Ultimately, politicians are judged on whether they keep their promises. This president does.
After eight long years, we once again have a president who respects and cherishes individual freedom. For America’s law-abiding gun owners, the Trump administration is proving to be among the best in history. So it’s important to take stock of all he has accomplished on behalf of the Second Amendment in a very short time.
Thanks to President Trump, we are now back to having a 5-4 pro-gun majority on the U. S. Supreme Court. He appointed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, which means the Department of Justice will return to focusing on prosecuting violent criminals instead of targeting law-abiding gun owners. In Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Trump has appointed a man who is firmly committed to protecting hunting and shooting as priority uses on our public lands. In fact, Zinke repealed one of Barack Obama’s most egregious anti-gun policies on his very first day on the job.
Ultimately, politicians are judged on whether they keep their promises. For law-abiding gun owners, Trump has kept his promises, after running as the most pro-Second Amendment candidate in history.
Soon after his inauguration, the president nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Justice Gorsuch believes in interpreting the law as the Framers intended. He will follow the example of Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion in the most important Second Amendment decision in modern history, District of Columbia v. Heller. That case reaffirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of an individual to keep a firearm in their home for self-defense. Neil Gorsuch will protect that right.
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Sessions will restore the rule of law to the Justice Department. As our nation’s chief law enforcement officer, he will work vigorously to respect individual freedoms of American citizens while making our communities safer by cracking down on violent criminals.
Trump also made good on his promise when he nominated Zinke to lead the Interior Department. Zinke, a former Navy Seal and avid outdoorsman, repealed the Obama administration’s ban on lead ammo on federal land on his first day in office. He knows that America’s sportsmen and women are critical to conservation and understands that management decisions must recognize the importance of hunting, shooting, and other traditional uses on public lands.
Trump has also acted to protect the self-defense rights of Social Security beneficiaries, repealing an eleventh-hour Obama rule that banned them.
For all he has accomplished, there is still a lot of work to do. Our fight is not over. But in Trump, we now have a president who truly believes in individual freedom.
Chris W. Cox is executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action.
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