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.