# Where are all the 2nd Amendment people now that Trump has said his "authority is total"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 14, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805 "2020-04-14T23:43:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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 14, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/1 "2020-04-14T23:43:14Z")
Yesterday president Trump proclaimed he has some pretty exceptional powers as president: > [@](#): > > Trump also used the briefing to repeatedly suggest he had absolute power to deal with the situation, despite the Constitution and centuries of Supreme Court precedent. He said he had “ultimate authority,” adding: “The president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful. The president of the United States calls the shots.” He said later that “when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s going to be.” > > SOURCE: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/13/trumps-propaganda-laden-off-the-rails-coronavirus-briefing/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/13/trumps-propaganda-laden-off-the-rails-coronavirus-briefing/) Of course that is complete bullshit but I guarantee you if president Obama had said that while in office the NRA and a lot of 2nd Amendment people would be racing to gun stores to stock up on guns and ammo. Hell, Obama said a lot more tame stuff than this and gun sales would soar (happened more than once). Isn’t this _exactly_ the sort of thing they tell us why the 2nd Amendment is there and important? To protect us from a government that would try to take their freedoms away? Well, there ya go. You have the president of the US claiming he has dictatorial power. What do we get from the NRA and gun folks? _ **crickets chirping** _ Tl;Dr Gun rights nuts are full of shit making specious arguments for why they absolutely must have their guns. In other news water is wet. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/2 "2020-04-14T23:54:38Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Isn’t this _exactly_ the sort of thing they tell us why the 2nd Amendment is there and important? To protect us from a government that would try to take their freedoms away? … Sure, but they have full trust that Trump will be taking away freedoms from Them Others-----not from _themselves_. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/3 "2020-04-14T23:59:24Z")
I missed where he claimed he was going to enforce strict gun controls. I don’t see that anywhere in your source. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/4 "2020-04-15T00:01:33Z")
As I said in the Trump Clusterfuck thread, this is completely consistent with the conservative playbook: Guns - “States’ rights!” States decriminalize marijuana - “Federal law must be enforced!” They are ideologically required to bleat about states’ rights, except when it doesn’t suit them. Anyone whose knowledge of history doesn’t begin a week ago last Tuesday knows this, of course. I sometimes sort of wish they were smart enough to be hypocritical and idiotic about something new or original. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/5 "2020-04-15T00:03:30Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I missed where he claimed he was going to enforce strict gun controls. I don’t see that anywhere in your source. If his authority is total, there is no right to bear arms. There are no rights at all, except for his. I cannot find ANY Republican who has objected to his claim of total authority, except for, for some reason, Ben Shapiro. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/6 "2020-04-15T00:05:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > If his authority is total, there is no right to bear arms. There are no rights at all, except for his. > > I cannot find ANY Republican who has objected to his claim of total authority, except for, for some reason, Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro has long been critical of Trump. Not to the extent of anyone on the left, of course, but he criticizes Trump constantly for things he disagrees with. (And praises him for other things too.) Trump’s pronouncement of total authority is worse than any gaffe I’ve ever heard attributed to Biden. ---
**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 15, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/7 "2020-04-15T00:08:37Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I missed where he claimed he was going to enforce strict gun controls. I don’t see that anywhere in your source. **RickJay** nailed the answer but, FWIW, Trump already said he wants to take guns away (while he was president): > [@](#): > > “I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence. > > “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said. > > SOURCE: [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376097-trump-take-the-guns-first-go-through-due-process-second](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376097-trump-take-the-guns-first-go-through-due-process-second) Given what he said yesterday…well…I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for due process. ---
**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 15, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/8 "2020-04-15T00:19:56Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Trump’s pronouncement of total authority is worse than any gaffe I’ve ever heard attributed to Biden. Maybe it is just me but this is more than a gaffe. I certainly am not the arbiter of such things but to my mind a gaffe is misspeaking. Telling someone “potato” is spelled with an “e” kind of thing. Or a one off insult caught on a hot mic. But Trump didn’t just make a verbal mistake or got caught showing his true colors when he thought it is a private conversation. He went there more than once, in public, in front of cameras. That is not a gaffe, that is being a complete moron and worse, I am sure he would tell you right now that he stands behind everything he said and is pissed at everyone else for somehow not getting it and understanding he has total power. