One wouldn't imagine that The Trace would offer support for former President Donald Trump. After all, he's campaigned on pretty much everything they stand against. They want gun control and he's repeatedly vowed to oppose any and all new restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms.
After all, they're funded by former New York City mayor and major anti-gun donor Michael Bloomberg, who has remarkably little in common with Trump despite both being NYC billionaires.
And yet, in a recent report, The Trace gives folks plenty of reasons to vote for Trump!
No, they didn't mean to, but it's kind of hard for a gun rights supporter to not want to vote for the guy after this.
The 2024 presidential candidates couldn’t be further apart on gun policy. Vice President Kamala Harris has called for universal background checks and an assault weapons ban, while former President Donald Trump favors loosening concealed carry laws nationwide.
Though neither platform is likely to clear Congress, a Trump victory could give him the power to dismantle three years of gun violence prevention measures enacted under President Joe Biden, who has arguably done more to try to stem gun violence than any president in decades.
“In my second term, we will roll back every Biden attack on the Second Amendment — the attacks are fast and furious — starting the minute that Crooked Joe shuffles his way out of the White House,” Trump told National Rifle Association members gathered for a convention in Dallas in May.
Here’s a look at the Biden-era policies most likely to be on the chopping block. Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
These were summed up in a post on X, formerly Twitter, summarizing the piece.
If Trump wins he's expected to:
— Jennifer Mascia (@JenniferMascia) November 1, 2024
• fire the ATF director
• appoint a pro-gun AG
• reverse Biden's executive orders on guns including pistol brace + ghost gun rules
• shutter White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention@ByChipBrownlee and I report:https://t.co/dCiSrU6xtA
I'm sorry, but that's a campaign ad for Trump if ever I saw one.
Steve Dettelbach has been less than useless as ATF director unless you consider beclowning himself on the subject of guns a job requirement. If so, then he's been absolutely spectacular. Otherwise, he needs to go. He's a partisan hack who shouldn't remain in that role.
Appointing a pro-gun AG is pretty much a given, considering Trump's politics and the kind of folks he's likely to pick. I'd be shocked if he managed to find an anti-gun AG who would be willing to work for him in the first place.
Reversing the pistol brace and "ghost gun" rules is just the start, though I think the pistol brace rule will die on its own in the courts. The rules on unserialized firearms aren't as useful as folks who read The Trace generally think.
And killing the Office of Gun Violence Prevention would ultimately be fine because it's nothing more than a way to use taxpayer dollars to advance the anti-gun position throughout the states. It's not an office trying to find a solution so much as a federal jobs program for anti-gun activists.
While The Trace presents this as something of a bad thing, this has been one of the most compelling reasons why someone should vote for Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Great job, guys.
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