I’m confused. One one hand we say we’re opposed to Trump because we say we don’t want a dictator. On the other, when Trump says he’s backtracking due to the fact that he doesn’t have the support of his party, then we want him to be instead a dictator. What I guess what we really want is a selective yet representative dictator. A novel concept that perhaps only an exceptional nation such as ours can pull off.
Remember that time an old log fell on a kid who was hiking in an EPA-protected forest? The big, bad, influential EPA was behind that tree rotting away in the forest and explicitly gave permission for the tree to take action to kill that kid.
One life is too many. If we can turn the Bill of Rights upside down to possibly, allegedly protect one particular life, we can do the same with an unnecessary branch of government created by Nixon.
It is amazing what the NRA bought for 30 million; an American sitting president. And for an extra 22 million; congress.
6
I read somewhere recently, "Promises Made. Promises Kept." Where did I read that?
2
Livin' in the US(NR)A...
2
As Canadian I find the discussion around school safety in the US surreal. It's not that we don't have gun violence in Canada (in fact my city is experiencing an unprecedented rise this year) or violence in schools, but the idea of simply adding more and more guns to children's lives will surely lead a nation under continuous siege. I hope that the brave Florida students can change attitudes in the government and beyond.
8
No taxation without representation....We're being taxed but not represented when the majority of people want strong gun control, but our elected officials -
whose salaries come from our taxes -- fail to represent us.
9
I know people like to blame someone or something. The left has convinced and urged kids to make this about gun control (reform, but really want no guns which is why reform never happens).
This isn't about Trump or what he said or didn't say. Obama promised action and got none. And that was after over 20 babies were shot dead.
If we are serious about gun reform, don't call it 'control' and stop lying to gun proponents - the far left wants no guns anywhere. That's a show stopper. NYTimes and most readers - you have yourselves to blame here, not the NRA or Trump.
1
That makes no sense at all. You are just proposing doing nothing and blaming liberals for everything.
6
Teachers must NEVER be armed! Why do people think all teachers are sane/altruistic? Why do they think all guns would be locked up? When a shooter comes to the school, the whole event typically lasts <10 minutes. How is 'the teacher(s)' with the gun going to know and get to the shooter? What if a 'bad' kid breaks into the teacher's desk and starts shooting? Will the teacher's gun shoot 10 rounds, 20? One?
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And frankly would have done nothing to stop any of the school shootings, especially the last one in FL where they had a security officer on site, armed, and hiding. They had police in the parking lot, not going in, but 'waiting.'
They had a kid named Cruz that was reported countless times to police/FBI/authorities and no one did anything. That is the problem; that is the reason this tragedy happened. Stop trying to make it an 'opportunity' to remove guns. How about we hold authorities responsible?!
3
It’s hard to know who owns more, Putin or the NRA.
7
Just how corrupt can you be, to sit there in front of Parents that lost their children & promise them changes in Gun Control, & not be capable of increasing the age limit after promising he would raise it to 21 years, which would be the least he could do, & then go back on his word, disgraceful.He has no shame, the only ones worse than him are those that support him.
13
Good for him. He came to his senses (assuming he has some). Maybe he realized what the control freaks never acknowledge: gun control by fiat is violence; violence begets violence; gun-control legislation will only make America more violent. The solution to gun violence is simple: personally renounce the use of force and violence in the conduct of all of your human affairs. With that, the problem will diminish to the point whereby all school children can feel safe once again.
2
That is similar to the congresswoman who said only thoughts and prayers will work. Nice concept but not realistic. Let's start with some reasonable limits/laws and work from there. It will occur at the state level first since Congress is incapable.
1
This imposter who sits in the Oval Office is the embodiment of what it means to be a person with no integrity or honor. But even worse are those who have the power to stop this destruction of the Presidency but choose to close their eyes and ears.
8
The plan all along was to pay lip service to the issue wait 3days and revert to your original position, just like he did with DACA. Absolutely no spine. The NRA runs this country on gun control , not the members of the NRA who have voiced a opinion of common sense measures. Select hierarchy of the NRA control the lives of 300 million plus Americans since the control who gets the $$$$.
7
And this comes as a surprise? It has now become commonplace that as this fake president speaks, I know it's a lie. He's an amoral fool who wouldn't know the truth if it hit him on the head.
6
I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you....
1
No surprise that Trump changed his position. No morals, no courage, no integrity...what else can we expect but ambivalence, deception, and lies.
10
Dear American Youth,
Our guns are more important than you. We cherish them. We take care of them. We dream about them. We caress them and feel of their shape in our hands. Some might call it an unhealthy relation even a fetish, but we love our guns too the exclusion of all else. Even you.
But you too should have a gun. That way you will understand. And you may even get an opportunity to shoot each other.
Signed,
The Older Generation.
6
Sure wish his term could be as short-lived as his appointments and his promises.
10
Typical Trump. He comes first not America's Youth or citizen safety. End this reign of hypocrisy and embarrassment now. It is all we can do to save ourselves now.
7
Wow! What a surprise. Flip flop Trump strikes again! All he is good for is empty promises and crocodile tears for the parents of students killed in the Florida high school massacre. I hope they call him out on this. Very Sad...
I bet the House bill to expand the ability to carry a concealed firearm in any part of the US is passed by republicans before any gun control legislation is passed.
