Can America Be Made
Pro-Gun? It's Worth a Try
AP Photo/Brittainy Newman
By Tom Knighton. Nov 8, 2024
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Compared to most of the world, the United States is easily the most pro-gun country. There's not a nation that seems to really compare to us. There's a reason journalists fly to other countries with relatively high levels of gun ownership to try and sell the American people that we could do the exact same things.
We're better on the issue of guns than anywhere else.
But we could be better.
Everywhere you look, there are restrictions that keep Americans from truly enjoying their right to keep and bear arms. We could do better about that.
And it seems at least some are talking about ways President-elect Trump can make that happen.
In the wake of Tuesday's myriad wins for pro-Second Amendment candidates, including that of President-Elect Donald Trump, gun rights groups are ready to "make America pro-gun again."
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Such legislation includes national reciprocity for concealed carry, which Trump supports, and a hearing protection act, which would remove suppressors from NFA (1934) oversight and regulation.
The previous Trump administration was on the cusp of securing a hearing protection act in 2017, but it was torpedoed by then-Speaker Paul Ryan (R) following the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas attack. Although Yahoo News reported that Ryan tabled the act "indefinitely," Trump and the GOP-led Congress can pursue suppressor deregulation anew.
I would absolutely love to see the Hearing Protection Act make a return and become law. Suppressors are safety devices, and while anti-gunners wax hysterically about how a mass shooter might gun down legions without anyone knowing what happened, the truth is suppressors aren't that quiet.
National reciprocity would be a good thing too, though I have concerns about that potentially opening the door to some kind of federal regulation as to what concealed carry requirements should be. I'd much rather have a national constitutional carry law, but that's not likely to happen.
The piece goes on to quote Texas Gun Rights' president Chris McNutt who pointed out that pro-gun lawmakers have a "trifecta" and adding, "They must pass national constitutional carry, repeal all Biden gun control, and rein in the DOJ & ATF who have been weaponized against law-abiding gun owners. It is time to Make America Pro-Gun Again."
I absolutely agree.
It's on the ATF that I think the most ground can be made up. Trump has already vowed to fire ATF director Steve Dettelbach, which is a good start. This is a man who was presented as someone who understood firearms, and all he's done is make a fool of himself whenever he's called upon to talk about guns. He never should have been confirmed, but that was the Biden administration for you.
Now, he's set to be gone and Trump can appoint his own ATF director, one who will clean house and rein in the excesses we've seen in the past few years. His new attorney general needs to restrain the FBI and other federal agencies that have also crossed the line when it comes to gun ownership, such as when they pressure people into signing their Second Amendment rights away rather than face prosecution.
There's a lot that can be done, and all of this is only the start. I talked about some other items on Thursday.
We've got an opportunity. Let's not blow it.
