Prospective GOP platform jettisons substantive gun rights positions

[Miami_JBT]

https://thenewamerican.com/us/politics/ ... out-trump/

J.D. Vance Eases Gun Owners’ Concerns About Trump
by Bob Adelmann July 19, 2024 ( July 19, 2024 )

Concerns voiced by gun-rights advocates about Donald Trump’s 2A stance were effectively silenced by his vice-presidential pick, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio). During his own acceptance speech, Vance told this story:

Now, my Mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq, in 2005. And when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. They were stashed all over her house. Under her bed, in her closet. In the silverware drawer.

And we wondered what was going on, and it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn’t get around very well. And so, this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arms’ length of whatever she needed to protect her family. That’s who we fight for. That’s American spirit.

Gun-rights advocates expressed nervousness and concerns when the Trump/GOP platform relegated mention of support for the Second Amendment to seventh place on its list of 20 promises. That nervousness increased when there was not a single 2A speaker among the many who addressed the RNC’s convention in Milwaukee over the last four nights.

And that nervousness was reinforced when they remembered Trump’s bump stock ban, along with his support of “red flag” laws despite their infringement of the Fourth Amendment.

They began to suspect that, like Jacob Sullum noted in Reason, “Trump has never been a true believer” in the Second Amendment.

Not to worry.

When Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita was pressed on the matter during a meeting sponsored by the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) at a nearby hotel during the convention, he said:

I think what we’ll see is a continuation of supporting and defending the Second Amendment and where that really comes into play is the judiciary, the appointment of judges. And so that is clearly, you know, one of the largest impacts that President Trump had clearly during his first term was a remake of the judiciary.

That “remake,” it will be remembered, resulted in the high court’s ruling in Bruen that upended the entire jurisdictional conversation and court rulings about the Second Amendment, resulting in the overturning of many 2A infringements. And lawsuits attacking those infringements will continue.

The NRA, which endorsed Trump at its national convention in May, also likes Trump’s pick. Said Randy Kozuch, chairman of the NRA Political Victory Fund:

Senator Vance has been an unwavering supporter of constitutional freedoms, especially the right to keep and bear arms. In the U.S. Senate, he has consistently stood against the Biden-Harris gun control agenda.

This was echoed by Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America: “Senator Vance is a friend of the American gun owner, one who will fiercely defend our Second Amendment rights. We are thrilled with his selection and look forward to removing the anti-gunner-in-chief from the White House.”

Additional comfort comes from enemies of the Second Amendment, who wasted no time in recognizing the threat Vance poses. Angela Ferrell-Zabala of Moms Demand Action declared that “Donald Trump’s pick for Vice President has a record of undermining the gun violence prevention movement.” And Giffords’ Emma Brown expressed her concern:

Republicans and Democrats alike are concerned about gun violence in this country, yet Donald Trump and JD Vance have consistently put gun industry profits over the safety of American communities.

We owe it to future generations to keep this pair out of the White House.

Let’s not forget the victories achieved during Trump’s first term. His newly formed Gun Owners for Trump declares that “President Trump did more for gun owners than any administration in history,” and then listed some of them, which included:

-appointing three Supreme Court justices and hundreds of conservative federal judges “to interpret the Constitution as written and to protect the Second Amendment;”

-Trump deemed firearms and ammunition dealers as “essential businesses;”

-He rolled back Obama-era Social Security rules that effectively stripped 2A rights from recipients depending on others to handle their finances;

-and he petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn New York City’s unconstitutional ban on transporting handguns outside the home. The high court ruled in favor of the Second Amendment in the landmark case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

To be sure, some remain skeptical and are promising to hold Trump and Vance accountable in the event there is even a trace of wobbling over the Second Amendment. Said GOA spokesman Luis Valdes:

Our stance is very simple. We will not compromise, and we will be relentless in holding Republicans accountable to their campaign promises. Republicans campaign that they are pro-gun. We will hold their feet to the fire.

[Miami_JBT]

https://thenewamerican.com/us/politics/ ... amendment/

Republican Party Platform All But Ignores the Second Amendment
by Bob Adelmann July 11, 2024 ( July 11, 2024 )

The Republican Party’s 2024 platform, released on Monday, is missing any full-bodied support of the Second Amendment. The platform mentions it just once, at the No. 7 position among its 20 promises:

7. Defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.

Period.

What a contrast with the GOP’s 2016 platform on the Second Amendment:

We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states. We support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them.

We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle. We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law. We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the current Administration’s illegal harassment of firearm dealers. We oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban.