Republicans are just trying to avoid and "study" this issue again while waiting for the news cycle to bury the Florida high school massacre in the past. They will do nothing to reduce gun violence. Note: teachers shooting someone with murderous intent is still gun violence; someone is shot dead. The better solution is making sure the perpetrator can't obtain the firearms such as assault weapons that are just designed for industrial killing of human beings.
Sorry for the rant but this is getting so bad. Anxious Americans now when in a public place look for the exit or escape route in case there is a mass shooting at the theater, place of work or school, club, concert, etc. We are all sacrificing our liberty of a safe and peaceful existence on the altar the second amendment and its fanatical supporters who refuse to allow reasonable safeguards to reduce gun violence.
7
Gun violence in this country has become our own personal Viet Nam.
In order to get our leadership and our congress to act, we must WRITE, call and show up in LOUD force to their district offices, DC offices, 1600 Pennsylvania, and the national mall every month.
The LAST week of every month could be suitable for every group or faction that is opposed to GUN violence in their own communities to come out, raise awareness and to fund raise against GUN violence.
So many good causes that, we as Americans, have supported by: walks, marathons, concerts, bike rallys, sit-ins, marches, bake sales, and yes, prayers and vigils.
Our universities and schools, churches, workplaces, concert venues, hamlets and villages have all been targets of GUN violence maybe because they are the BACKBONES that have made us who we are as a nation.
If every one of these 'vertebrae' in the BACKBONE were to use their NETWORK through that hamlet on a given day to hold a walk, run, concert, bike rally, march, sit-in, bake sale, and yes, prayer and vigil, would anyone holding office support that?
Call it: the LAST Sunday, the LAST Saturday, the LAST week, etc. Devoted to the victims of, and to end GUN violence in America...!
3
Real "gun control" would be the total and complete confiscation of all firearms in the United States including the cessation of all firearms manufacturing in the United States.
That worked really well when it was tried with alcoholic beverages in the United States, didn't it now? Americans are not fooled by your incremental measures toward total and complete CONTROL of people not firearms.
2
So what do you propose? Doing nothing, right?
1
I associate Trump with every abhorrent personal and political character trait, starting with dishonesty. Then there is greed, lust, power, corruption, recklessness, adultery, stealing, selfishness, egotism, bravado. Shall I go on?
Bring honor and respect back to the White House.
11
Not surprising im flabbergasted has that a person with this low level of intellect and integrity and morality can be President of the United States. Plus he’s just lame at making deals.
3
"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?"
7
DUH! Why oh Why would anyone believe Trump was serious about anything like gun control? As one student already pointed out I can give you $30 Million reasons why Trump is just one more Republican puppet politician of the N.R.A.. To believe he would actually have the guts to do so is one more trip down the rabbit hole. The U.S. is becoming more and more like an Alice in Wonderland nation of daily denial of reality. The more I hear G.O.P. apologists for the Lunatic In Chief; the more I hear Putin and the Kremlin doubled over in laughter. Is it too late to save America?!
6
Trump is nothing more than a puppet for the NRA and Putin. They are pulling the strings so often it's messing up his 'do (see photo).
3
Money Talks in US policies
1
Perfect timing for the Pennsylvania election. Trump is now the "Kiss of Death" for Republican candidates. Not surprising. Fully predictable.
Mitch McConnell having digestive problems!
His reality show presidency is a hurtful, divisive farce that is a daily display of his narcissistic callousness.
1
Oh gee what surprise! The NRA changed his mind. I suppose that no one in the NRA has lost a child in a school shooting. Arming teachers is so lame and they actually believe that a teacher gun would be a hand gun against the AR 15 shoots by split second. If I was a teacher there is no way that I would be able to follow through with being armed. These people are academicians many of whom a frightened. Naturally the NRA want to solve the problem with more guns. They need to outlaw assault weapons which have no place but in a war zone. The offer shouldn't even be dignified. Does the NRA think we are that stupid? The certainly have the right guy to soften the offer. He cannot imagine that Barron could be in harm's way tomorrow, or perhaps he thinks he is invincible. It is so depressing to have this barbarian as head of our country.
4
Totally bought and paid for by the NRA. Trump is a scared and pathetic liar who would not stand up for the Parkland high schoolers even after meeting with them.
He lied to them and their parents in person in the Oval Office. He was real easy with that part. Needed his cheat sheet for a show of empathy.
All decent Americans should shun Trump at every opportunity. And to show his utter contempt, he put Betsy DeVos in charge of a group "to study violence in schools".
Trump continues to go lower every week. Now it is clear that we are facing real danger. What next?
4
You don’t have to be armed to be heard. The ballot is mightier than the AR-15 — and the NRA.
4
When we talk about deaths to US citizens, the NRA appears to be the most successful terrorist enabling organization in the world. What country should we invade to stop them?
5
I hate Trump, but let’s get real: Obama bowed to power consistently - big pharma, Wall Street, Big oil...
Donald Trump: all signage, no building.
1
America, it's like this - more guns, more dead people. The NRA basically runs your country now, after this latest capitulation from the president and more importantly, Republicans, you're left shooting it out on the streets. More armed 'good people' in schools - more deaths.
