Posted on 03/27/2023 5:43:45 PM PDT by Drew68
UPDATE: I did not know about the Nashville school shooting until after I sent out this story. I did not intend to make a political statement of any kind about the victims from the Covenant School. I pray for the families and the school.
As president, Donald Trump privately pushed for banning AR-15-type rifles, according to a new report. Trump was — and is — a big defender of Second Amendment rights. So the new revelation is surprising that he tried to renew the “assault weapon” ban during his first two years in office.
The news about Trump is buried in a lengthy story in The Washington Post on Monday about AR-15 style rifles. The report says he tried multiple times in 2018 and 2019 to get support for a federal “assault-weapon” ban.
“I don’t know why anyone needs an AR-15,” Trump told aides as he flew on Marine One to the White House in August 2019, according to a person who heard his comments. As one former official put it in describing the real estate developer turned politician, “His reflexes were a New York liberal on guns. He doesn’t have knee-jerk conservative reflexes.” But Trump was also petrified of the NRA and others taking him on, former advisers said, and heard from a number of advisers that it would be unpopular. Trump ultimately stopped entertaining the idea of working with Democrats on gun control later that year, when he was caught in a scandal over his now-infamous phone call with Ukraine’s president. “F--- it, I’m not going to work with them on anything. They’re f---ing impeaching me,” Trump said in one Oval Office meeting, according to a participant.""In the summer of 2019, after back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso involving an AR-15-style pistol and an AKM-style rifle, Trump told aides that he wanted to ban AR-15s, according to people present for the statements.
The AR-15 is a style of rifle. The FBI crime statistics for 2021 show there were 11,628 people killed by guns, and 447 of them were by rifles of any type. The bureau does not track the style of the rifle.
A spokesman for Trump, who is running for reelection in 2024, did not deny the remarks. From The Post:
"Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, did not respond to detailed findings in this article but said that “there had been no bigger defender of the Second Amendment than President Trump.” He said that Trump had offered other proposals after mass shootings, such as adding security guards to schools and allowing teachers who are licensed to carry a weapon to do so."
Trump’s bipartisan gun control
While this reporting from The Post is from anonymous sources, it lines up with Trump’s public comment in 2018 in a bipartisan White House meeting on gun control measures after the horrific school mass shooting in Parkland, FL.
Trump told Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a live TV meeting that he would look at her “assault weapon” ban bill. It caused an uproar with the pro-gun groups that helped get him elected. I cued up this video to watch him tell her:
NRA protest
The Post reported this meeting and one other in more detail:
He mentioned it on live television to one of the Senate’s most vocal gun-control backers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and in a private meeting with Parkland families. His comments rattled NRA officials and some of his own advisers. NRA representatives later warned Trump against taking action. “They came up here and said to him, the base is going to blow you up,” according to a former official who sat in during a series of meetings with the NRA. They, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions.""Shortly after Parkland, President Donald Trump repeatedly floated the idea of supporting a new assault weapons ban.
Trump supported the NRA in the same 2018 meeting with Feinstein and others (transcript here): "I’m a fan of the NRA. I mean, there’s no bigger fan. I’m a big fan of the NRA. They want to do it. These are great people. These are great patriots. They love our country. But that doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything."
The not agreeing on everything is a reference to the issue of raising the federal minimum age for owning a gun from 18 to 21 years old.
Eff emm, I can to it with a finger
Get bukkake to ban Drew or live up to this, probably right thing. Trump’s record sucks on guns. Period!
Congratulations Drew, you finally tapped the smoking gun - the subject that will FINALLY destroy Trump! /sarcasm
I am looking forward to the GOPe induced primary and regardless of who wins, the Republican party is over. The RINO and NeverTrump voters have learned nothing. They actually push GOPe garbage like this article to play on the emotions of those without critical thinking skills. As you and your cohorts respond repeatedly that THIS is it, the final straw, the worst thing everrrrrrrr.
And what I will enjoy the most - watching dirt pile up on your shiny new toy, DeSantis of Lobby town, USA.
