By Dave Workman | Editor-in-Chief
President Donald Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity during a telephone interview this week that if it had not been for him being in the White House, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms might no longer exist as it was originally intended.
In his usual slightly rambling manner of speaking, the president was explaining how he has reshaped the federal courts and appointed two constitutional justices to the U.S. Supreme Court when he suddenly zeroed in on the Second Amendment.
“Outside of war and peace,” Trump observed, “the most important thing a president does is select Supreme Court justices, and (federal) judges.”
He estimated there may be more than 300 new federal court judges “by the end of my first term.”
“The whole country depends on these decisions, which way you go,” the president commented, “whether you have a Second Amendment or not. I mean the Second Amendment would be under siege.”
Trump nearly always mentions the Second Amendment during his public appearances, and it seems almost a reflexive observation. No other chief executive in recent memory has habitually mentioned the Second Amendment, suggesting it is important to him.
“If I wasn’t here,” Trump said, “you wouldn’t have a Second Amendment; you wouldn’t have a right to guns. Whether you had it or it was just almost totally obliterated, but it would be in a very different form than you have it now. I’ve kept it totally as it was and it’s a, you know, it’s something I’m very proud of and…I think it’s a real voting issue.”
Indeed, the right to keep and bear arms has become more than a mere shadow issue in this year’s campaign. Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) have both made clear their intentions to ratchet down on gun rights, including banning so-called “assault weapons” and full capacity magazines. Biden’s gun control agenda also includes one-gun-a-month limitations, a “smart gun” mandate, gun buy-backs, so-called “safe storage” of firearms and enact legislation mandating “universal background checks.”
While some gun rights activists complain about Trump’s ban on bump stocks, the president has been busily filling federal court vacancies with judges who are more likely to adhere to a stricter interpretation of gun rights.
It was a Trump appointment—Circuit Judge Kenneth K. Lee—who wrote the majority opinion in the Duncan v. Becerra case ruling that declared California’s ban on “large capacity magazines” is unconstitutional.
The Second Amendment Foundation’s recent launch of its “Second Amendment First Responders” is aimed at energizing grassroots activists to put the right to keep and bear arms in the spotlight during the campaign and beyond. SAF announced Thursday it is expanding its “2A First Responder” advertising effort for another week.
Heading into its third week, the SAF advertising effort will now air on DirecTV to subscribers of Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, CNN, The Weather Channel, MSNBC, American Heroes channel, and History channel, and on DISH to Fox subscribers, plus Newsmax, One America News and Fox News in several local markets.
