# What comprises Trump's "eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 28, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460 "2017-04-28T22:53:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/81 "2017-04-29T23:25:33Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > Are we expanding past the Obama Administration then I guess. The OP is about Obama’s “assault” on gun rights but yeah…let’s expand it. Why not? What could you buy in 1947 that you cannot buy today (as regards guns)? By this I mean laws that prevent you from buying something, not some discontinued firearm for profit reasons. If you do not want to expand it then tell me what firearm you could buy in 2007 that you cannot buy today because Obama made it illegal or impossible to buy. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/82 "2017-04-30T00:21:16Z")
I find it amusing that the people who consider guns to be one of the most important things in their life put their trust in a man who likely has never read the Constitution, doesn’t care about it and doesn’t understand… anything about how anything works. He doesn’t understand things like laws and courts and shows no indication of learning about them. Three months in and he still doesn’t seem to know what the President does, and people trust he will be the great protector of their rights? Do people honestly believe he cares about them? All the anti gun people have to do is make a small pistol called “The Donald” and market it for people with small hands and those people going door to door to round up those evil brown skinned people will be coming for your guns. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/83 "2017-04-30T01:30:16Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > … people trust he will be the great protector of their rights? Do people honestly believe he cares about them? It’s not so much faith in Trump as it is confidence that his opponent was going to be worse for the right of the people to keep and bear arms. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/84 "2017-04-30T01:47:06Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It’s not so much faith in Trump as it is confidence that his opponent was going to be worse for the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Just like Obama was horrible for gun owners. Oh wait… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/85 "2017-04-30T04:30:10Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What could you buy in 1947 that you cannot buy today (as regards guns)? I can’t manufacture a new NFA machine gun. > [@](#): > > By this I mean laws that prevent you from buying something, not some discontinued firearm for profit reasons. I can’t buy any new model semi auto handgun in CA. > [@](#): > > If you do not want to expand it then tell me what firearm you could buy in 2007 that you cannot buy today because Obama made it illegal or impossible to buy. I could previously purchase a semi auto center fire rifle with a detachable magazine and an adjustable stock in 2007. I can no longer do that. Granted, these aren’t directly related to Obama. I like Obama, always have. I think he’s a pretty cool guy and when watching the old speeches, talks, press conferences, I miss his administration. I personally disagreed with some of his policy choices, and I fully believe that if he was able the would have pushed more substantive gun control, but fortunately times being what they were he wasn’t able to. So relatively speaking, he wasn’t very effective at pushing gun control. I still like the guy, no matter what I disagreed with I think he was always trying to do his best and what he thought was best for the country. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/86 "2017-04-30T14:38:29Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I wouldn’t call anything in that statement “assault”-like. Even the “we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics” line is vague enough that it’s hard to get riled up about, especially in the wake of such a tragedy. I’ve been trying to find specific NRA reactions to Obama’s statement and I’ll admit the expectation I’d find a least one that indicates they felt assaulted, but so far it’s fairly tepid. The [December 21, 2012 news conference the NRA held](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/remarks-from-the-nra-press-conference-on-sandy-hook-school-shooting-delivered-on-dec-21-2012-transcript/2012/12/21/bd1841fe-4b88-11e2-a6a6-aabac85e8036_story.html?utm_term=.8ace11ff9753) a week after the shooting has some moments I’d consider somewhat passive-aggressive: > [@Wayne LaPierre](#): > > While some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain, we have remained respectably silent. Now, we must speak for the safety of our nation’s children. LaPierre later hints at some kind of regulation… > [@](#): > > How can we possibly even guess how many [copycats are waiting in the wings], given our nation’s refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill? …but I’m not sure, and he is not specific, if this means keep guns out of the hands of people on such a database, or just use a database to estimate how many potentially mass-shooters there are. He later describes as “dangerous”, the notion of adding more gun bans or laws to the “20,000 other laws” that exist and failed. I don’t know the source of this number. > [@](#): > > Is the press and the political class here in Washington D.C. so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and American gun owners, that you’re willing to accept the world, where real resistance to evil monsters is alone, unarmed school principal left to surrender her life, her life, to shield those children in her care. Sounds a tad paranoid - the NRA’s notion of putting armed guards in every school was rejected when LaPierre proposed it five years earlier after the Virginia Tech shooting, therefore it must be due to fear and hatred of the NRA? The rest is largely about blaming violent video games and promoting their idea of armed guards in schools. There were no specific comments about Obama’s reaction, nor was Obama specifically named. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/87 "2017-04-30T15:08:39Z")
