The Quiet Campaign To Undermine The Second Amendment :: 11/02/2019

On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation joins the show to talk about the growing threat to firearms preemption laws, which are currently being challenged as part of a coordinated assault by cities and gun control groups around the nation.

While these challenges aren’t getting as much attention as Beto O’Rourke’s call for firearms confiscation, Gottlieb says the attacks on preemption pose a real threat to the right to keep and bear arms and shouldn’t be ignored by gun owners, even if they’re not drawing a lot of media attention.

Thankfully, we’ve seen several cases in recent weeks where judges around the country have tossed out local gun control laws that were passed in an attempt to challenge preemption laws. Missoula, Montana had its universal background check law rejected by the state Supreme Court, while a judge in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania rejected three local laws passed in Pittsburgh. In Edmonds, Washington, a judge also recently threw out the city’s gun storage law (though a similar law has been upheld by a King County judge in Seattle). On the other hand, as Gottlieb points out, Everytown for Gun Safety has a team of lawyers working with cities on these preemption challenges, and other law firms have offered their expertise in defending local gun laws against legal challenge free of charge.

Also on today’s program, we note that the mainstream media has discovered a story we first reported more than a week ago here at Bearing Arms; the fact that President Donald Trump is backing away from his push for a red flag law and changes to the background check system.

President Trump has abandoned the idea of releasing proposals to combat gun violence that his White House debated for months following mass shootings in August, according to White House officials and lawmakers, a reversal from the summer when the president insisted he would offer policies to curb firearm deaths.

Trump has been counseled by political advisers, including campaign manager Brad Parscale and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, that gun legislation could splinter his political coalition, which he needs to stick together for his reelection bid, particularly amid an impeachment battle.

The president no longer asks about the issue, and aides from the Domestic Policy Council, once working on a plan with eight to 12 tenets, have moved on to other topics, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations.

The Democrats’ decision to push impeachment killed any chance of gun control moving through the Senate, as Vice President Mike Pence recently reminded us. That doesn’t mean that the president has dropped the idea of doing something to prevent active assailant attacks, but the White House is now looking at mental health as the centerpiece of their efforts.

Also on today’s program we have an armed citizen story featuring an on-the-job attack of a construction worker, a man released from prison less than six months ago who’s now facing murder charges in the brutal slaying of a 70-year old woman, and a sailor in Washington State who engaged in some heroism on dry ground.

As always, you can subscribe to the show at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and the Townhall.com podcast page, as well as subscribing to Townhall Media on YouTube. Thanks for watching, listening, and spreading the word, and get ready for Monday’s show when we talk to a rather surprising speaker at this weekend’s 2nd Amendment Rally in Washington, D.C. And if you’re planning on attending the rally, I’ll see you there!

Cam Edwards has covered the 2nd Amendment for more than 15 years as a broadcast and online journalist, as well as the co-author of "Heavy Lifting: Grow Up, Get a Job, Start a Family, and Other Manly Advice" with Jim Geraghty. He lives outside of Farmville, Virginia with his family. https://bearingarms.com/author/camedwards/

https://bearingarms.com/cam-e/2019/11/01/quiet-campaign-undermine-second-amendment/