Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said Friday that the government should expand the gun rights of law-abiding citizens, while at the same time making life difficult for violent criminals by cracking down on them. Also, as part of his “position paper” on the Second Amendment, making sure that guns don’t fall into the hands of the mentally ill.
“The Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all law-abiding Americans,” Mr. Trump said in the paper. “The Constitution doesn’t create that right — it ensures that the government can’t take it away. Our Founding Fathers knew, and our Supreme Court has upheld, that the Second Amendment’s purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. This is about self-defense, plain and simple.”
As for national reciprocity, Trump takes the drivers license approach and makes sure to point out the difference between a privilege and a right.
“A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving — which is a privilege, not a right — then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege,” he said.
On the mental health front, Trump suggests that treatment programs be beefed up, and violent mentally ill individuals need to be kept off the street.
“We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems aren’t violent, they just need help.” he wrote. “But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities. This is just common sense.”
“And why does this matter to law-abiding gun owners? Once again, because they get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen,” he said.
A few weeks ago, we reached out to the Trump campaign with a few questions of our own but have yet to hear back. One question has been answered, and that dealt with his stance on national reciprocity.
If anyone that’s a part of the Trump campaign’s eyes are on this article, we’d love to hear from you.
His entire position in this category can be found here.
