U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Impeachment probe puts federal gun law deal in limbo,” The Connecticut Post reported Thursday. “New federal gun laws may be an early casualty of the enmity between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats who have just launched an impeachment probe of the president.”
That was my reaction two days earlier after seeing the blaring headlines on Drudge.
“It looks like ‘universal background checks’ and ‘red flag laws’ are on the back burner,” I surmised. Even so, noting that Mr. Trump now really needs to keep his supporters rallied, a tweet from the president came across as bizarrely counterproductive:
“The Democrats are so focused on hurting the Republican Party and the President that they are unable to get anything done because of it, including legislation on gun safety, lowering of prescription drug prices, infrastructure, etc. So bad for our Country!”
Really? Now’s the time to demotivate the gun owners who put him in office? Not coming up with new infringements is what’s “bad”?
Evidently that attitude came as a surprise to gun-grabbing Senator Chris Murphy, too. He told the Post he assumed his support for impeachment would derail the deal. Instead, the White House reached out to him with assurances:
“They were pushing back on my pessimism,” Murphy said. “I’m glad to continue to talk to the White House.”
And of course, he described the “deal” offered up by the unsurprisingly disappointing AG William Barr as “flawed,” meaning it was not enough. News flash to Republicans: It never will be. The Dems will happily snap up every concession you offer them and then turn around and smear you as “extremists” and “pawns of the NRA” who “never compromise” as they advance step-by-step to the next goal, and then the one after that.
Why that lesson is evidently so hard for the GOP to learn is baffling. It’s enough to make you think they know perfectly well what’s going on, but need to continue with the “good cop/bad cop” charade until they no longer do.
So what is Donald Trump doing? Is he offering another “3D chess” feint to distract from the impeachment probe and keep it from going any further? Is he dragging thing on to keep the gun bills from advancing? Is he showing his true nature and figuring he can get away with whatever he wants because desperate gun owners have no other place to go?
If so, that’s a miscalculation, because like it or not, there are gun owners who have had it and are talking about giving up on elections and drawing lines in the sand. If Trump wants to win in 2020, he has to realize he can’t afford to give up those votes.
Through his own words and actions, this president, elected in large part on a “pro-gun” platform, has created tremendous doubt within the gun owner community. The fallout could result in a virulently anti-gun Democrat capturing the Oval Office, and then showing us what s/he can really do to expand on executive orders – especially if continued Republican fecklessness and betrayals result in the Senate turning blue as well.
As terrible as that prospect seems, there’s another concern that can’t be left unsaid if radical Democrat overreach makes the Party implode and Trump manages to get himself reelected in 2020: If he’s willing to betray us now, when he needs us, what won’t he dare sign when he’s secured a second term and no longer does?
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. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
Now is not the time to criticize Trumps tactics dealing with the National Socialists, it only encourages them to attack even more. Like it or not Trump is the only guy with the guts in Washington to stand between us and them. If they did succeed in getting rid of him and taking over, the first thing they would do would be to conduct an all out assault on our civil rights and on all of us too. Our only option is to stand and defend President Trump and the Republic at all cost! Trump said today that the new… Read more »
I really don’t buy that. I believe that if a national red flag law or universal background checks arrived on his desk that he would sign it without hesitation. I’m glad he is putting some so called conservative justices to federal level courts, and I’m glad the economy is doing good as well as our position in the world, but I do not trust him on the 2nd amendment at all. He already proved we can’t with his move on bump stocks, regardless if we think they are useless or not. And to the author, great point about how he… Read more »
Sorry, this is the man who banned bump stocks in a wildly unconstitutional way and expressed a desire to ban suppressors, institute wholly unconstitutional red flag laws and let’s not forget his, “take the guns NOW, due process later” declaration. That’s not tweaking the commiecrats. That’s a big fat F U to the gun owners who got him elected. If he’s willing to do this NOW, when he NEEDS us to get re-elected, what the hell do you think he will do when he has his 2nd term and is FREE TO DO WHATEVER HE PLEASES??? We’re between a rock… Read more »
We are right between a rock and a hard spot, on one hand we know exactly what the democrat want to be’s will do but we can’t be sure what Trump will do. As David pointed out we don’t know what he would do in a second term but we don’t have a choice as to who will, definitely, preserve our rights. That leaves us with only one choice and based on the good he has done another term is warranted. I think it is monumental that he thinks he deserves due process concerning the impeachment but we don’t deserve… Read more »
What we’re faced with is, support President Trump on his re-election or select from the list of communists who are already on record to shred our Constitutional rights. Of course you’ll have your choice, the best of the worst.
David is right about drawing lines in the sand. The one thing that today’s class of politician can only do consistently is lie to your face and deprive you of your rights and liberty. Gun owners and freedom lovers MUST draw a line in the sand, but only if you’re not bluffing! They WILL cross that line in the sand, at which point you’ll be forced to kill tyrants and jackboots alike. The question is; do you have the stones to do what should have been done decades ago?? Just because our parents didn’t see the tyranny (lack of internet,… Read more »
Some people seem to have forgotten, or never knew, that the ballot box is not the only place one can cast a vote.
Due process
Like the one bumpstocks got from the legislative branch? Or the one that wasn’t going to be given to silencers?
So sick of this crap, what other right is so infringed upon? do politicians push for a ban on trials by juries, do I have to have quarter soldiers in my home to aid in budget cuts? These are God given rights, not policies or bylaws. These are our rights that limit our government, not limiting the rights of the people. I do not understand why he is trying to negotiate with evil idiots that have been doing or saying anything to undermine his presidency since and before he was elected. He will lose his support for ’20 and may… Read more »
New gun laws should not even be in the conversation.