President Trump heaped praise upon the National Rifle Association Thursday.
“What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president’s comments come amid a heated debate between gun control advocates and people who support the Second Amendment. A few people feared Trump was turning his back on his supporters when he tentatively expressed support for expanded background checks and ban on bump stocks.
Those fears turned out to be baseless.
“There are many ideas that I have, there are many ideas that other people have, and we’ll pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas and the ideas that will work and we’ll get them done,” Trump said earlier this week during a listening session on gun violence.
“It won’t be talk like it has been in the past. It has gone on too long. Too many instances. And we’ll get it done.”
President Trump is willing to implement sensible gun control laws. He’s not willing to violate the rights of gun owners.
“We believe he is serious about finding meaningful solutions to our nation’s serious problems, so that sociopaths and the dangerously mentally ill are prevented from committing these horrific crimes,” Chris Cox, executive director of NRA-Institute for Legislative Action, said.
Last week a horrific mass shooting occurred at a Florida high school, killing 17 people. School massacres are becoming disturbingly frequent. Will banning assault rifles end the violence? The president doesn’t think so.
He does, however, support raising the purchasing age to 21. The NRA disagrees.
“Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection,” NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker complained.
“We need serious proposals to prevent violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from acquiring firearms. Passing a law that makes it illegal for a 20-year-old to purchase a shotgun for hunting or an adult single mother from purchasing the most effective self-defense rifle on the market punishes law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals.”
(Source: New York Post, The Hill)