“The Second Amendment to our constitution is clear”, the Republican front-runner writes in the gun rights platform published online.
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Donald Trump, once an advocate of control over the sale of some types of firearms, has come out forcefully in favor of a laissez faire approach to gun control, declaring there should be a “national right to carry” concealed weapons across the nation.
Trump admits the gun possession is not just a sporting thing but about self-defense, and after hat-tipping to the supposed value of cops says, correctly, “they can’t be everywhere all of the time”.
“A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state”, Trump writes.
A few parts of Trump’s statement focus on concealed carry, or the right for gun owners to walk around in public with their weapons hidden.
There are versions of concealed carry permits in every state, but they vary from state to state. That permit should be valid in all 50 states.
It’s not a departure from what he’s said on the trail this year, though it does mark a shift from a position he took in his 2000 book “The America We Deserve”, where Trump stated that he generally opposes gun control but that he supported a ban on assault weapons and a longer waiting period to get a gun. What they’re really talking about are popular semi-automatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned by tens of millions of Americans. “Opponents of gun rights try to come up with scary sounding phrases like “assault weapons, ‘ “military-style weapons” and ‘high capacity magazines” to confuse people”. He also wants all military bases and recruiting centers to permit service members to carry firearms to defend themselves.
Background Checks: Update the national background check system.
Then, some sops to the idea that a pro-gun politician has to show how serious he is about crime by being extra tough on any crime committed with a gun.
On the subject of background checks for firearm purchases, Trump’s plan says America does not need to “expand a broken system”.
“We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems aren’t violent, they just need help.” he wrote.
As with many other positions during his current campaign for president, Trump’s support for gun rights was not always as resolute as it is today.
In Friday’s position paper, Trump aligns himself with the conservative view on the issue: that law-abiding gun owners shouldn’t be punished because criminals and people with mental health issues are committing gun crimes.
While there’s been a growing, bipartisan consensus around the notion that the criminal justice system is too draconian, Trump clearly rejects that notion. “Those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities”, he said.
A 2003 study of Project Exile by professors Steven Raphael of the University of California, Berkeley and Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago concluded that it had no impact whatsoever on the rate of violent crime. “This needs to stop”.
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Trump, however, does not lay out specifically what kind of programs he would institute. That’s ridiculous. I call that program a success.
