Has President Donald Trump Come Around On Guns?

Almost two months ago on Saturday July 13th, 2024, the 45th and potentially the 47th President of the United States, Donald John Trump, was the target of an assassination attempt at a highly-attended rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter, one Thomas Crooks, used an AR-15, purchased by his father around 11 years ago, to make an attempt on the life of Trump. With a volley of shots, Crooks narrowly missed the Republican nominee for President, grazing his ear. Unfortunately a dedicated fan of Trump’s, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was struck and lost his life as a result. Moments later, law enforcement on the scene neutralized Crooks before he could cause further damage. In the surprising chaos following the shooting, Trump rose from the phalanx of his protective detail and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”. The iconic photo says it all.

Of course, we all know about the ensuing debate as to why it happened and how it happened. Since this is a Second Amendment blog, I’ll leave the speculations about the obvious security failures to the hive mind on X.

Anyways, it only took about an hour before the usual suspects blamed Trump’s own gun policies (wait, he passed pro-2A stuff in his first term?) for the situation. That, with a dash of progressives wishing Crooks had “aimed better” added some fuel to the fire, leading to speculations that Donald Trump, known for being mercurial in his speech, would make statements supporting gun control…

Surprisingly, he did not. I don’t agree with making emotionally-driven statements on critical issues pertaining to individual rights, but in a way I wouldn’t blame Trump for perhaps saying something in the heat of the moment that he might have to walk back later. If anything, Trump surprised myself and a lot of other people by continuing his “silent running” routine that he adopted after the disastrous debate with current President and former Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Trump’s Stated Stances on The Second Amendment

Let’s be blunt, Donald Trump started his political life as a registered New York City Democrat. As a bloc, they aren’t friendly to the concept of privately-owned firearms, unless it’s for them exclusively. Case in point with Trump himself, he was in fact the holder of a rare unrestricted New York City concealed weapons permit during his days as a rich celebrity about town. In the days before Bruen, these permits were extraordinarily hard to come by. Typically the permits were only issued to celebrities, men of power and influence, and so forth. Just having the money to go through the process wasn’t enough - you had to be “someone” or know “someone” in order to qualify. The irony was that besides Trump, noted anti-2A types like Robert De Niro and Arthur Sulzberger were also holders of the coveted permit.

Anyways, in addition to the standard New York City hypocrisy, Trump also advocated for assault weapons bans and NYC-style permitting nationwide. As he drifted more towards the Republican side of politics, his stance on firearms mostly became inline with what the NRA would prompt him to say, though he has obviously gone off-script. During his first Presidency, Trump expressed support of red flag laws, universal background checks, and even banning suppressors - until someone informed him that suppressors were heavily restricted items anyways. Of course, the crux of all this was the much-maligned and thankfully now-repealed executive order banning bump stocks. In a flurry of activity after the Las Vegas shooting incident in October 2017 where the shooter supposedly used bump stocks, Trump promised to “write them out”, based on advice he says he was given by the NRA. This was of course when the NRA was under the flawed leadership of Wayne La Pierre, so it is in fact entirely possible that once again, Trump just went with what he was told regarding guns and the Second Amendment. Of course, in this case, we know the rest. The rule was enacted, court cases ensued, and it was finally repealed in June of 2024 by the Supreme Court, who correctly ruled that the ATF exceeded it’s authority by declaring a singular piece of plastic to be a machine gun.

To his credit, Trump took the news like a man, and via a spokesperson said the Court’s ruling “should be respected”. Some will argue that Trump played a game of “4D chess”, and that the NRA off-the-record advised him to push for the rule to head off any legislative action in the fallout of the Vegas incident, and that hopefully the conservative-leaning federal court system and the Supreme Court would nullify the rule. If that’s the case, then bravo. Maybe if once elected, Trump can come clean on that.

Of course, less than a month later, Thomas Crooks made an attempt on Donald Trump’s life. The media waited with baited breath, hoping Trump would revert to full NYC Democrat mode and call for an assault weapons ban, or something even more egregious. However, after getting confirmed as the Republican nominee for President at the RNC convention, Trump bode his time and finally answered in early August of 2024 that his commitment to the Second Amendment was “unwavering”.

Fast forward a few weeks later to the first annual Gun Owners of America’s Advocacy and Leadership Summit, Trump took to the virtual stage and addressed the crowd, correctly noting that his rival, current Vice President (and de facto acting President, to be honest) Kamala Harris, will be pushing for mandatory confiscation of any weapons she doesn’t like. Prior to this, Harris walked back her old statements on mandatory “buybacks”, though in the disastrous CNN interview on August 29th, 2024, she stated that her policies and values have not changed. A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots, as it were.

Trump also praised the great work of the GOA, which is a huge move by a major Presidential candidate. Much like the Firearms Policy Coalition, the GOA takes an absolutist point of view on the Second Amendment, though in terms of marketing they take a less brazen approach. Regardless, GOA qualifies in my book as a squad of Second Amendment Radicals. To openly praise the Gun Owners Of America organization is an admittedly huge step for Donald Trump. Watch for yourself:

To quote the kids - TL:DR, here’s the bullet point version of Donald Trump and the Second Amendment.

