When Donald Trump says he saved Second Amendment, he’s lying!
At the 2023 National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention held earlier this year in Indianapolis, Indiana, Donald Trump lied when he declared to those in attendance to be the “most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president” in history while vowing to fight against gun control “forever.”
Here’s a snippet of what he shared with the adoring crowd listening to his keynote address (via NewsMax.com):
“As a candidate in 2016, I promised you that I would save your Second Amendment from absolute obliteration — that’s where it was going — and as your president, that’s exactly what I did,” Trump told the annual National Rifle Association convention in a speech that aired live on Newsmax. “We saved our Second Amendment, and we’re going to save it for a long time to come.
“It’s under siege, but we’re gonna save it for a long time to come — forever as far as I’m concerned, forever.
“So, I was proud to be the most pro-gun pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House. I think that’s been acknowledged. And, with your support in 2024, I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States.”
Trump made the keynote address in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the tone of a 2024 campaign speech.
“No one will lay a finger on your firearms — just as took place for four years when I was your president,” Trump said. “I will uphold those glorious words: Shall not be infringed.” (Emphasis mine)
Of course, Donald Trump lies because he’s always been pro-gun control and anti-Second Amendment — a fact I documented in August 2020.
Sadly, Donald Trump’s pro-Second Amendment propaganda was embraced in 2020 by the NRA, earning him their endorsement for reelection for having “done more than any president to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms” despite his pro-gun control, anti-Second Amendment track record.
During his alleged “pro-Second Amendment” presidency, Trump:
- Openly embraced Nancy Pelosi’s gun-control agenda
- Banned bump stocks via executive order
- Pushed for enhanced background checks
- Proposed expanding red flag laws on a national level
As someone who proved to be a threat to the entire Constitution, Trump also went after other parts of the Bill of Rights — such as the right to privacy and the right to due process — to advance his pro-gun control, anti-Second Amendment agenda:
- He suggested that law enforcement ignore due process rights to make it easier to seize guns
- Proposed forcing social media companies to develop tracking tools to “detect mass shooters before they strike”
- His DOJ took Google and Apple to court in an attempt to force them to turn over personal information of users of a phone app that calibrates rifle scopes
- Proposed creating a phone app to conduct remote background checks via the NICS system, giving government greater access to personal information without due process and eventually leading to the creation of a de facto national gun registry.
With help from the Republican Party, Donald Trump’s pro-gun control, anti-Second Amendment presidency has been foundational to Joe Biden’s assault on gun rights.
In the August 2020 post mentioned above, I shared a report by Michael Maharrey for the Tenth Amendment Center that provided plenty of evidence of Donald Trump’s threat to liberty.
For the third straight year, the Trump administration has ramped up enforcement of unconstitutional federal gun control, according to the latest data released by the ATF.
[In 2019], the ATF investigated 35,790 firearms cases. That was on par with the 35,839 firearms cases the agency investigated in 2018. This after the ATF significantly increased the number of cases it pursued during Trump’s first year in office.
In 2016, the final year of the Obama administration, the ATF investigated 31,853 firearms cases. During Trump’s first year, the agency investigated 35,302. That was 3,349 more firearms cases than under Obama, a 10.81 percent increase.
Cases Recommended for Prosecution
The big jump we saw in 2019 was in the number of cases recommended for prosecution.
[In 2019], the ATF recommended 11,319 cased for prosecution. That compares with 10,691 cases recommended for prosecution in 2018, a 5.9 percent increase year-on-year. This continues an upward trend in prosecutions we’ve seen going back to the Obama years.
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- 2019 – 11,319
- 2018 – 10,691
- 2017 – 9,591
- 2016 – 8,805
- 2015 – 7,516
- 2014 – 7,577
The number of cases recommended for prosecution … increased by 28.6 percent.
Indicted cases
The number of cases leading to indictment also went up significantly [in 2019]. The ATF got indictments in 8,360 cases … compared to 7,630 in 2018. In all, the feds indicted 12,441 defendants [in 2019].
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- 2019 – 8,360
- 2018 – 7,630
- 2017 – 7,137
- 2016 – 6,357
- 2015 – 5,503
- 2014 – 5,310
Convicted cases
The number of cases leading to a conviction was up 20.4 percent year on year. In 2019, the ATF tallied 6,887 convicted cases compared with 5,485 the year before. In total, the federal government convicted 9,773 defendants in cases brought by the ATF.
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- 2019 – 6,887
- 2018 – 5,485
- 2017 – 6,068
- 2016 – 5,517
- 2015 – 4,031
- 2014 – 4,482
The ATF also investigates arson, cases involving explosives, and alcohol and tobacco cases, but these make up a small percentage of the total. Under Trump, 92 percent of the cases investigated by the ATF … involved firearms. It was slightly less under Obama – 90 percent.
ATF enforcement of federal gun laws under Trump in year one increased at roughly the same trajectory as it did during the last three years of Obama’s second term, and it continued at roughly the same pace. In other words, the NRA-backed, GOP protector of the Second Amendment has been no better than the Democratic Party gun-grabber.
For the Trumpists and other sycophants who believe that some form of “regulation” of our gun rights is constitutionally permitted, Maharrey says you’re wrong:
Make no mistake; all federal gun control laws are unconstitutional.
Even among the strongest supporters of “gun rights,” most hold the view that the Second Amendment allows for “reasonable” federal regulation of firearms. But as originally understood, the Second Amendment includes no such exceptions. Constitutionally speaking, the federal government should not regulate the manufacture or private ownership of firearms.
At all.
There wasn’t an asterisk after “shall not be infringed.” No terms and conditions apply.
The bottom line is this: we can’t trust anyone in Washington, Republican or Democrat, to uphold the Second Amendment.
So, the next time you hear Donald Trump, the NRA, or a member of his cult tell you that we should support him in 2024 because he’s the only one who will protect the gun rights that he failed to protect the first time around, remind them of this: his pro-gun control agenda did more damage to the Second Amendment during his first term in office than Obama did in two terms.
You can also remind them that Donald Trump is, has been, and always will be pro-gun control and anti-Second Amendment . . . and if he says otherwise, he’s lying!
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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