Trump in 2015
This was certainly in line with what Donald Trump said he believed in his 2015 book Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America:

The fact that the Founding Fathers made it the Second Amendment, second only to our First Amendment freedoms of speech, religion, the press, and the right of assembly and to petition the government, shows that they understood how important the right to bear arms would be for all Americans….

We all enjoy this fundamental right in order to defend ourselves and our families. The Founding Fathers knew it was essential to a free society and passed this amendment to make sure the government could never take it (or our arms) away. Throughout history, we’ve seen oppressive governments consolidate and ensure their control over those they govern by taking away the means necessary for citizens to defend themselves….

The Second Amendment was created to make sure Americans could protect themselves from tyranny. There is no way we will change it.

Trump in 2024
In its press release, the Republican National Committee (RNC) affirmed that the 2024 platform was totally Trump’s doing. The apparent deviation from what Trump believed in 2015 is very concerning, as the platform “serves as a contract with the American voter that makes clear what we can and will deliver under a President Trump administration with the Republican Party leading the country for the next four years.”

Second Amendment Not Prioritized
As noted above, the Second Amendment sits in seventh position, behind other pressing issues like securing the border and deporting illegals. Making the country the dominant energy producer in the world is next, followed by “turn[ing] the United States into a manufacturing superpower. Number Six: “Large tax cuts for workers and no tax on tips!”

In seventh place, the Second Amendment is likely to be ignored. There is no other mention of it among the 20 promises, and no agenda concerning rolling back present onerous unconstitutional infringements.

Instead, gun owners might learn to their dismay what Reason writer Jacob Sullum suggests. Is Trump interested not in ideology, but in pragmatic solutions to problems the country faces, despite the fact that those solutions might be unconstitutional? As Sullum noted:

This cursory treatment of the Second Amendment is consistent with the reality that the current Republican Party wants whatever former President Donald Trump wants.

Despite his lip service to the right of armed self-defense, Trump has never been a true believer…

What Does Trump Really Believe?
In February 2018, following the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Trump met with Vice President Mike Pence and leaders of both political parties. Deranged gunman Nikolas Cruz had used a semiautomatic rifle to murder 17 people and wound 17 others, and his murderous attack remains the deadliest mass shooting in a high school in U.S. history.

The topic of that meeting was whether a “red flag” law might have alerted authorities to Cruz’s mental instability in time to prevent the attack.

Pence parroted the standard leftist argument favoring such unconstitutional infringements:

[Such laws might] give families and give local law enforcement additional tools if an individual is reported to be a potential danger to themselves or others.

Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled. But [have] the ability to go to court, obtain an order, and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons in the possession of that individual.

Trump responded: “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court…. Because a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early.”

He added:

Like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida. He had a lot of firearms. They saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.

More Evidence
Trump’s disregard for the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment was also apparent when he, by executive order, instituted a ban on bump stocks (which the Supreme Court just ruled was unconstitutional). He’s also spoken favorably of requiring background checks on all gun transfers (even between private individuals), raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm, and banning so-called assault weapons.

Perhaps his silence on these issues in the GOP’s political platform means he’ll be so busy working to implement the other promises that he won’t have time or the bandwidth to consider Second Amendment infringements. Or perhaps he is counting on the Supreme Court to eventually toss existing Second Amendment infringements in light of the recent Bruen ruling that his conservative appointees to the high court made in 2022, so he can focus his attention elsewhere.

One dares not think, as his Democratic detractors claim, that he is a tyrant after all, putting pragmatism ahead of his oath to the U.S. Constitution.

[Miami_JBT]

https://americanliberty.news/arms/gun-o ... k/2024/07/

Gun Owners Of America Slams GOP Platform – Is The RNC Soft On The Second Amendment?

Patrick Houck
July 19, 2024

Gun Owners of America (GOA), the “only No Compromise #SecondAmendment lobby in Washington,” is seeing red over the 2024 Republican Party Platform. They're not thrilled with what's on it – or rather, what's missing.

To be fair, GOA is ecstatic about J.D. Vance joining Donald Trump as his VP pick. With a perfect Second Amendment voting record since joining the U.S. Senate, Vance is the dream candidate for gun rights advocates. The GOA doesn't think the GOP will suddenly embrace gun control, but they're not seeing the strong pro-Second Amendment language they've come to expect.

Could this be an unintentionally oversight? Or a strategic move to win over soccer moms? Either way, the GOA isn't pulling any punches, even if it means taking on former President Trump himself. They're ready to go scorched earth to ensure the Second Amendment gets the respect it deserves.

