After being hammered on cable tv for the past few days by angry teens, Donald Trump put his finger to the wind and decided to join the chorus. Friday he let it be known he was in favor of background checks for gun buyers. Bold move there. So too is more than 90% of the country.
Then it was floated that Trump might be in favor of a minimum age for gun buyers. You can buy an assault rifle before you buy a drink in some states, such as Florida. Trump, always looking for positive headlines had his press people float that one.
Also, yesterday he said again he was in favor of regulations banning so-called “bump stocks,” devices that attach to semi-automatic rifles (one bullet per trigger squeeze) that make them fully automatic (multiple rounds per trigger squeeze.) A bump stock was used by the killer in the Las Vegas massacre but not in Florida last week.
But what’s really going on here? Is Trump just reading the tea leaves or is he actually willing to stand up the NRA, an organization that pumped $30 million into his campaign?
Don’t bet against the NRA. The Washington Post reports today regulation of bump stocks won’t be enough. The law has to change.
“The gun lobby knew full well that lawyers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have maintained for several years that they cannot regulate bump stocks unless the law changes.
“If the ATF felt it had the unilateral authority to ban these devices, Barack Obama obviously would have done so. Groups like the NRA are incredibly strategic, so they surely understand that manufacturers will be able to cite the previous interpretations of the government’s limited statutory authority to gum up any new regulations in the courts, perhaps for years, and possibly even invalidate them.”
Also, look at what Trump has actually done while in office. According to the LA Times:
- “His appointees have quietly chipped away at the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the federal system that stores consult to make sure buyers are eligible to purchase guns. The FBI used to consider people “fugitives from justice” if there were outstanding warrants for their arrest, but now they must also have fled across state lines to intentionally avoid prosecution to be disqualified.
- “Trump officials also purged tens of thousands of law enforcement records from the background system.”
- “They narrowed the definition of mentally ill. And Congress and Trump rolled back an Obama-era regulation that required the Social Security Administration to send records of people receiving benefits for mental illness for inclusion in the background check system.”
And, Wednesday afternoon at the White House expect more anti-gun talk as Trump meets with students for a “listening session” on violence in schools. But will he actually hear anything they say?