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/9 "2020-04-15T01:05:40Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But Trump didn’t just make a verbal mistake or got caught showing his true colors when he thought it is a private conversation. He went there more than once, in public, in front of cameras. That is not a gaffe, that is being a complete moron and worse, I am sure he would tell you right now that he stands behind everything he said and is pissed at everyone else for somehow not getting it and understanding he has total power. He’ll walk it back. He won’t apologize, he’ll claim he was misquoted or he didn’t mean it how people will interpret it. It won’t be the first time he has publicly declared that he will do something he can’t legally do and then have to abandon it. It’s one of the traits of his presidency. My point is that Biden’s opponents claim he has dementia because of gaffes he has made (and Joe has been doing them for many years), but if anything would suggest dementia this statement from Trump would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/10 "2020-04-15T01:18:13Z")
Remember that painter who did big canvases of Evil Liberals with Obama at the head trampling the Constitution while the FF’s ghosts looked aghast? I wonder if he’s now painting happy little trees. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > **RickJay** nailed the answer but, FWIW, Trump already said he wants to take guns away (while he was president): Which at the time had a lot of the gun channels on YouTube and other venues rather riled up. But by now only the more “vote for no one and stock up on dry food” types even mention it any more. But a bunch of others have had time to gaslight themselves as to how it’s Liberals coming after them that’s been and remains the bigger threat all along. And also yeah, what \*\*Sherrerd \*\*said. This latter group fully \*count \*on the leopards eating the \*other \*people’s faces. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/11 "2020-04-15T01:20:50Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I missed where he claimed he was going to enforce strict gun controls. I don’t see that anywhere in your source. I’m confused as well. I haven’t been following the gun thing too closely, but I keep hearing about the record sales. My understanding isn’t that they’re concerned Trump is going to be a gun grabber, but rather they’re concerned (actually concerned, not just saying they are) for their safety. Correctly or not, I think a lot of people were worried about looting/riots/home invasions during the lock down. Suddenly you have people that never owned a gun in their life thinking this might be a good time to have one just in case. ---
**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 15, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/12 "2020-04-15T01:39:57Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m confused as well. Your confusion stems from not reading the OP. I did not say Trump said he would take people’s guns (although he has said something close to that which I quoted later in the thread). I said gun advocates have often claimed their absolute need for a gun is to protect them from a government that would take their rights away. Dictator Trump would mean, by definition, that you no longer have any rights. You have whatever dic Trump deigns to give you at his whim. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/13 "2020-04-15T02:01:41Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I did not say Trump said he would take people’s guns > [@What-a-Mole](#): > > Trump already said he wants to take guns away Huh? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/14 "2020-04-15T02:03:18Z")
The NRA is about white fear of blacks, Trump is white. ---
**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 15, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/15 "2020-04-15T02:16:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Huh? Have you even read this thread? It’s not that long. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/16 "2020-04-15T02:17:16Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > He’ll walk it back. He won’t apologize, he’ll claim he was misquoted or he didn’t mean it how people will interpret it. It won’t be the first time he has publicly declared that he will do something he can’t legally do and then have to abandon it. It’s one of the traits of his presidency. Traits? Nah, to use a computer science term, it’s one of the features of this administration. > [@](#): > > My point is that Biden’s opponents claim he has dementia because of gaffes he has made (and Joe has been doing them for many years), but if anything would suggest dementia this statement from Trump would qualify. I think it is just more proof of how stupid the orange clown is. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/17 "2020-04-15T03:25:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Have you even read this thread? It’s not that long. And the quotes you made that contradict each other are even shorter. ---
**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 15, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/18 "2020-04-15T03:44:34Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > And the quotes you made that contradict each other are even shorter. And your ability to follow a train of thought shorter still. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/19 "2020-04-15T04:02:15Z")
No 2nd Amendment people are going to say anything. Because the only right they will defend against is their right to have guns. And they will defend it until they get drone bombed by the US military because “fighting tyranny” is a ridiculous concept that some people hold on to because they are scared every minute of every day and need a gun to make themselves feel safe. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805/20 "2020-04-15T04:22:53Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Remember that painter who did big canvases of Evil Liberals with Obama at the head trampling the Constitution while the FF’s ghosts looked aghast? I wonder if he’s now painting happy little trees. You mean this guy: > **[McNaughton Fine Art](https://jonmcnaughton.com/)** > > Official Jon McNaughton Art Webpage It doesn’t appear that he’s painting happy little trees. Looks like this one (titled “The Impeachment Mob”) is his latest: [https://jonmcnaughton.com/patriotic/americana/the-impeachment-mob/](https://jonmcnaughton.com/patriotic/americana/the-impeachment-mob/) Another noteworthy one would be this one (titled “MAGA Ride”): > **[MAGA Ride - 24X36 inch Limited Edition Giclee Canvas Print, Signed and...](https://jonmcnaughton.com/maga-ride-24x36-inch-limited-edition-giclee-canvas-print-signed-and-numbered-200/)** > > Official Jon McNaughton Art Webpage According to the artist, “I wanted to paint a picture of President Trump and Melania on a jacked-up motorcycle, painted up with the American flag and patriotism, as they ride down a bumpy, crumbling road that represents the hazards and the problems that this presidency has faced since Trump has been elected.” So, no happy little trees, but he’s been keeping busy anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-all-the-2nd-amendment-people-now-that-trump-has-said-his-authority-is-total/851805.md?page=2)