Old Trump (1970s until 2020):

• supported may-issue carry permits
• supported assault weapons bans
• supported red flag laws
• supported banning suppressors, at least until someone told him they were insanely restricted already

New Trump (2020 - present):

• doesn’t support assault weapons bans
• supports shall-issue, at the least
• nothing yet on red flag laws
• openly supports the Gun Owners Of America, which does carry the expectations of a certain absolutist ethos to the Second Amendment

As far as New Trump is concerned, talk is cheap. If the stars align and he pulls a Grover Cleveland, he’ll have a grand opportunity to repair some relationships with the real Second Amendment community.

To be fair, overall Trump seems to have turned over a new leaf since the attempt on his life. Outside of some random posts on Truth Social, Trump has been more circumspect, but still with a healthy dose of mean. My hope is that this reflects in his outlook on 2A. During the attempt on his life, politics and general incompetency reared their ugly heads, and almost cost him his life. Maybe he did hear the voice of an old friend (find Abe meme) and turned his head at the right moment. Regardless, when an array of armed Feds, state, and local police seemingly cannot safeguard you, it kind of puts things into perspective. Sure, a personally carried firearm would have been of little use against someone making a shot at range, but the overall ethos of self-reliance is present.

There are some potential spoilers and influencers surrounding him, though.

Who Could Influence Donald Trump on the Second Amendment?

As President, Trump will be in regular contact once again with all the organs of government. The Swamp will be an ever-present threat, and the usual DC maneuverings will take over his life, even on Second Amendment issues. Like any President, Trump likes to surround himself with people who are supposedly able to assist in promoting his agenda. These people could be loyal to him, or have their own purposes, as he found out the hard way, many times, during his first Presidency.

There’s some key people who could influence his thoughts on the Second Amendment in a positive or negative light.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

In an alliance that shook the world, former Democrat and current independent sorta-candidate for President Robert F Kennedy Jr has joined the Trump campaign, lending the famous name and endorsement to DJT’s race for the hot seat. Politically for the most part, Kennedy is much like his uncle, and seemingly wants to wield the power of the State in a genuine attempt to help people out. Whether the State is capable of doing that is for another blog, but regardless, RFK Jr likely believes he can cajole the mighty bureaucracy to do some good. However, old-school Democratic politics are no longer in fashion, with the former “party of the working man” being taken over by leftist radicals such as The Squad and Harris. Since the Democrats held no debates during the primaries, Kennedy had no chance to promote himself as a classic Dem, and thus he went independent. But, as we know, it’s really a two-party game for the time being, so on August 23rd, he endorsed Donald Trump, securing a position in his administration should Trump win. He also is attempting to remove his name from swing-state ballots to assist in the effort, while keeping his own agenda somewhat intact by staying on the ballots in secure “red” and “blue” states to send a message. Anyways, since RFK Jr has Trump’s ear, he’s in a unique position to advise him, which is somewhat concerning.

To be fair, RFK Jr’s uncle and father were both felled by motivated assassins, so it’s understandable, though incorrect, that he could endorse some form of gun control. On his own website, he basically pledges to sign any gun control bill that would hit his desk as President, but he also states that he would respect any Supreme Court decision that would strike the law down if it came down to it. He’s playing it safe, but the devil is in the details, in that striking down legislation is a far bigger lift than just undoing an executive order. My gut says Kennedy supports gun control, but not to such a degree that it’s a front row issue for him. However, he could advise a President Trump 2.0 that his tactic of “sign it and let the courts demolish it” is a valid one. Trump is malleable by people in his inner circle, so this is a bit of a concern.

Tulsi Gabbard

A few days later on August 26th 2024, another titanic lurch in the political spectrum happened as former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard endorsed Trump for President and gained herself a slot on his transition team, should he win the election. Running and winning Congressional offices as a Democrat, Gabbard did of course endorse and support gun control laws that made it to the House floor, often expressing active support for assault weapons bans, universal background checks, and the like. On other issues such as transgender policies, immigration and the like, Gabbard was more center-right, drawing the ire of the Party as it moved further left, especially after Donald Trump won in 2016. Much like RFK Jr, she did feel the Party left her, and in late 2022, she changed her Party affiliation from Democrat to independent, essentially becoming part of the vast middle of American political life.

On the Second Amendment, she has at first glance, pivoted from supporting gun control to supporting gun rights. She’s made appearances in public wearing Sons Of Liberty Gunworks attire, and has been featured in their social media in addition to being the featured host of their Memorial Day celebration this past May. “SOLGW” is no slouch in the Second Amendment department, and being linked with a former gun control supporter is a bold and likely calculated move by both SOLGW and Gabbard. I feel she’s working to establish some 2A bonafides, and so far it seems she may be genuine.

