President Donald Trump has been in contact with a bipartisan handful of senators recently about gun control policies, the first seemingly meaningful talks on the issue since his presidency began.
According to Politico Playbook, Trump has been in personal contact with Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Chris Murphy (D-CT).
Legislative affairs director Eric Ueland is reportedly heading up the meetings, predictive of a better forecast for the legislation than would be possible if it was snarled in the usual pissing contest among White House officials.
Hope for successful gun control legislation always feels like a fool’s errand, but some factors, like the current implosion of the NRA, may be making the prospect more palatable for Republicans this time around. Read TPM’s analysis of the conditions on the ground here.
It’s good to be king. Republicans get to (try) and play hero.
I remember when the NRA itself said quietly, into its hand, pretty much, that this open carry idea was perhaps unhelpful. And a lot of the gunnies got in this HUGE SNIT and started sending in their NRA cards cut up with scissors and so forth and the NRA backed down. They’ve created a situation where even the most commonsensical gun-control measures, the ones even most gun owners support, cause a huge backlash from the cultists if seriously proposed. If Trump thinks he can buck his base on this and come up a net winner I would be surprised. I think he’ll test the waters, find them decidedly colder than you want for a feet-first plunge, and back away like he never even had any such thought. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Inciter-In-Chief grandstands then later, either he sabotages it because it does not benefit him or NRA will give him another call or some of his R sycophants will get the call and they kibosh any talks.
Let’s NOT forget that for the R’s, it’s god, guns, & greed…AND for the Inciter-In-Chief, anything good for Trump/I/MeMine is all great, never mind the #TrumpBodyCount!
The 2nd Amendment was actually only intended to apply to people of European descent.