With gun rights versus gun control being a critical issue in the 2020 presidential race, the Trump campaign has launched “Gun Owners for Trump,” with an advisory board including some of the nation’s highest-profile names in the firearms community, and they’re off to an energetic start.
On Monday, Republicans formally nominated President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to run for a second term.
There are 18 members on the board including Barrett Firearms President Ronnie Barrett, Olympic gold medalist Kim Rhode, veteran Second Amendment advocate Alan Gottlieb, who chairs the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; plus competition shooters Gabby Franco and Lanny Barnes; Rick Ector, CEO at the Firearms Academy of Detroit; Amy Robbins, CEO at Alexo Athletica and TV host; retired Army Sgt. Major Kyle Lamb; Eye on the Target radio host Amanda Suffecool; author and motivational speaker Marsha Petrie Sue; Neil Hogue, with Hogue Knives and firearms accessories, along with Matthew Gomez, Thibault Bowman, Mia Rhode, Barbara Rumpel, Esther Schneider, Beth Walker and Linda Walker.
Perhaps Gottlieb explained this group and its mission best.
“We’ve had time to examine Democrat Joe Biden’s extremist gun control plan—which he didn’t even mention during his acceptance speech—and it is truly alarming how his party is willing to turn a constitutional right into a tightly-regulated government controlled privilege,” he said.
“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has fulfilled one of his most important campaign pledges to America’s 100 million gun owners,” Gottlieb continued. “The president has been filling federal court vacancies with experienced, constitutional judges who understand the Second Amendment means what it says.”
Gun Owners for Trump, according to its website, “will unite gun rights advocates in our mission to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights as enumerated by the Constitution of the United States.”
“With the election just over two months away,” Gottlieb said, “we’re going to work vigorously to see President Trump re-elected to a second term so he may finish the job he started, not only making America great again, but making the Second Amendment great again in the process.”
On its website, Gun Owners for Trump says, “President Trump knows that every American has a God-given right to protect one’s self and family. Through re-affirming support for this Administration, gun owners across the country will work to deliver a second term – ensuring the appointment of even more constitutionalist conservative judges who will protect and defend our American liberties for generations to come.”
Over the past three years, Trump has invariably mentioned his intent to defend and protect the Second Amendment, and that subject will likely get much more attention during the Republican National Convention.