Heh, a national gun registry would be an affront to the Constitution but registering people with mental problems is A OK. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/88 "2017-04-30T15:19:56Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Just like Obama was horrible for gun owners. > > Oh wait… :smack: Right, Bill Clinton disarmed us and left us all defenseless before the Brown Horde long before that, remember? > [@Bone](#): > > I can’t manufacture a new NFA machine gun. > > I can’t buy any new model semi auto handgun in CA. > > I could previously purchase a semi auto center fire rifle with a detachable magazine and an adjustable stock in 2007. I can no longer do that. Why would you need to? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/89 "2017-04-30T17:35:47Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Why would you need to? He was asked what changes have happened to his right to buy weapons and that’s what he answered. And it’s pretty silly to ask why a gun enthusiast would want to buy a new model handgun. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/90 "2017-04-30T20:53:31Z")
It’s no sillier than seeing the word “need” and reading it as “want”.:rolleyes: The discussion here is about _rights_, and those are based on needs. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/91 "2017-04-30T21:12:18Z")
When it comes to rights, “need” has got nothing to do with it. Rights is rights. That said, the idea we’ve just emerged from an 8 year assault on the 2nd amendment is silly hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/92 "2017-04-30T21:18:10Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The discussion here is about _rights_, and those are based on needs. Where did you get that idea? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/93 "2017-04-30T21:19:38Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > When it comes to rights, “need” has got nothing to do with it. Rights is rights. That said, the idea we’ve just emerged from an 8 year assault on the 2nd amendment is silly hyperbole. Do you think it’s more or less silly hyperbole than calling Trump’s budget a “[war on science](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/the-trump-administrations-war-on-science.html)”? ETA: Our political discussions are full of rhetorical flourishes and hyperbole, on both sides of the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/94 "2017-04-30T21:23:44Z")
I’m not sure they’re comprable, because the 2nd amendment is a constitutional rights issue, and science is just something that people should want to embrace. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/95 "2017-04-30T22:04:34Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Do you think it’s more or less silly hyperbole than calling Trump’s budget a “[war on science](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/the-trump-administrations-war-on-science.html)”? Trump has proposed to cut research at the National Institutes of Health by 18 percent. Did Obama propose an 18% cut to gun ownership? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/96 "2017-04-30T22:06:21Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Trump has proposed to cut research at the National Institutes of Health by 18 percent. Did Obama propose an 18% cut to gun ownership? The point went right over your head, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/97 "2017-04-30T22:08:20Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The point went right over your head, didn’t it? So you’re agreeing that there was no war on guns, but there is a war on science? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/98 "2017-04-30T22:13:30Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > So you’re agreeing that there was no war on guns, but there is a war on science? No, I’m agreeing that, as I already stated, “Our political discussions are full of rhetorical flourishes and hyperbole, on both sides of the aisle.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/99 "2017-04-30T22:14:37Z")
Is it a _war_ on science? I thought Trump was just fleeing the battlefield. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460/100 "2017-04-30T23:13:03Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Obama used the power of the bully pulpit to advocate for additional restrictions on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. He was largely unpersuasive, but that doesn’t mean the attempt wasn’t made. I don’t have a problem with Trump calling the whole of his and his fellow Democrat’s actions an “assault” on the Second Amendment. YMMV. To be fair, I’d give Obama something like a “C” for effort. The charge was led by Feinstein and a bunch of anti-gun folks in the media like Rachel Maddow and Pierce Morgan. I think Obama has an instinctive aversion to guns that comes from being raised in a gun free bubble his entire life but I bet he would be open to compromises that would expand gun rights if he thought it would reduce gun violence. its just that the only people that he spoke to about guns were Feinstein and the brady foundation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-trumps-eight-year-assault-on-your-second-amendment-freedoms/785460.md?page=6)