The rest of the world looks on you and thinks - are you stupid or something? Look at gun regulations in other country versus gun deaths. End of story but unfortunately there is a lot of Trump/gun supporters out there and they still have sway.
We did away with rifles and assault weapons after an incident in the South Island in the 90s. No mass killing since.
Good luck to you, I think you're nearly there, with this new generation on board, I think you're getting close.
4
Nobody can really be surprised regarding the about face of a President who
can make up his mind on little--except his attitude to women.
The NRA is clearly the Klu Klux Klan in muffti: a national hate club no longer confined to the South. And Mr Trump has revealed himself on several occasions as a Grand Master of the Klan.
The most shameful thing about the NRA is that it ensures America ranks among the most violent countries in the world, certainly THE most violent country in the
First World nations. Those who support Trump and the NRA, are guilty--albeit indirectly--for the deaths of children in the too-many massacres that occur too often in the USA.
4
Well, of course ;-(
1
As real leaders know well, "no guts, no glory." Ask John McCain what acts of courage it takes to fulfill a mission you've committed to. Trump's chasing NRA blood money combined with his revolting debauchery not only makes him an embarrassment as president, but a fully despicable human being.
4
LISTEN UP!!!
November 6, 2018. That's the date on which 33 senate seats, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 14 governorship's will be up for re-election. Put it on your calendar now and be prepared to be an informed voter. If you are worried, concerned, angry, disappointed about the direction the government is going this is the most effective way to make a change, stop complaining and start planning. Remember the president is only one cog in the government machine, and you can make effective change through voting for your local and state representatives, this is the check that can balance this situation. Pass it on…. I was told to pass this on so this people is very important. Be prepared - share this as a start to all your comments.
6
Any newsman following Trump must be in a neck brace suffering from whiplash.
1
Why is anyone surprised, we have seen the reality show of bait and switch many times now.
The president is a sick puppy, and the media needs to quit normalizing this side show for clicks, and profit, and dig and dig and dig, and stop the infatuation.
Get away from the desk, out of the building, tell us something we don't know.
2
Donald Trump is such a weak, weak person. Why can't we have a strong leader again like Barack Obama? Trump folds under the slightest pressure. His words are, of course, meaningless. Just watch his actions folks. Do not listen to him in any case.
1
So, here is the problem; The treasonous GOP who see no problem with an extremist organization that promotes firearm violence, controlling the country's agenda.
3
This is uniquely Trumpian, saying one thing and doing another. He loves women, but abuses them. He honors our flag and armed forces, but then wimped out of service in Vietnam because his "foot" hurt. He says he wants to be the president of all Americans, but hates blacks and Muslims. He said he would make schools safer, but then gave in to his money supplier - the NRA - and went back on all his "promises". Suffice it to say that he's neither a good president nor a good man. He can't be trusted in any area of life.
4
I don’t recognize my country, & it’s getting worst every day this buffoon is in office.I’ve learned not to take anything he says literally.Trump & the Republican Party are owned by the NRA, & no matter how they spout they will do the NRAs biddings.The 17 innocent beautiful children that were murdered with a Military Style Assault weapon will have died in vain. Governor Scott is another hypocrite as long as he does not come out against the guns that have murdered School Children.This has been the policy of the Republican party throughout my life time, they are bought & sold to the highest bidder.
3
You could line up every maimed and disfigured, brain-damaged and mutilated school-shooting victim in front of him and his mates at the NRA and you still would not get anything more than ' thoughts and prayers'.
I cant imagine living in a country where the president does absolutely nothing to protect the children of the people who voted for him. I cant imagine living in a country where children can walk in the school gates and leave in body bags.
3
I dont doubt that Democrats also cave to money, but holy cow.
At least they don't do it in such a public, spineless manner.
If the conservatives of years past got a look at today's lot, they would weep. Cowardly weaklings. I'm surprised they have the strength and audacity to wave our flag around as if it represents them.
1
This is class genocide, pure and simple. A rich man immune to the suffering of commoners, feeding people propaganda that they need guns to protect them from the government, who is supposed to protect them.
‘
Meanwhile, the rich take money from the poor, while they profit of the poor, by taking their money poisoning the environment and leaving their children for dead.
Nice guy this Trump! And, people go to rallies to cheer for such a man. Is this Nazi, Germany or Amerikkka. It’s times like these, that make me ashamed to be an American.
2
The Gutless Wonder strikes again. How long, Oh Lord? How long?
2
Typically Trump. Dare I assume, by now, most, even some who voted Trump, have figured out you can't believe anything that emanates from Trump's burger hole. This guy tells more whoppers per day than Burger King sells.
And no, Trump is not just like any other politician. Where most politicians skirt the issues, trying their darnedest not to give a definitive yes or no to a question, Trump barrels right in, attempting to turn provable facts into falsehoods. Of course only his true believers nod approvingly. The rest of US shrug.
You saw their idolatry on display the other night, in Western Pennsylvania, proudly parading before the fake news cameras, basking in their ignorance. Making America great. It's one thing to demonstrate your beliefs standing up for some worthwhile cause. It's quite another to say to the World, look at me, I applaud everything this idiot on the stage says. Look at me, I'm deplorable, and love it.
I am hopeful however, that the now-engaged students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High saw that pledge of allegiance to Trump. They witnessed first-hand how Trump and Republicans think they can misdirect these kids like they've done to their parents; tell them you're there to listen, nod your head, pretend to understand, empathize. Then after getting your marching orders from the N.R.A. do exactly what you're told to do.
