President Donald Trump didn't handle guns like I'd have preferred, but I can't say that makes him anti-gun. Sure, he had the ATF reclassify bump stocks, but that was ostensibly to stop more repressive legislation working its way through Congress. He also made a comment about taking people's guns and then giving them due process, which is something I just can't excuse, even if it was said in an emotional state.

Still, he was far, far better than what we have now when it comes to the Second Amendment.

Then again, a semi-sentient tree stump couldn't be worse, so that's not a high bar to clear, though he still cleared it by a mile.

But Trump presently stopped into a NYC bodega. Not just any bodega--random convenience store stops are really more of a Biden thing--but one where the clerk on duty one night was forced to stab an ex-con in self-defense.

He was charged with murder, but those charges were dropped amid massive public outcry.

And one thing everyone can agree is true about Trump is that if he's got an opinion, he's going to share it.

Former President Donald Trump made a post-court visit Tuesday to the Manhattan bodega where clerk Jose Alba infamously stabbed an ex-con to death in self-defense two years ago — a case that drew widespread outrage after he was initially charged with murder — with the city native vowing to “straighten New York out.”

The Republican presidential contender stopped by the Sanaa Convenient Store, formerly known as the Blue Moon Convenient Store, in Harlem to meet with the store’s co-owner Maad Ahmed and small business advocate Francisco Marte.

“You should be allowed to have a gun. If you had a gun, you’d never get robbed, you’d never get robbed, that would be the end of it,” Trump told the bodega workers. 

...

Alba’s attorney, Rich Cardinale, warned Trump, however, that using the weapon could land the workers in the same situation that his client faced in the 2022 incident: “If you use a gun and you’re defending yourself lawfully, you will go to jail.”

While the murder charges against Alba were later dropped — following growing pressure from the public — the worker was so traumatized that he went back to the Dominican Republic, where he remained on Tuesday, sources said.

Honestly, the lawyer brings up a very good point.

Yes, Alba should have been able to have a gun, yet nothing about that would have changed the core issue with Alba having nearly faced prosecution. In fact, I could probably make the case that if he had used a gun in self-defense, he might well still be facing that prosecution.

New York's gun laws did a lot to make it so Alba had no real means of defending himself and that desperately needs to change, but New York's self-defense laws need a serious revamp as well. After all, they're a duty to retreat state, meaning that if a prosecutor thinks you could have gotten away instead, you're getting prosecuted for murder.

While that's colossally screwed up, it's not new. That's why Stand Your Ground laws were created, and while the media likes to pretend they protect murderers, the truth is that plenty of people have claimed self-defense and been convicted for homicide because the facts didn't line up to there being a threat to their lives.

In other words, we need to change both the gun laws in New York and the self-defense laws so people aren't second-guessed by prosecutors who can figure things out in the cold light of day and not in the heat of the moment. Especially those with a desire to make a name for themselves so they can seek higher office.