here’s Wayne LaPierre’s statement after Columbine:
“First, we believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America’s schools, period … with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel.”
Even after Sandy Hook, “School Shield” emphasis was not on “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
Why not?
There’s been a contention and underlying effort since then on the part of our political insider “gun rights leaders” that we have to give the Republicans “something” to offer their constituents as a sop, and that they can’t just offer them nothing.
How about offering the truth: That no concession will be enough, that if you give the gun-grabbers something today they’ll be back tomorrow demanding more, and telling everyone what a non-compromising extremist you are? That the enemies of freedom want nothing less than eradication of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and that whatever ground you don’t make them fight tooth and claw for will be used to launch their next incursion?
How about if someone makes a claim on your birthright you tell him “No,” and if he persists let him know there’s a cost? What the hell good is the Second Amendment if you’re just going to surrender it when ordered to, whether it’s all at once or a little at a time?
Where are the “leaders” asking that?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
I’ve always been furious with the NRA on the ’86 machinegun ban. They could have exerted influence to get the provision stripped out of the final bill but wanted to be “reasonable.” I wrote then telling them that if they agreed to a ban, the Democrats would push for more and pro-gun folks would be fighting bans on everything else from then on. I was right. I don’t mind some of the changes, but we can’t accept any ban, denial of due process, and preventing LEGAL adults from exercising a Constitutional right. Once we accept restricting rights based on age,… Read more »
Trump has always been a whore and he will gladly take the gun industry money as fast as the NRA can funnel it to him. But Trump is not as trustworthy as other conservative politicians because he is so corrupt that this gun lobby money pales in comparison to what he’s raking in on the sly as president. Thus staying in power is more important to him, especially since he never had any strong convictions toward maintaining 2A rights in the first place. Trump knows that Florida is key for him to get re-elected and wants to appease the current… Read more »
A house divided cannot stand. You’re not helping.
Why not replace the dead weight at Negotiating Rights Away org,such as Wayne,Marion and Chris and any board of director that misses more than three meetings in one calendar year,returning the organization to it’s core function.
Mr. “I like taking the guns first” president,perhaps thinks the resistance voters will carry any reelection hopes he had.
The NRA needs to focus on it’s core mission protecting it’s members second amendment rights,not enriching it’s officers in cushy lifetime positions.
This has been yet another example of why my money goes to the GOA instead of the NRA. It’s also why I read Codrea instead of most gun writers, who are quite often nothing more than NRA mouthpieces. I have been reading codrea since the newtown attack and he, like the GOA, is the real deal. No retreat, no compromise – no matter the odds. Everyone should continue to share and spread codrea columns like this, join the GOA, bombard your elected officials with calls and emails, and refuse to compromise no matter who is speaking on our behalf –… Read more »
Dave, when all this is over going after the NRA leadership might be an acceptable undertaking. But right now it sure doesn’t help.