Do Republicans think these sophisticated media students are going to buy their malarkey? We shall see.
DD
Manhattan
2
Of course, he did. What's new?
Did anyone really expect Doofus-in-Chief to follow through on anything that isn't controversial and earns him headlines?!Trump is all talk,puffing his chest as always but cannot walk the walk.
Congress,when will you wake up?
At the moment, Mueller and Stormy Daniels are both single-handedly doing your job of shedding light ton this ignoble man and his crowd of gutter rats' clandestine ways.
And....the dictator speaks........
To the lackadaisical pawns and followers.
1
They all have blood on their hands, the savages and the cowards.
2
One can't pass a coherent package of ANYTHING in the stupid country. Guns are no different. To produce the slim hope of any result, all should focus on one single issue at a time, and perhaps the least noxious to the industry, and the one hardest to defend: No guns to the mentally-unstable. All you would need would be the right psych test. Wouldn't cost the gun industry nearly as much as the other solutions/ And no reasonable linkage to any slippery slope that even the dumb Amerikans would "buy." March in March will be swell. But will only frighten a few Republican incumbents n jeopardy in the next election. In the Dumb Country, when iare we going to learn to do one small thing at a time?
Does this guy eat regularly at Waffle House or what?!
1
So much LOSING!
1
Mr Trump needs to take himself in hand!
One more win from the grifter to be added to all of the other wins along with the spineless servants of the NRA who serves that organization rather than the people.
Yessiree, making America grate (intended) again...
1
All bullies are basically cowards. Our excuse for a president is no different.
1
So, yet another about-face from President Trump. Sad!
What's even sadder is the avalanche of inane epithets and personal insults that somehow make it un-censored into the NYT comments section. Anyone remember the good old days, when such junk got filtered out? Not anymore it seems. This kind of ("alt-left"?) stuff is bound to antagonize moderate center-right decent-minded folk that come here to see what the "others" think.
1
Sen. Feinstein, you sat next to the lying president and giggled. You could have called him out in front of everyone, but you didn't. It's high time someone with courage held your seat. Retire!
2
Trump has the moral courage of a hyena. What an utterly pathetic pile of protoplasm. I resent his theft of our oxygen.
2
"He later told lawmakers that while the N.R.A. has 'great power over you people, they have less power over me.'"
Apparently not, Donald. But don't worry: this comes as no surprise to those of us who've known, from the moment you rolled down that ridiculous golden escalator at Trump Tower to sell us your song and dance, that you're nothing more than a loudmouth bully and a lying coward. The fact that you won't take steps to stop the murder of children in their classrooms by psychopaths with semi-automatic weapons is reprehensible but hey, that's you. You're a terrible man and you're a terrible leader, and the North Koreans are going to make mincemeat of you once you and your flapping tie touch down in Pyongyang. True leaders, regardless of party affiliation, attempt to do what's in the best interests of the people whom they were elected to serve, but we know by now that you serve no one but yourself and, apparently, the N.R.A. Thanks for confirming, loudly and clearly, where you stand on issues of importance. The voters will, hopefully, confirm where they stand on you in the 2020 elections - that is, if you don't have a date with Robert Mueller first.
3
I can’t believe anybody thought he’d follow through with it in the first place. He’s a lifelong conman and a pathological liar.
3
The moral cowardice of this self-serving demagogue never ceases to appall me.
1
He knew that after his meeting with the NRA but lied to the public while he still considered the issue to be hot.
1
A man throwing tantrums to get his $30 million parade, forcing "the finest military in history" to sit up and beg like a little pink poodle, Trump goes Jello-ish in the knees when faced with the stupid bluster of LaPierre and the "OK, honey, now do it this way" darkness of Dana Loesch, the apocalyptic spokes-honey charged with distracting those good old boys while Remington sneaks up behind and steals their wallets.
And no, he does not get credit for "defying the NRA and leading the drive to ban bump stocks".
That's just cover for his trembling collapse in the face of a hot whisper of resistance from the money-boys running the real NRA; the low hanging fruit they decided to sacrifice long ago, in case something had to be sacrificed to let the weenies on the Left feel like they were accomplishing something.
1
More shootings more death. Blood money to the GOP. It’s going to take a President with guts to beat the blood money.
Elect Democrats in 2018!
1
Every shooter was a good guy with a gun the day before he became a bad guy with a gun.
4
don trumps word is no good.
1
Paraphrasing writer Mary Mary McCarthy quote.
“Every word Trump speaks is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’."
1
Did anyone really believe he would buck the NRA? Really?
1
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's solution? Funnel more public education funding into private charter schools and then, viola, there will be less public schools as targets for mass shootings!
1
Trump is the worst kind of Flip Flopper. Are we surprised? Of course not! He has been flip flopping his whole life.
1
chicken?
No, invertibrate!
1
Not much political support is correct - on HIS part. He is such a liar, a waffler with no spine, no conscience, no morals. 2020 cannot come quickly enough.
1
When will the American people declare a showdown with the NRA?
1
Choke artist.
1
Trump should stop campaigning for 2020. He is way too old and outdated to be president even now— and senile to boot.
