(Photo Provided by Shutterstock/Kristi Blokhin
January 28, 2025
By David Codrea, Political Field Editor
“Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,” Donald Trump pledged to an on-its-feet, approval-roaring crowd attending NRA’s Feb. 2024 Presidential Forum at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg’s Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex.
Not only hasn’t that happened, but he also hasn’t even mentioned guns.
True enough, the man has been busy. There’s a country to run, a cabinet to get confirmed and a world to keep from blowing up. In fairness, the White House website shows an unprecedented onslaught of executive actions aimed at fulfilling campaign promises across the spectrum, with mobilizing forces to deport illegal alien criminals and the president’s ambitious order ending birthright citizenship taking center stage. (That said, troubling statements Trump has made about cutting a deal with Democrats on keeping young illegal aliens (DREAMers), and upping H-1B visas to include non-technical immigrants including Maître d’s, wine stewards and waiters , have left many MAGA loyalists scratching their heads.)
Giving the man credit where due, it’s also fair to point out he’s still had time to address what some might consider lesser priorities, simply due to the subjects and scopes of impact. Arguably, protecting the Second Amendment from immediate infringements aimed at its eradication are at least as important as establishing the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or finally providing Federal Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
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In any case, gun owners are under attack right now, from the feds, from the states, and more. And he promised us.
Instead, we’ve been treated to the nomination of Pam Bondi for attorney general, an ardent past defender of red flag laws and raising the minimum age for handgun purchases. And we’ve seen Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans balk at asking her any questions about what this would mean for the way she intends to run the Justice Department.
That was followed by Trump’s inaugural address , in which he did not mention the word “guns” once. And that was accompanied by “President Trump’s America First Priorities, ” which again, does not even mention, let alone prioritize the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
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About the only sign we’ve seen, and that’s by inference, is Biden’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention page no longer appears on the White House website. Then again, the whole site has been redesigned, and its inclusion should not have been expected. As long as we’re going there, the page on the Constitution isn’t up either. It will be interesting to see if the new version, when it appears, corrects the false assertion from the last Trump White House that “the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms .”
Instead, we’re treated to happy talk from NRA on X.com :
“Bye-bye Biden! Trump inauguration signals sea change in the Second Amendment,” they tell us. “With @POTUS taking office, there will be a dramatic shift in Second Amendment policy. Joe Biden pushed an extreme anti-gun agenda, while Donald Trump has promised to take actions that will affirmatively protect and advance the right to keep and bear arms.”
The operative word is “promised.” He promised the first week.
We’ll see what happens now.
It’s my hope that between the time this column is submitted and the time it is published, we’ll see a flurry of pro 2A executive actions so that anyone reading these words will be wondering what my problem is. No one wants me to eat these words more than I do.
Just make sure if that happens, we look at the substance of the president’s statements, make sure they’re not only meaningful in terms of rolling back infringements, but importantly, doable. And let’s not just settle for reversing setbacks but advancing gains. I’m once more calling on the president to issue an executive action to replace the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, headed by Kamala Harris and populated with leading anti-gunners, with the Office of Second Amendment Protection, chaired by Vice President JD Vance and advised by the Gun Owners for Trump coalition introduced in the presidential campaign to attract gun owner votes.
Let them have the president’s ear -- and us have theirs -- and his executive actions will be both productive and feasible.
Author's Bio
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. In addition to being a regular featured contributor for Firearms News he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance ,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
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