March 2, 2018

It Took the NRA One Day to Crush President Trump’s Gun Reforms

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Today she announced President Trump's unconditional surrender to the NRA.Chris Kleponis/CNP via ZUMA

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From the Wall Street Journal:

At a televised meeting earlier in the week with lawmakers, Mr. Trump had endorsed a Senate proposal to significantly expand background checks on gun sales and said he wanted to see sales of some firearms restricted to people who were 21 or older. He also suggested some guns be taken away from people without due process. All of these stances run counter to the positions of the NRA, the nation’s largest gun-rights organization.

I remember that meeting. It was on Wednesday. On Thursday Trump met with the NRA. So what happened today?

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Friday morning Mr. Trump now considers a federal increase in the minimum age as likely unrealistic….On background checks, Ms. Sanders dialed back the president’s stance. He is seeking “not necessarily universal background checks, but certainly improving the background-check system. He wants to see what that legislation, the final piece of it looks like,” she said.

That didn’t take long. I guess Sanders didn’t bother saying anything about taking away people’s guns since everyone knows that was just blue-sky blathering in the first place. Ditto for the assault weapons ban. The bottom line appears to be that Trump now supports Sen. John Cornyn’s feeble “Fix NICS” bill and that’s about it. What a surprise.

 

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