By 2020 if he is still alive he should become the alpha male leader of the sexual predator club he so rightly champions and just stay home counting his cash—if he can still count., that is.
1
"The president said that members of such commissions do little more than “talk, talk, talk” and then, “two hours later, then they write a report.”
Better than the president, who talks, talks, talks, then two hours later changes his mind.
3
Mass murders of elementary-school kids, middle-school children and high-school students, like other murders, require means, motive and opportunity. Life supplies the motive. Civilization supplies the opportunity. Republicans supply the means.
3
Please, wealthy people out there, counter the NRA money dollar for dollar. In every political race, etc. The money and knowledge is there- where is the organization and the will???
1
So, Trump COULD have actually spearheaded something beneficial for the nation he purportedly leads, but instead he caved to a gun lobby. Why? Why does the NRA have such power over Washington? Why do politicians serve lobbyists over their own constituents? The answer is money, which begs the question: Why do we even pay these people large salaries and golden benefits, when they then serve lobbyist interests first? Everyone in politics is essentially our employee, so this is like me having a job but going in to my office and then doing freelance work for another employer -- while still expecting and getting my regular salary.
2
Trump is never embarrassed by his frequent backpedaling He apparently lacks any capacity for introspection. Having no firmly held core principles, he drifts with the wind emanating from his rapt followers and campaign funders. There is no moral tenet, no ethic, nothing for which he is willing to stand his ground. The person recently characterizing him as a man who adopts the beliefs of the last person he talked to was obviously right. God help us.
1
This is the third (by my count) major promise or commitment Trump has walked back, sometimes within only days. Here they are (and all of them were very public and came directly from the President:
1. He said he’d insist that any repeal/replace for Obamacare would not change the acceptance of people with pre-existing conditions. In the House Bill that passed, not only were pre-existing conditions extremely weakened, Trump embraced it and held a ceremony outside the WH (before it thankfully died in the Senate).
2. During a publicized, bi-partisan immigration meeting, including DACA, Trump said that if lawmakers put together a bill he wouldn’t hesitate to sign it and he’d take the heat from hardliners. He was presented with just such a deal two days later and threw it out, now saying it had to satisfy four pillars. Immigration and DACA are still unresolved.
3. In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman tragedy, again with cameras blaring in a bi-partisan meeting, he supported expanded background checks, raising the age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21 nationwide, and look into banning AR-15s and other weapons of war from civilian purchase. Now, none of that is on the table.
Untrustworthy and unreliable, no one with an ounce of negotiating skills would sit down with this President.
Well, there is one exception, Kim jong-un. But why should we be worried? Trump alone can fix anything.......
1
I just hope a zillion young people show up in Washington March 24! Us Baby Boomers have not been successful this time
1
Humankind will need to depend on males from other parts of the world to maintain the strength and viability of the species. The regression of the American male gene pool in terms of courage and intelligence is too far gone.
1
For the non-NRA members, the NRA appears to be a monolithic, heartless, profit driven ideologue organization.
For NRA members, it is a grass root organization, member funded and the last trustworthy defense against losing more gun rights.
When will the two meet? Is the Media fanning the flames of discordance or informing the public about differing viewpoints?
1
At a minimum, keeping a promise requires a sense of morals. See the problem here?
2
There is no shortage of suggestions for ending the slaughter of Americans. This is not surprising, as the causes are many and there can be no single cure. All suggestions, including raising the age of purchase to 21 years, deserve respectful discussion. Shakespeare would agree. His peasant in The Winter's Tale says: "I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry [old persons], stealing, fighting …."
Fast-forward 400 years and the MRI scanner reveals that various parts of the human brain mature at different rates - into a person's mid-twenties! This results in some brain parts not being able to talk to each other on an equal footing before then. So, it's a normal part of childhood and adolescence to lack optimal reasoning power, emotion control, and appreciation of the consequences of one's actions.
A huge, ugly problem needs a patchwork quilt of antidotes. No one will like all the patches that should be sewn in. That prescient fellow, Shakespeare, might say a cloth quilt that lacks a few patches makes for a cold, miserable person. The quilt we now need, if lacking a few patches, will make for a cold, dead person.
We don't need guns in schools, all we need are brave souls like Trump to rush in and confront the shooter, like he said he would have done.
So da prez is caving in to the NRA. This after he told us that he wasn't afraid of them. Yeah, right.
Why don't we give OUR veterans the jobs of being ARMED school security guards. They have already been trained in the use of firearms and know about walking into dangerous situations. They need the jobs; we need the trained people handling security on our schools. Win-win.
1
Since absolutely nothing is being done, there will be another mass shooting in the next few weeks. I just wish it would be in a place like the NRA headquarters, which forbids strangers from entering the building with guns and limits the type of guns for everyone else. The same thing can be said about the Congress and the Supreme Court, which forbids guns to be brought inside the Capitol or the courthouse. They LOVE guns. I don't get this. They want everyone to have guns everywhere at any time, so why are they limiting the guns that people can have in their own building. Is it that guns are great and protected by the 2nd amendment unless of course they themselves are in danger. Then all bets are off. Such hypocrisy!
1
Not much political support? There is ample political support for changes to gun laws, especially for a president who is a leader. But Trump is not a leader of the country, he is a follower of his political base.
