Donald Trump Isn't Telling the Truth on His Second Amendment Record
Trump Claimed He Was 100% Pro-Second Amendment Even Though He Wasn't - In a speech to supporters at an event organized by the National Rifle Association (NRA) last week, former President Donald Trump vowed if re-elected to undo all gun control restrictions enacted by President Joe Biden. That included rules curbing the sales of gun accessories known as pistol braces.
"Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day," Trump said in a speech at the Great American Outdoor show in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
The former president added, "During my four years nothing happened, and there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing, we didn't yield."
The NRA backed Trump in 2016 and throughout his administration, as the former president even designated firearm shops as essential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to stay open.
However, Trump wasn't fully truthful about doing "nothing" in the way of gun control.
Gun Control Under Donald Trump – Not Nothing
Following the 2018 deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and then after the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Trump repeatedly called for strong background checks for gun buyers.
In addition, Trump ordered the Justice Department to issue a ban on bump stocks, the firearm accessories that used to convert semi-automatic guns into automatic weapons such as the one used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that left 58 people dead. In 2018, the Trump administration issued an official rule banning bump stocks.
Trump claimed to have told the NRA that "bump stocks are gone," and a spokesperson for the gun rights lobby said in October 2017 that the ATF "should review bump-fire stocks to ensure they comply with federal law," but made clear it opposed the broader gun-control legislation raised by some in Congress.
Federal officials estimate that up to 520,000 bump stocks were sold nationwide before owners were ordered to surrender them. As The Hill reported, the conservative-majority Supreme Court on multiple previous occasions refused to disturb lower rulings about the devices, yet, with a growing split among the nation's courts on the issue, the justices in a brief, unsigned order agreed to take up a Biden administration appeal defending the rule.
The case is slated to be heard this term, with a ruling expected by the end of June.
Multiple gun rights groups, led by the Gun Owners of America, were joined by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the firearms industry trade association – in filing amicus briefs with the United States Supreme Court last month in support of the challenge by Michael Cargill in Garland v. Cargill.
Though Trump has indeed been a better friend to the NRA than President Biden, the former president wasn't completely accurate in his statement that he "did nothing" and "didn't yield."
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.