June 07, 2019
By Jim Grant
Monday morning, in a disappointing move for supporters of the Second Amendment, President Trump made disparaging comments on firearm accessory ownership - specifically suppressors. During a press conference on the south lawn of the White House, President Trump condemned ownership of sound suppressors Virginia Beach shooting
The shooting in question involved a former United States Army Reservist attacking fellow employees after resigning from his position at Virginia Beach Municipal building a few hours prior. The rampage claimed the lives of 12 innocent victims, and was allegedly carried out with a suppressed 45-caliber handgun equipped with extended magazines.
Firearms News reached out to the Virginia Beach Police Department for clarification on the model of weapon used, but was told that those details were part of an ongoing investigation and accordingly unavailable to the public. The VA Beach PD did state that the firearm was a 45-caliber pistol equipped with a sound suppressor - but wouldn’t go into any further details.
Given the press’s history of mislabeling firearms and their accessories in the past (often to fit a political agenda or narrative.), this information should be taken with a grain of salt.
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Strangely, despite the shooting taking place last week, nearly every major news outlet failed to give the tragedy the same coverage as similar mass shootings. Given the liberal media’s outright hatred for the Second Amendment and NFA items in particular, one would expect the awful shooting to have made headlines around the globe.
Though given multiple online print publications latino suspects as “White Hispanic” liberal-leaning
This is because the common element among all these shooters isn’t a simple matter of political affiliation. Rather, mass shooters in the United States fall into one of two categories: ideological zealot, or someone suffering from severe mental illness. Though addressing either of these issues is something most liberals would rather avoid. Especially when it brings into question the over-prescription of certain psychiatric medications, and the ramifications of the disastrous policies deinstitutionalism
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But this is nothing new: anti-gunners have been galvanizing their base with hyperbole, exaggeration and strawman arguments for decades. What is new, is the media’s response to this latest incident (on both sides of the political spectrum) and Trump’s latest disparaging statements.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, President Trump continued on stating the following:
"I want to pay you credit for this because when we spoke in Davos after the Las Vegas mass shooting I brought up the issue of bump fire stock and why it was legal and why it was used to convert legal ones to illegal ones," Morgan falsely stated.
"Right, right," Trump said.
"And you did ban bump fire–" Morgan said.
"I ended it," Trump said.
At the point, the President was wearing a visible smirk, clearly pleased with himself for shutting down American’s access to bump-fire stocks. Despite having no legal precedent to do so, and opening up the Second Amendment to further regulation and erosion in the future by doing so in the most vague manner possible.
"I don't think you got enough credit for that," Morgan said. "We've seen another massacre in Virginia Beach where the shooter used a silencer. What is your view–"
"I don't like it," Trump said.
"–on silencers?" Morgan asked.
"I don't like it," Trump replied.
"Would you like to see those banned?" Morgan asked.
“Well, I’d like to think about it," Trump told Morgan during an interview. "No one's talking about silencers very much. They did talk about the bump stock and we had it banned. And we're looking at that. I’m going to seriously look at it. I don't love the idea of it. I don't like the idea of what's happening. It's crazy. It's crazy, okay? What's going on with schools and not only in our country, but again–"
On one hand, it’s easy to dismiss that statement as simply Trump being a populist. But at the same time, most optimistic Trump-supporters said the same thing when he mentioned banning bump stocks.
But the truly bizarre part about the entire incident isn’t what the President said on camera, but the lack of media coverage of the interview and its potential impact on the Second Amendment. And not just from the left, but from the right as well.
For instance, the Washington Times failed to mention the firearm aspects of the interview, only quoting Trump about his ban on transgendered people from the military Daily Caller , who mentioned Trump’s statements about disarmed citizens in Europe being sitting ducks, but failed to mention suppressors or bump stocks.
Fox News also failed to mention anything noteworthy to the 2A -- over twelve major conservative news sites ignored Trump stomping on the Second Amendment on the first day of the interview, with the exception of Brietbart. And where was NRA or the NSSF ?
Furthermore, the video containing the quotes listed has been deleted from Youtube, and replaced with a series of short clips of the interview; none of which had anything to do with the Second Amendment.
This should be alarming for a number of reasons, but it really begs the question, “Why are conservative media sources radio silent on this issue?” Hell, why are more democratic ones silent?
In both instances, the details of the interview could easily be used to further galvanize constituents. The only explanation, is that neither side is comfortable with the position criticizing trump on this matter, puts them in.
With the NRA, criticizing Trump, after endorsing him, could be seen as de facto proof of their alleged impotence in recent years. While liberal media groups that vehemently hate Trump, most likely don’t want to bring to light, the fact that Trump has passed more anti-gun legislation than the Obama administration did in eight years.
This entire fiasco is alarming, and demonstrates that both political parties are guilty of glossing over the faults of their favorite politicians. But it’s disheartening to supporters of the Second Amendment, to know that even those tasked with protecting their rights, will defer that duty to keep themselves from looking bad.
Since this author spent entirely too much time digging up the transcript for the Piers Morgan interview, the remainder of said transcript is provided below.
