Given the lefty rage over Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles (as well as today’s announcement that he’s federalizing the D.C. police and activating the D.C. National Guard to combat violent crime), it’s downright jarring to see someone argue that Trump is doing “nothing” to curb violence.
Attorney Marshall Tanick isn’t afraid to make that bold claim, however. In a recent column, the lawyer complains that the Trump administration is sitting on its collective hands instead of “concrete action to reduce gun violence,” which of course he never bothers to define or give specific policies he thinks would make a difference.
The proliferation of firearm shootings over the past couple of months, many of them fatalities, has elicited very little empathy and total inaction from President Trump and his administration.
While disappointing, that dual disinterest is not surprising as the president is staying true to his campaign pledge to do nothing to curb gun violence. Promises made, promises kept.
But his trite characterizations of the shooters like the New York City slayer last week as a “lunatic” and putting the blame on individual mental aberrations is a page right from the playbook of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which has never seen a firearm regulation it can support.
Yeah, how dare Donald Trump or anyone else blame the trigger puller for their actions instead of demonizing the firearms industry or other gun owners?
For the record, Trump didn’t pledge to “do nothing to curb gun violence”. He promised to “do nothing” in terms of gun control, which is a very different thing. Tanick, however, apparently believes that the only way to improve public safety is to make it harder for individuals to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Tanick goes on to bash Attorney General Pam Bondi for allegedly rolling back “some of the weak existing measures on the books such as restriction on gun possession by domestic violence abusers,” which I guess refers to restoring Mel Gibson’s right to possess a firearm. The DOJ certainly hasn’t announced any broad policy changes that would allow abusers to purchase or possess a firearm, nor could the DOJ unilaterally take that step even if Bondi wanted to. Congress passed the law barring domestic violence misdemeanants from possessing weapons, and unless the courts throw out that law the only way to undo it would be through legislation.
The DOJ has announced a plan that will allow prohibited persons to petition the AG to have their Second Amendment rights restored, but that policy won’t take effect for at least several more months, and groups like the NRA have expressed concerns about some of the provisions in the proposed rule.
Tanick also complains about the federal judiciary, claiming the courts “generally have not been receptive to reasonable legislative efforts to rein in gun violence,” though he offers no evidence in support of his assertion. Most Second Amendment supporters I know would argue the opposite; that despite what the Supreme Court said in Bruen the lower courts are upholding a lot of gun control laws, and the Supreme Court doesn’t seem all that interested in taking cases dealing with bans on commonly-owned firearms, age-based restrictions, and “sensitive places” where concealed carry is legally off-limits.
The biggest problem with Tanick’s piece, however, is that it’s based on a false premise that “gun violence” is going up, when the available evidence shows that violent crime (including murders) is substantially declining in most cities. America is becoming a safer place, with some cities and states reporting the lowest level of violent crime in decades. That’s a wonderful thing, but the anti-gunners will only acknowledge that fact if they can give the credit to Joe Biden or local Democratic politicians. Admitting that crime is dropping with Trump in charge isn’t just unacceptable to them. It’s unthinkable.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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