1
Considering everything that comes out of Trumps mouth is a lie, is anyone surprised at his backpedaling? Compound that with the fact that he is an extremely weak leader as well as personally weak morally, we should not be shocked whenever he takes the safest path.
2
While we're on the subject of the NRA and exactly why trump bends to their will, let's look a the money trail from Russian 'businessmen' through the NRA's coffers to lobbyists, PACs and campaign funds... We might well find the 'non-existent' collusion under that rock...
The true battle has only just started. March 14 is a student walkout. March 24 are rallies, not just across the US, but by beautiful souls from all over the world, who are marching in solidarity for their brothers and sisters in the US. (Thank you, London!! Thank you, Paris!! etc. etc.!) Another student walkout will occur on April 20, the anniversary of 'Columbine'.
Things are slowly starting to shift. The NRA is finally seeing people, senators, state governments, businesses standing up to them. Some may say we have a 'tough battle' ahead of us, but I'm sure the same was said to the suffragettes. I'm sure the same was said to MLK and all those fighting for racial justice. Did concerns of a 'tough battle' stop any of them??
Like all worthy causes, the key is to keep our eye on the prize. The key is to Know that what we want is Right. And that a win IS attainable. We simply must believe this, for if we do not, then we are resigning ourselves, and guaranteeing defeat.
This is the first real momentum we've seen with regards to gun control. We cannot rest. We must plow ahead with conviction.
Anyone/everyone who wants gun reform must march in their local town/city or else in D.C. This is not just about students. This affects every one of us, and our nation as a whole.
We should also try to civilly engage and get to know folks who disagree with us, as that's the only way we can start to have a Conversation and potentially find some points for agreement.
1
The gun manufacturers are no different than the tobacco companies. Hopefully at some point we will evolve enough to stand up to them.
1
DT's go-to slogan as cable reports on 17 HS deaths & the response by their classmates:
"Make A Meretricious Statement Again"
Meretricious: Appears attractive, but having in reality no value or integrity. Worthless.
DT: Works every time!
HS Kids: Not this time!
Show support. Follow the Twitter feed of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS students at #neveragainmsd, as they stand up to the NRA, gun manufacturers and sordid sold out congressmen: "Make America Brave Again"!
2
DJT says whatever the last person he talked to wants him to say. In this case, the NRA has a 30 million dollar hold over him. If there's one thing from understands, it's not alienating people who give you money. You should always look at what Trump does and ignore what he says because what he says will change depending on who he's been talking to.
Oh please, who is surprised by this. He lied and then he flip flopped and then he lied some more, its an every day thing with him. There never was a promise from him, there is never a promise for him on anything,
1
Coward.
One can levy innumerable criticisms against this president, but today, in response to his backtrack on guns, let's go with "coward."
Students of Parkland, you are braver than your president. America is with you, and we need you to continue to lead!
19
A Profile in Leadership, Trump style. Or to be more accurate, a profile in fake leadership, NRA style.
10
Donald is mostly lies! He will have a presidential record of that.
With him and his congressional buddies, there is no hope for good governance for the vast majority of the citizens.
9
Didn't Kenny Rogers sing a song that could be a Trump theme, "Coward in the County"!
8
Trump was as likely to help solve our gun violence crisis is he is to sow Middle East peace, achieve detente and denuclearization with N. Korea, or help the poor and middle class in America, especially those of color. "What have you got to lose?" A heck of a lot. The vote is coming.
11
Bowing? Conceding? How about "cravenly caving" or "flinching" or "cowering" or "cringing" or "kowtowing".
7
No reason to be surprised by Trumps actions after all he is a liar who will do whatever it takes to get support from his base. In this case the NRA is a big part of his support based on paranoia. Trump is a joke on the American people that voted for him.
9
Why aren't we outraged? Right, because we never believed him in the first place. We never do, and you don't feel like you've been had if you didn't have any expectations to begin with.
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us every...single...time... Shame on us.
10
Rich, ugly Americans’ control of the political process is complete. No longer worry why Rome fell.
7
The answer is always more guns. Pretty soon the dogs will be armed too.
5
Remember when the accidental president said Senator Pat Toomey was a slave to the NRA a few weeks ago?
Who is the slave now?
What a joke.
7
Trump is bought and paid for by the NRA. "Not much political support" means that the NRA, who spent millions on his election, were not happy "to put it mildly". Trump is a coward, and a liar~plain and simple. I hope the young people rise up and sweep all of the NRA puppets out.
9
Vote him out!! Vote all the NRA backed politicians out!
10
Fool me once? Shame on you.
Fool me twenty-two times? Shame on ME!
Only the most gullible of genuine fools ever believed a single utterance out of the most accomplished liar in America's mouth. That man (45) makes hardened con artists blush and greasy snake oil sales folks shrink in comparison!
The single, most prominent, most conspicuous thing about it ALL is the absence of unanimity across the GLOBE in calls for his REMOVAL from office!
6
My Fellow Americans (where's Lyndon when we need him :)...
This always was a no-brainer. In fact, I believe Donald Trump and Wayne LaPierre had plotted this just so Donald could say "I tried" and then get back to the dirty business of groveling for votes.
Yo!, Pennsylvania!, it's all in your hands. Give Wayne and the Big D a two-fer win and live happily ever after with a gun in every home.
We'll be safe then, Right?
