Is Trump good for the 2nd Amendment?
By Sam Rolley / Personal Liberty Digest
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has pledged to stand up for the rights of the nation's "law-abiding gun owners" repeatedly on the campaign trail. But some conservative 2 nd Amendment supporters remain unconvinced of his sincerity on the issue- and for good reason, considering Trump's fickle statements about gun ownership over the years.
Over the years, Trump has spoken out in support of so-called common sense gun control measures proposed by politicians on the left. And back in 2000, Trump blatantly stated his support for increased gun control measures in his book The America We Deserve.
"I support the ban on assault weapons and I support slightly longer waiting periods to purchase a gun," he wrote.
And for no-compromise 2 nd Amendment supporters, that's a big deal.
In a recent interview, Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt said he can't endorse Trump until his organization is sure the candidate is serious about the 2 nd Amendment.
"[Trump] now says he's a big supporter of people owning guns and supporting Second Amendment," he said. "In tone that sounds like improvement, but we're withholding our endorsement until we get the specifics."
And back in February, editor of the popular Bearing Arms website Bob Owens said that a Trump White House could destroy the 2 ndAmendment.
Just as we've discussed many times here, Owens says the future of American gun control boils down to the next president's Supreme Court picks.
He wrote:
Trump changes party affiliations from Democrat to Republican to Independent with seeming reckless abandon. It appears that his party loyalty isn't based upon any set of bedrock principles, but is instead the result of a sort of every-changing political calculus based upon the simple theory, "What will benefit me the most in the short term?"
Mr. Trump's lack of conservative principles, and his heavily-documented history of using the bludgeon of the law against individual citizens when it benefits his bottom line-a Clintonesque authoritarianism-suggests that Trump simply cannot be trusted to put a textualist judge on the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in Texas of natural causes this past weekend.
Trump's lack of any firm principles suggests that he'd instead nominate someone like himself, an opportunist, with no firm principles. As supporters of the entire Constitution, we simply cannot risk a candidate with so little real regard for constitutional principles, including our Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Owens said the way things look, he'll either abstain from voting in November or find a third-party alternative.
Other 2 nd Amendment supporters are taking Trump's word and blaming his gun control inconsistencies on changes in belief that have occurred over the span of several years. And while he's not yet earned the powerful organization's endorsement, the National Rifle Association hasn't been too hard on Trump for his past positions.
For 2 nd Amendment supporters who are also currently on the Trump wagon, his statements about the right to bear arms are worth careful observation over the next several months.
Sam Rolley began a career in journalism working for a small town newspaper while seeking a B.A. in English. After covering community news and politics, Rolley took a position at Personal Liberty Media Group where could better hone his focus on his true passions: national politics and liberty issues. In his daily columns and reports, Rolley works to help readers understand which lies are perpetuated by the mainstream media and to stay on top of issues ignored by more conventional media outlets.
By Sam Rolley / Personal Liberty Digest
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has pledged to stand up for the rights of the nation's "law-abiding gun owners" repeatedly on the campaign trail. But some conservative 2 nd Amendment supporters remain unconvinced of his sincerity on the issue- and for good reason, considering Trump's fickle statements about gun ownership over the years.
Over the years, Trump has spoken out in support of so-called common sense gun control measures proposed by politicians on the left. And back in 2000, Trump blatantly stated his support for increased gun control measures in his book The America We Deserve.
"I support the ban on assault weapons and I support slightly longer waiting periods to purchase a gun," he wrote.
And for no-compromise 2 nd Amendment supporters, that's a big deal.
In a recent interview, Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt said he can't endorse Trump until his organization is sure the candidate is serious about the 2 nd Amendment.
"[Trump] now says he's a big supporter of people owning guns and supporting Second Amendment," he said. "In tone that sounds like improvement, but we're withholding our endorsement until we get the specifics."
And back in February, editor of the popular Bearing Arms website Bob Owens said that a Trump White House could destroy the 2 ndAmendment.
Just as we've discussed many times here, Owens says the future of American gun control boils down to the next president's Supreme Court picks.
He wrote:
Trump changes party affiliations from Democrat to Republican to Independent with seeming reckless abandon. It appears that his party loyalty isn't based upon any set of bedrock principles, but is instead the result of a sort of every-changing political calculus based upon the simple theory, "What will benefit me the most in the short term?"
Mr. Trump's lack of conservative principles, and his heavily-documented history of using the bludgeon of the law against individual citizens when it benefits his bottom line-a Clintonesque authoritarianism-suggests that Trump simply cannot be trusted to put a textualist judge on the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in Texas of natural causes this past weekend.
Trump's lack of any firm principles suggests that he'd instead nominate someone like himself, an opportunist, with no firm principles. As supporters of the entire Constitution, we simply cannot risk a candidate with so little real regard for constitutional principles, including our Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Owens said the way things look, he'll either abstain from voting in November or find a third-party alternative.
Other 2 nd Amendment supporters are taking Trump's word and blaming his gun control inconsistencies on changes in belief that have occurred over the span of several years. And while he's not yet earned the powerful organization's endorsement, the National Rifle Association hasn't been too hard on Trump for his past positions.
For 2 nd Amendment supporters who are also currently on the Trump wagon, his statements about the right to bear arms are worth careful observation over the next several months.
Sam Rolley began a career in journalism working for a small town newspaper while seeking a B.A. in English. After covering community news and politics, Rolley took a position at Personal Liberty Media Group where could better hone his focus on his true passions: national politics and liberty issues. In his daily columns and reports, Rolley works to help readers understand which lies are perpetuated by the mainstream media and to stay on top of issues ignored by more conventional media outlets.
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