"But America has a particular issue with gun violence. We've been discussing this for years," Morgan said. "There's been 150 mass shootings in America alone this year."
"Yeah," Trump replied.
"In Britain, we have 35 gun deaths a year. In America, today, there will be 85. Tomorrow, 85," Morgan said.
"But you know, in London you have–" Trump said.
"What will you do to change the gun culture?" Morgan asked.
"But, Piers, in London you have stabbings all over," Trump said.
"True," Morgan said with a shrug.
"I've read an article where everyone's being stabbed," Trump replied.
"We've had 50 murders with knives this year," Morgan said.
"Well, they say your hospital is a sea of blood. All over the floors," Trump said.
"I'm not going to deny we have a knife problem. We have a problem with knife crime," Morgan said before changing the topic. "What do you think you can do as president though to change the mindset about gun violence?"
"Talk about it," Trump replied. "You have to talk about it. But, Piers, when someone has a gun illegally and no one else has a gun because the laws are you can't have a gun, those people are done. They have no choice. They have no chance. They have no chance. It's a very tough subject. But the bad guys are not getting rid of their guns. Pretty much everyone agrees with that. The people that obey the laws, if the law passes, those people are sitting ducks."
Trump brought up the Paris attacks and reminded Morgan of one important point: victims are still suffering from that attack. A couple of good guys with guns could have potentially prevented that massacre.
"I don't understand, I never have understood, why anyone in America needs a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle at home," Morgan said.
"Well, a lot of them use them for entertainment. They do. I mean, it's really–" Trump said.
"That's entertainment?" Morgan asked.
"For some people it's entertainment. They go out and they shoot at the ranges and they have a tremendous amount of fun," Trump said.
"Sports shooting and hunting with licenses, I get that," Morgan said. He then brought up the number of firearms the Las Vegas shooter had obtained.
Trump replied by explaining that if the shooter didn't carry out the attack with firearms he would have carried it out with bombs or some other form of attack.
"But you did something with bump fire stocks. To give you credit on that again, you did get bump fire stocks banned," Morgan said.
"Yeah," Trump replied.
"That will make a difference," Morgan said.
"Good," Trump replied.
"I urge you to keep on doing something on guns," Morgan said.
"Okay. Thank you," Trump said.
"Because I think it would be great if the American gun violence could be reduced in some way. And I think we'd both agree on that," Morgan said.
"We do," Trump replied.”
As stated in an earlier article by Firearms News regarding the true meaning of the Second Amendment in relationship to the Trump-Morgan interview:
“While Trump did make some strong statements in favor of concealed carry for self-defense, he seems to be confused about what the Second Amendment really means. When asked by Morgan about why someone needs an AR-15, Trump stated that people feel that the rifles are fun to shoot. He went even further to make a statement that hunters need guns.
The Second Amendment is a God-given, government-recognized right which guarantees the individual the ability to defend his or her life and liberty against tyranny and genocide. Period. It's not about hunting. It's not about target shooting or “fun” shooting. It's not just about self-defense against robbers and rapists. The Founders of this nation wanted citizens to have the ability to defend themselves against their own government. It is nonsensical to state that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a defense against tyranny, and then in the same breath, state that citizens have no right to own the same weapons which would be used against them by a tyrannical government. If that were the case, the Founders would have stated a right to own crossbows and catapults instead of muskets and cannons which were the deadliest and most modern arms of the day. Let that sink in. Hundreds of millions of people have been executed and imprisoned by despotic tyrannies just in the 20th Century alone. The Founders were “on target” when they recognized the God-given right of an individual to defend life and liberty.”
President Trump is turning out not to be the guardian of the Second Amendment that he led his supporters to think he is. He is turning out to be quite the opposite.
For more Firearms News articles about President Trump and the Second Amendment, please visit:
FOP Actions of Trump's ATF Pick Belie 'Reverence for 2nd Amendment' Claim Taking Gun Ownership Down to the Bone Will Red Flag Laws Be Used to Set up Gun Owners? Trump Choosing Barr for DOJ: No Favor to Gun Owners DOJ Announces Bump Stock Ban, Countersuits Immediately Filed How Republicans Have Damaged the 2nd Amendment- 12 Firearms News Articles That You Should Read With Republicans Like These, Who Needs Democrats? Trump's Pending Bumpstock Ban Where is President Trump as Some States Reduce RKBA to Sub-Foreign Levels? President Trump's View of 2nd Amendment Not What Gun Owners Thought? Republicans and the Courts Are Destroying the Second Amendment in Ways Democrats Can't Trump, Sessions, Schumer, and Feinstein Team Up to Take Bump-Stock-Type Shooting Ban to Another Level — Use of Belt Loops and 'Fast Fingers' to become Illegal (satire) Recent Wave of State-Level Gun-Control Schemes — Was This a Punt From The White House or a Strategic Move? The False-flag Drive Toward Registration, Confiscation: What the heck is President Trump up to? If Newly Proposed Gun-Control Policies Were Law in 1945 Bump Stocks and the Bill of Rights