3
Can you visit the office of the National Rifle Association carrying your legal licensed firearms?
Just wondering!!
3
Another bold faced lie, from a man who has made lying into a perverted art form. What a surprise, right??
5
Keep on believing your "the majority want stricter gun control" lies. You lie enough, eventually it becomes reality, huh?
1
Are you quoting your glorious leader Trump Jon?
@ Jon W. New York, NY "Keep on believing your 'the majority want stricter gun control' lies. You lie enough, eventually it becomes reality, huh?"
Commenter, heal thyself.
The majority clearly DO want stricter gun control.
But in politics, money trumps all, as the latest of the many instant turnarounds from this spineless, gutless, brainless, and utterly feckless so-called President (the weakest we've ever had -- and, not coincidentally, the most loathed) has demonstrated yet again.
But with 238 days til Election Day, that's fine with us.
Trump and your Thuglicans have managed to turn an entire generation against them.
That's no longer a blue "wave" you hear in the distance, it's a tsunami -- and we can smell the flop-sweat of the Thuglicans (and all their voters) right through these intertubes.
238 days to go; enjoy your power while you have it, because it's going away soon.
When it comes to the NRA Trump has the fortitude of a marshmallow
2
Next backpedaling? Summit with North Korea
3
"Profiles in Courage" I think, not!
5
He (Trump) later told lawmakers that while the N.R.A. has “great power over you people, they have less power over me.”
Which means that breaking your promise is your own, independent action, Mr. Trump. The N.R.A. didn't cause you to lie: that was your own decision.
Got it.
7
A weakling with very small hands. This is the same little man who cowered behind the Secret Service with a nut rushed the stage, remember?
It will be fun to watch the Fall of such a tiny man.
8
Trump is devoid of any political philosophy. He will sell his soul for a puff piece. Trump was, is, and always will be about one thing: Trump.
Anyone, right left or center, makes a gross mistake in giving this man even a hint of credibility. He simply is not to be believed.
We need a new president.
6
Really. Well, the NRA is not the boss of me. Will be contacting my elected representatives.
7
Seriously. It takes only a few minutes to call the WH comment line, your senators and congressman/congresswoman.
Ok Trump again rejects effective policy. Pull any subject out of a hat and expect the worst. Inaction or dumb action. Defending the indefensible. Thats the ugly POTUS.
Is there anybody brave enough to legally get rid of the creep because in the global world his systemic dishonesty & sabotage is held in contempt.
Where are the 'fake busters'?
2
Trump is the classic bully -- all bluster and threats until a bigger bully comes along and then he quietly yields to the bigger bully.
6
Anybody who thought the Liar in Chief would make good on his promises to promote reasonable gun control laws is a fool. How many times do you need to suffer whiplash caused by this unprincipled actor to know he will change his mind in hours if not minutes?
2
The weekend after Parkland, NRA officials were invited by Trump to the White House.
Trump should instead have invited one child from each school shooting.
2
Did President Trump say that he would not be bullied by the NRA???
1
Typical Trump bait & switch. Blood money from the NRA to help GOP lackeys get elected is far more important for him than the lives of innocents. Every decent rational person in this country must march with the students on March 24.
1
Having trained armed teachers is essentially turning schools into prisons and/or reform schools. Completely idiotic idea.
1
I cannot believe anyone is prepared to believe anything coming out of Trump's mouth. It's all blah blah blah...nothing of substance. The NRA did not have to do anything to change his mind. There is no mind there. No reflexion. No information. No study. No interest. No empathy. No solidarity.
1
Remember when Obama talked about their religion and their guns...he was right. Fake's base is the 20-25% who claim christianity as their guiding star (not even close WWJD) and cling to their guns to protect them against conspiracy theories. Vote 11/6/18
3
No political support. It would be too much to expect some kind of leadership from this fruitcake. Easier to blame it on some indefinite headwind.
Another day, another con job, another lie to the public and this time too well reported to deny even by hypocritical Fox News. One can almost smell the stench of corruption thru their TVs. Wonder how much the NRA has pledged to Trump 2020.
1
We are coming for you in November, nra. With votes, not guns. Vote progressive in all local, state & national elections. #neveragain.
1
“Do people want their whole laundry list of things done and end up empty-handed?'' (Cornyn)
“you can’t just decide you want laws to pass.” (Sanders)
If there is a statistical correlation between being a Republican and odd grammatical constructions, then brain damage might explain their flawed political positions. Language forms thought.
Brain damaged and grammatically challenged--how did they all find each other, at this point in time--in congress? Lead in the water? Mercury? Sat too close to television while watching The Three Stooges?
1
Just to sell a more guns? Give it up. Use your voice or it is worth nothing.
3
So far our fake government has condoned lying, cheating, stealing, and the murder of children. Times up.
1
I’m simply...blown away. To think, a Republican caving to the gun lobby at the expense of kids and teachers just wanting to go to school to be taught and teach...simply breathtaking?????
3
So Trump is afraid of NRA, the firearms manufacturers, Putin, Rocket Man, Stormy Daniels, Melania, six year old school kids and their mothers who don't want to be shot going to school. ... . So he alternatively promises and threatens everyone with everything. Is there anyone he isn't afraid of?