“Our stance is very simple,” GOA national spokesperson Luis Valdes emphasized to the Washington Examiner. “We will not compromise, and we will be relentless in holding Republicans accountable to their campaign promises. Republicans campaign that they are pro-gun. We will hold their feet to the fire.”

“[The GOP] platform for the last eight years was very solid, and for that to be all scrapped and thrown away is quite perplexing and foreboding for gun owners, especially because of the past history of the Trump administration,” he added.

Valdes faulted Trump for waffling on gun control, specifically pointing out that he praised Florida's state legislature in March 2018 for passing gun-control measures. Valdes predicted Trump and the GOP's snub to gun rights activists in the party platform could backfire.

“The Republican Party has forsaken one of the most die-hard bases of the party,” he said.

Gun Owners of America, a Virginia-based gun rights group, has operated in the shadow of the National Rifle Association for years but has risen in rank, growing to more than 2 million members and committed to taking down lawmakers who show any sign of compromise on gun control.

It proudly pitches itself as the “no compromise” gun group and spent more than $3 million last year on lobbying efforts. It has capitalized on the NRA's financial and legal woes and emerged as a power player in politics.

“We will continue holding any and all lawmakers accountable. It doesn't matter if they are Republican or Democrat. GOA is not an organization that carries water for a political party. We are an organization that protects, defends, restores, and expands the Second Amendment. We don't care if someone has an R or D next to them. We hold them the same,” the group defiantly said.

Will the RNC toughen up its stance, or will the GOA's fiery rhetoric shake things up in the lead-up to the general election? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

[Miami_JBT]

https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/202 ... s-n1225656

GOA Has Harsh Words for Trump, GOP Over Gun Rights
By Tom Knighton | 8:29 AM | July 19, 2024

While there is nothing in the Republican Party's 2024 platform that suggests they're going to start favoring gun control--quite the contrary, to be fair--the document isn't as strong in its language toward gun rights as it has been in previous years. This is concerning to a lot of folks in the gun rights community.

I figure that it's, at best, a commitment to hold the line on gun rights rather than try to advance anything.

While that beats the alternative, it's not really good enough after nearly a century of infringement on our right to keep and bear arms.

Former president Donald Trump has the firm support of the NRA, but not all gun rights groups are thrilled with the direction things are going. It seems Gun Owners of America are fully prepared to turn their back on not just Trump, but the GOP as a whole.

A growing gun rights group is threatening to turn its back on former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party for leaving protections for firearm owners off the party platform.

“Our stance is very simple,” Luis Valdes, national spokesman for Gun Owners of America, told the Washington Examiner. “We will not compromise, and we will be relentless in holding Republicans accountable to their campaign promises. Republicans campaign that they are pro-gun. We will hold their feet to the fire.”

That includes Trump for the GOP, Valdes said.

“[The GOP] platform for the last eight years was very solid, and for that to be all scrapped and thrown away is quite perplexing and foreboding for gun owners, especially because of the past history of the Trump administration,” he added.

Valdes faulted Trump for waffling on gun control, specifically pointing out that he praised Florida’s state legislature in March 2018 for passing gun-control measures. Valdes predicted Trump and the GOP’s snub to gun rights activists in the party platform could backfire.

“The Republican Party has forsaken one of the most die-hard bases of the party,” he said.

Valdes makes a good point. The gun rights community has long been a dependable, solid base for Republicans.

The issue is that I don't know that it matters.

The truth of the matter is that while the Republicans are pulling back a bit from their commitment to the Second Amendment, offering only soft support for defending it--though, again, they do say that's the intention going forward--where else do gun rights supporters have to go?

Democrats aren't exactly courting the Second Amendment vote by any stretch of the imagination, so even soft support is better than no support.

The Libertarian Party is more than willing to defend the right to keep and bear arms, but there's no chance of them being elected to office even if gun rights supporters decided to back the party almost exclusively. Plus, it's not likely to happen because many gun rights supporters don't support a lot of other positions Libertarians favor.

So, who else are we going to vote for?

At least, that's likely what many at the highest echelons of Republican leadership may figure.

I don't know that it's a wise approach on their part. Every vote matters, after all, and if a few million voters just decide to not bother, well, that could be disastrous. That's essentially what GOA may be warning against, and in that, he's completely correct. If my litmus test is a commitment to protecting and restoring my Second Amendment rights and no one passes it, why should I bother voting for anyone?

It's definitely something the GOP should think about. Having the backing of the NRA is great and all, but a lot of gun rights advocates aren't ready to accept the NRA's leadership a second time without knowing definitively that the organization is on the right track. That hasn't happened yet, and groups like GOA issuing warnings like this need to be listened to.