The narrow minded here keep forgetting that it is CONGRESS, not the president that passes legislation. Would be GREAT if you all were as passionate about the RINOs, but no, it’s all about Trump/DeSantis. So shortsighted and ineffective.
FYI - DeSantis is not a bad governor. Just know that other Republican governors are doing the same things as DeSantis without the fawning. DeSantis is NOT doing anything more conservative than any other republican governor. If you think he’s so fantastic, I recommend that you start researching the dirt coming his way - it shows that the ‘conservative legislation is not as conservative or bullet proof as advertised’. Ex. The mask mandate protects federal employees but not private companies. The Disney handling was not as detrimental as described. Why haven’t you heard these things? Because the GOPe wants Trump gone and DeSantis is their only hope. It should bother you that Karl Rove is his handler. It should bother you that he needs handlers at all. An empty suit that needs to be told what to say. Check out his primary speech for governor and what he said about Trump. Haven’t heard him say any of that since (after he won).
So, go ahead, put all of your eggs in the DeSantis bucket and convert as many as you can. Meanwhile, many of us will not participate in the RINO game or shiny new (unvetted) toy. Continue to chase the shortsighted dream and be prepared to see nothing change. After Trump is long gone, nothing will be better. The country will still have the same problems and voters will continue to be lazy and shortsighted.
Let me know when DeSantis starts bad mouthing McConnell and other RINOs, NATO, WEF, globalists, the squad, censorship, j6 defendants, or ANY subject that the GOPe secretly supports as part of the denigration of this nation. Funding planned parenthood, abortion, religious freedom, etc.
And before your underwear bunches up……this really isn’t about supporting Trump or not, it’s about critical thinking. Step back and analyze what is going on behind the scenes, what patterns do you see, who do you trust and why, what motivations are we seeing, who is pulling the strings????????
Did anything come of that? The bump-stock ban was one of the few concrete policy changes to come out of the Parkland shooting. That’s currently being challenged in the courts and has a good chance of being reversed. It may end up being that Trump’s three SC appointees turn out to be the ones who reverse it.
The rest was just talk that lead nowhere, probably never meant to be pursued, but said in order to throw cold water on the Democrats, who were hyping the issue at the time. I
DeSantis is not doing anything different from any Republican gov?
Don’t tell this Marylander that with Lockdown Larry Hogan in Charge.
Wasn’t the bumpstock from the Las Vegas mass murder?
I mostly read hearsay, you bunch of never Trumpers.
“Mostly by placing judges on the bench who will strike down the gun laws that Trump would love to sign.“
_____________
Reality is in stark contrast to your propaganda:
President Trump’s rhetoric on the Second Amendment has largely matched his promise to protect Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. Perhaps most importantly, in 2019, the White House issued a statement threatening to veto two gun control bills passed by the House, should those measures also make it through the Senate.
The first bill, H.R. 8, would have imposed sweeping universal background checks on the American public, requiring almost every private transfer of a firearm—no matter how temporary and low-risk—to be conducted through a federal firearms licensee. In threatening to veto the bill, the White House properly noted that the “extensive regulation required [by the bill] . . . is incompatible with the Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to keep and bear arms.”
The second bill Trump threatened to veto, H.R. 1112, similarly dealt with federal background checks. It would have extended the time allowed for the FBI to complete a background check from three days to 10 days. Even then, the bill placed the burden on the buyer to petition the government for background check results after the initial 10-day period had elapsed, and the government would have an additional 10 days to complete the check. In the veto threat, the White House argued that “allowing the Federal Government to restrict firearms purchases through bureaucratic delay would undermine the Second Amendment.”
Along with these important veto promises, President Trump has made several much-needed remarks regarding the dangers of “gun free zones,” the importance of adequately protecting our nation’s school children, and the need to invest in mental health resources to combat gun-related violence.
As with Trump’s rhetoric, most of his administration’s policy efforts have been consistent with his promise to protect the right to keep and bear arms.
