(Screen snip, YouTube, ABC)
Former President Donald Trump reminded a fired-up audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference why he had the support of gun rights activists across the country when he said “Trumpism” includes defense of the Second Amendment.
“Trumpism means strong borders,” the former president said. “It means law enforcement. It means very strong protection for the Second Amendment.”
The gathering was in Orlando, Fla., and it marked the first public appearance Trump has made since leaving the White House in January.
According to the ABC News account of his remarks, Trump told his audience, “Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any President in modern history. That’s true. Already, the Biden administration has proven that they are anti-jobs, anti-family, anti-borders, anti-energy, anti-women and anti-science. In just one short month, we have gone from ‘America first’ to ‘America last.’”
Trump further defined what “Trumpism” means when he added, “It means no riots in the streets. It means law enforcement. It means very strong protection for the second amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.”
The Hill quoted Trump further criticizing Democrat Biden, observing, “We all knew that the Biden administration was going to be bad, but none of us even imagined just how bad they would be and how far left they would go.”
Despite Trump’s many alleged flaws, he was the only president in recent memory to consistently mention the Second Amendment in his speeches, including his State of the Union addresses. He was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2016 and 2020, and he appeared at the NRA’s annual conventions, always speaking to packed audiences. His son, Donald, Jr. would visit and stroll through the aisles of the NRA exhibit hall, often stopping to chat with exhibitors.
Biden, on the other hand, has been talking gun control and promoting restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms for nearly a half-century in public office. His gun control agenda, which many activists call “extreme,” has been available online for more than a year.
Writing Monday at the Los Angeles Daily News, syndicated columnist Armstrong Williams took Biden to task for his gun control demand on the Feb. 14 anniversary of the Parkland, Florida school shooting three years ago.
“With a step that will undoubtedly cause millions of Americans to resist Biden and his agenda even more aggressively,” Williams wrote, “the new president has effectively put a nail in his own coffin. He’s lost any remaining benefit of the doubt that conservatives and Republicans were willing to give him based on his repeated calls for national unity.”
A few lines later, Williams reminded readers, “Keep in mind that most of America’s gun owners are decent and law-abiding citizens who pose absolutely no threat to their peers, regardless of what type of weapon they own. By moving down this path, Biden is essentially asking us to ignore the real root of the problems that result in mass shootings, all the while punishing gun owners who don’t break the law or commit crimes.”
Gun owners have been frequently reminded over the past four years that “elections count.” No greater evidence of that is the difference between Trump and Biden regarding the Second Amendment.
