Former President Donald Trump vowed at the National Rifle Association gathering in Indianapolis that if elected president next year that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”
Mr. Trump said he fulfilled his pledges to “save” the Second Amendment when he was elected in 2016 and he will do even more if elected in 2024.
He told the group on Friday, “2024 is the year we will defeat these nation-wrecking globalists, Marxists, RINOs and tyrants once and for all.” He added, “If you put me back in the White House, their reign is over and America will be a free nation once again, and I promise you this: with me at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue no one will lay a finger on your firearms.
“On Day One of my new term, I will stop Joe Biden’s war on lawful gun owners,” he said.
Mr. Trump in 2016 received the NRA’s endorsement during the GOP nomination race, which was unusual given that the organization usually waits until after the primary season.
“They better endorse me again, or they are going to have some explaining to do,” Mr. Trump said, jokingly.
He promised to unwind the executive actions Mr. Biden has taken on guns and pass legislation “protecting the absolute right to self-defense with federal penalties for prosecutorial abuse.”
He said he would support legislation protecting law-abiding citizens’ rights to conceal carry and travel freely between states, and said he would stop the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and other government agencies.
Turning to school shootings, Mr. Trump called for putting armed security guards in every school, arming “every willing teacher,” and establishing a tax credit to help teachers cover the cost of concealed firearm training.
“This is not a gun problem, this is a mental health problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, this is a spiritual problem,” he said.
He also said he would direct the Food and Drug Administration to form a panel to investigate whether transgender hormone treatments lead to depression or violence.
Mr. Trump said “radical lunatics” who have been elected to office have prevented police from doing their jobs, adopting weak-on-crime policies that have allowed criminals to run wild, while also targeting conservatives.
“The politically incorrect truth that no one on the left wants to admit is that violent crime is rarely committed by legal gun owners,” he said. “It is committed by a brutal class of hardened repeated criminals.”
Democrats are destroying cities with their misguiding policies on crime, he said.
“Let’s be clear: The issue is not too many guns, the issue is too many thugs, hoodlums and savage criminals on our street,” Mr. Trump said.
The former president shared various polls with the audience showing him with major leads over his current and expected rivals, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.