Early in his first term, federal agencies reversed course on several Obama-era policies that would have jeopardized Americans’ Second Amendment rights. For example, under the Trump Administration, the State Department settled a previous Obama Administration lawsuit with Defense Distributed and permitted that organization to publish its blueprints for 3D-printed guns online. This was a win for both the First and Second Amendments. Americans clearly have a right to discuss and disseminate information about how to conduct lawful activities—including how to smith a firearm for personal use.
Similarly, the Trump Administration rescinded (before it could go into effect) an Obama-era regulation that would have effectively stripped the Second Amendment rights of any person who checked a particular box on a form submitted to the Social Security Administration. Normally, before the government can prohibit a person from keeping and bearing arms, it must first prove at some sort of hearing or trial that the person is a criminal, seriously mentally ill, or otherwise poses a serious danger to the community. The new Obama rule, however, would have summarily declared tens of thousands of Americans ineligible to exercise a constitutional right without first providing them any semblance of due process.
In March 2018, the President signed into law the Fix NICS Act, an effort to strengthen enforcement of existing federal gun laws without expanding them or imposing new restrictions on law-abiding citizens. The federal background check system has long suffered from the failures of states and federal agencies to submit the criminal and mental health records of individuals disqualified from gun ownership. The Act increased federal oversight over federal agencies responsible for submitting records, increased funding to assist states in reporting disqualifying records, and prioritized funding for those states that established plans for increased reporting.
Most recently, the Trump Administration lived up to its Second Amendment promise by fighting back against state closures of gun stores, shooting ranges, and government permitting offices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several states and counties ordered these places shut down or refused to exempt them as “essential businesses.” In some places, this meant that residents who did not already own guns were de facto prohibited from exercising their constitutional rights for the duration of the epidemic.
While the federal government could not override state definitions of “essential business,” the Trump Administration issued federal guidelines that deemed gun stores and gun ranges, as well as firearms and ammunitions manufacturers, as “critical components of the nation’s workforce.” The guidelines recommended that states allow those businesses to continue operating during the pandemic.
Officially, this federal guidance applied only to the enforcement of federal laws or regulations. Nonetheless, it helped strengthen legal challenges to state closures and suggested that the federal government might intervene in such lawsuits on behalf of gun owners. As a result, several jurisdictions—including New Jersey and Los Angeles County—walked back their original orders to close gun stores.
https://fedsoc.org/commentary/fedsoc-blog/a-second-amendment-grade-for-president-trump-so-far
“Mostly by placing judges on the bench who will strike down the gun laws that Trump would love to sign.”
Then it’s a good thing he placed them there. As far as these gun control laws that “Trump would love to sign”, then why didn’t he sign them? Trump had a number of gun control bills reach his desk, that he vetoed.
You’re right. I stand corrected.
I can appreciate Gabbard's heterodoxy but policy-wise, she's to the left of Bernie Sanders.
“According to a person who heard his comments.”
I smell bullshit.
It was Obama, in his first months that helped overturn a 20-year ban on loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. Licensed gun owners from any state can now carry concealed, loaded weapons on federal land.
I forgot that one, thanks. If anything, Obama was more conservative than Trump in many ways. Think of it!
Refresh my memory.
What gun control bills passed both the Democrat-led House and the Republican-led Senate that Trump vetoed?
Trump had 10 vetoes, none of which I know of were gun control bills.
I don’t know either, but removing that right would be the first domino to fall.
Seriously?
Larry Hogan is conservative with a conservative legislators???? Let’s use some critical thinking - REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS WITH CONSERVATIVE LEGISLATORS. I didn’t think I would have to lay that out but apparently you couldn’t figure that out on your own. You forgot to mention Chris Christie the conservative governor lolololololol.
Cherry pick where you can but you’ll never win any debate with that approach. Facts work as well but they are rarely seen on FR. Just emotional whining with no insight.
I think I’ll believe Trump’s SCOTUS appointments that are eliminating gun control and restoring the 2ndA.
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