There will be a new president in the White House. President Trump said he will defend our rights to keep and bear arms. He can help honest gun owners from the Oval Office without the help of the legislature. He can help gun owners as soon as he takes office.
Barack made dozens of anti-gun executive orders. Those orders change legal interpretation of law and executive agency policy. Executive orders can be rescinded by the next president. The effects reach from the Department of Justice, the State Department, the Center for Disease Control and the US Post Office.
On the first day in office, President Trump can stop the abuse of our military veterans. Their right to self-defense is taken away by our own Veteran’s Administration. Many veterans ask for help managing their finances. The military veteran may be traveling and out of the country. They may need medical treatment that makes it hard to handle their day to day fiduciary responsibilities. Asking for help is the responsible thing to do. No matter the reason why they ask, the VA says that asking for help with your finances indicates mental degradation so severe that the veteran could be a danger to himself or others. The VA reports these veterans to the FBI so they cannot have guns in the home. These veterans are treated like felons, so their family is probably disarmed as well. President Trump can fix that on his first day in office.
President Obama did the same thing to Social Security recipients that the VA did to military veterans. Trump can fix that, and he’s only been in office two days.
Obama’s attorney general ignored a law called the Firearms Owners Protection Act. The act allows gun owners to safely travel from state to state without being harassed by local law enforcement. Anti-gun states like New Jersey routinely violate that act. Trump can change that on day three with instructions to his attorney general.
President Trump can order his military executives to allow soldiers to carry for their own defense. He does not need enabling legislation.
President Trump can stop the anti-rights propaganda coming from the Center for Disease Control. The President can do all this during his first week in office.
The State Department blocks return of old US military rifles and pistols to the US. Those same firearms are legally owned in the US today. Donald Trump can end the ban by voiding existing executive orders. He can also allow the import of arms that have been capriciously declared to have “no sporting purpose”. Another day, and other infringement removed.
The US State Department said that any US gunsmith who cuts metal is a firearms exporter, and so requires an export license. They are not. Now fix it, Mister President.
President Trump can call off the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They had clear orders to put small gun shops out of business over the smallest of paperwork violations.
Fully fund the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System. Fund it every hour of every day. There is never a good time to deny a civil right. That said, please use the president’s bully pulpit to call out those states that don’t enter their criminal and mental health records into NICS. Do you hold back their highway funds?
Let honest gun owners legally walk into the Post Office. Get the post office to ship guns again, too.
President Trump should instruct his Attorney General to enter into “sue and settle” decrees for … interstate commerce of firearms, and recognizing concealed carry licenses across state lines. Not bad for the first three weeks in office.
Other actions may require legislative assistance, but President Trump can’t hide on these actions. Now, let’s see what President Trump really does.
photo credit: Michael Vadon Donald J. Trump at Marriott Marquis NYC September 7th 2016 via photopin (license)