My main concern with her regarding Trump is that if in fact she turns out to be a snake in the grass, her prior military experience, where she served with distinction, may prove to be a factor in anything she suggests to Trump in terms of gun control. While ‘appeal to authority’ is a logical fallacy, Presidents can often be illogical, so if Tulsi turns out to be a master manipulator, this could be problematic. However, her stated support of the Second Amendment and paling around with SOLGW is a pretty big move, and if she chooses to flip, she could be politically “homeless” as the Democrats won’t take her back.

In the grand scheme of things though, my feeling is that Tulsi Gabbard could be a net positive on Trump’s team in terms of Second Amendment rights. Trust, but verify.

JD Vance

Surprisingly, Trump has selected Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his Vice Presidential running mate. At 40 years old, he’s a veritable teenager in the political arena. However, he’s managed to work his way up to being a Senator for an influential battleground state, as well has having done tours of duty in the United States Marine Corps, and survived the Ivy League at Yale without becoming a complete sociopath. He’s a sharp speaker and when it comes to the Second Amendment, he doesn’t hold back, calling so-called “gun violence” a fake problem. Which it is, if you really break it down. Vance seems more nuanced than Trump in this regard, and could be a great asset to the Second Amendment community. Let’s see what happens.

Elon Musk

In a not-so-surprising move, SpaceX/Tesla/X/Boring Company frontman Elon Musk has rallied his support and resources around getting Donald Trump elected to the Presidency. By default, with most of the filters turned off, X has become the de facto social media home of most of the people to the right of Marx, including yours truly. While I can’t advertise, I will say X is far more of a level playing field than any of the Meta platforms or TikTok.

You’re probably asking yourself, how does Elon Musk influence the Second Amendment opinions of Donald Trump? Simple - he’s one of the richest men in the world and is prepared to leverage that. Of course, nothing in life is for free, so it can be assumed that anything Elon says with regards to any issue will be taken into consideration by Donald Trump.

Yes, Elon has had opinions about the Second Amendment. After the Uvalde incident, Elon stated that there should be a “special permit” for any “assault rifle” that uses “supersonic ammo”. If you even have a basic foundation in firearms, you’d know how ridiculous that sounds. Most ammunition is supersonic, after all.

However, as time went on, Elon changed his stance somewhat on the Second Amendment, especially with regards to freedom of speech. The Second Defends The First, after all. With X currently being banned (as much as you can ban data at least) in Brazil, and Kamala Harris stating that she supports social media censorship, it seems in recent days Elon has become a 2A advocate. It’s a classic example of a “conservative is a liberal who just got robbed”, but I’ll take it.

My gut says that Elon’s made enough moves towards 2A that even with his vast resources, he can’t simply walk it back if the seas get a little rough.

Regardless, he’s got the ear of Donald Trump, and is thus worth monitoring in this regard.

Donald Trump, Jr

Out of all the major players in Donald Trump’s circle, it’s interesting that his son, Donald Trump, Jr has been a notable Second Amendment advocate for quite awhile. He’s regularly depicted in his own social media using ARs, GLOCKs, and the like. Definitely no Fudd posing coming from Junior. However, it does seem that in this case, Don Junior may just be his own person per se, and perhaps not be able to leverage much influence on his father. For example, it’s reasonable to guess that Don Junior knows the futility of things like red flag laws and the like, and maybe even spoke to his father on the issue, with the statements falling on deaf ears. Though to be fair, during his previous term as President, Ivanka was hanging around the White House and it has been reported she influenced him on certain issues. Ivanka isn’t conservative by any stretch, so it is possible she leaned on him and pulled the “Daddy’s little girl” schtick.

Regardless, Donald Trump Jr, as the favored son, can potentially be influential towards his father in terms of Second Amendment issues.

It’s A Critical Election, Just Like The Last Ones

Unfortunately, with the nation being as polarized as it is, the 2024 elections are critical, just like the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that, and…

It’s a sad state of affairs, that our political figures are reduced to wedge issues (2A and abortion basically) in order to rally the troops and garner votes. Part of the idea of the Bill of Rights was to lock issues like the right to keep and bear arms in stone, so that way our elected servants and various bureaucrats could concentrate on more mundane issues.

However, the key issue here is the Second Amendment. If you aren’t armed outside of government meddling, it makes securing your other inherent rights that much more difficult. Unarmed, the First Amendment is just a suggestion to the government in how they treat you. An armed citizen can say “no”, and mean it.

Now, I’m not explicitly telling you how to vote. What I’m doing is providing you my take on the candidate that has potentially increased his support and promotion of the Second Amendment. Since yes, there are alternative parties out there to the duopoly, and thus candidates that are better on the Second Amendment than Trump exist. But, due to the nature of our government as outlined by Duverger’s Law (winner takes all basically), a two party system becomes dominant. People don’t want to vote for their truly favored candidate, since they don’t want to risk a “spoiler” inadvertently getting their least-favored candidate elected.

Anyway, vote how you see fit, but keep the Second Amendment firmly in mind when you do. Don’t forget that there’s other things on the ballot besides President, either. You may not care for Trump or Harris, but staying home is probably the worst thing you can do.

Regardless of who wins the big contest in November, keep your powder dry. Government is an interesting beast, since by nature it draws in those who may be easily corrupted by power, and we the people must always be ready to check that power.

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