3
IFwe were fooled, shame on us. Everything he does is nothing but a photo op and a LIE. He had the nerve to add to the suffering of the parents, loved ones of victims across the country just because he could. This latest term of events have shown what a monster this President is. Now that Rex Tillerson is out because he was able to think and cared somewhat about the country lets see what else happens with another yes man. Anyone who calls themselves a GOP member should be looking at themselves hard in the mirror. This man is a monster and the administration is beyond decency. That is why Ms. Daniels will be able to take him down. My heart bleeds for these families and the country. The miderms can not come fast enough
3
And if Baron had been gunned down in his school by an AR-15 wielding teenager, would Trump react so flaccidly?
Maybe.... if the NRA threatened to withhold re-election financing.
5
Well, that didn't take long, did it? And it does not come as a surprise at all... * smh *
1
Like the Doomsday Clock, we now also have the Mass Shooting Clock, counting down rapidly to the next tragic incident. Soon. My hope is with the awakening of the young people that will reject and reverse the mistakes of some really stupid parents. “Mom and Dad, I don’t want to die and you’re not protecting me, no one is...”
1
President Dennison had thirty million reasons to cave in to the NRA.
Every time Trump opens his mouth either a lie comes out or a foot goes in.
2
The NRA is over 5 million grass roots civil rights advocates.
There's a slimy, conniving, lying character in "Game of Thrones" called Littlefinger who reminds me of Mr. Trump.
1
No political will? Who’s fault would that be, Mr. so-called President? Political will only comes with real leadership.
Barack Obama didn’t get the ACA passed by giving up at the first objection. Kennedy didn’t put a man on the moon by listening to the naysayers complaining about the cost. FDR didn’t win WW2 by waiting on the sidelines because, initially, the Nazis seemed to have a better chance at victory. And the greatest of them all, Lincoln, didn’t hold our fractious country together against the howling wails of white supremacist slaveowners by heading down to Gettysburg to give a speech about how Congress barely had the political will to keep up the fight.
Trump, by comparison, can’t even muster the political will to stop our children from being gunned down in their classrooms. We might as well have a cardboard cutout as president; at least it’d stand up tall and stiff against the NRA, deaf to their inane gun infomercial compaign.
1
Does this surprise anyone?
3
Why do we as Americans believe anything this fake president says? He is a liar and a cheat and does not deserve any respect what-so-ever. If only the media can stop reporting on him. America deserves better. He has demeaned the Office of the Presidency.
4
Trump's on camera statements were only meant to publicly convince people that he cared about them and gun control, when as usual he was lying and was just trying to get some air time. He only cares about himself, his family and making money. Trump, the most dangerous man in the world.
3
He was following the advice that he gave Billy Bush--" just tell them and they will believe it." Every statement, every tweet that Trump make is in line with that advice, that's why he makes statements that are seemingly hypocritical. Those who try to ascribe deeper motives by analyzing his behavior are fools.
Did ANYONE really believe this creature would fulfill these promises? This creature has no conscience at all & will tell any lie whenever it suits him.
4
Just days after the Parkland killings, I opined that the instant flurry of gun-control talk could be useful for the young people: Useful for their understanding key elements of the US political system and realizing, as such a young age, the forces arrayed against them, and us.
1
In this article you say that, according to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, trump...was committing to studying the issue of just one part of the obvious suggestion for gun control only "because you can't just decide you want to pass a law." BUT t CAN just decide to meet with N. Korea's leader to discuss nuclear disarmament totally on his own hook, without informing any of our governmental agencies (like, say, the State Department) whose job it is to deal with these decisions, completely against the advice of all our major diplomats. Thoughts and prayers, anyone?
3
We could all be lucky where Trump will fall in heat with a chick named Kimchi, cut a deal to build a hotel in Pyongyang and become the NRA's branch manager there for life ~ truly making America great again . . .
Just watch. DJT will do anything and say anything. He lies easier than he tells the truth. He probably doesn’t even remember what he said five minutes ago. He doesn’t care. That’s the bottom line.
He is guided by voices in his head that cause him to be awake at all hours and say anything he feels like saying on Twitter about anyone, at any time. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He is totally self absorbed. He could care less if the NRA supported repealing laws against murder.
He and everyone else that support the gun lobby don’t think the way many of us think. There is a culture that they exude and it’s all around us.
Other countries now look at us like we are freaks. They hear news about all this and it’s like a tabloid 24X7. Where else is it ok for kids to buy military grade weapons? Adolescents who play video games. A slip of their sanity and it becomes live for them real-time.
A president who meets with grieving children then turns around and does this - he is shameless, spineless and in the end a true bully - a scared little boy who is a serial adulterer, who brags and boasts and beats his chest at every opportunity, who lies, and likely steals, too.
He is the most disgusting excuse for a human being let alone our president. The people are stupid who voted for him. Suckers. They, our Congress, our Senate and this president (what a joke) - are rapidly ruining our country - sooting it in it’s head, powered by the NRA. Tragic. Dangerous.
7
Cowards. Nothing more needs to be said...
3
And now the cycle of death will continue.
3
Not
Responsible
Americans
NRA members, please fix yourselves. Demand gun manufacturer lobby money be used to upgrade conservation projects and outdoorsmen ideals, not political bogeyman lies. You know they are lies and the NRA is just another industry cry baby hiding behind fear mongering. Pathetic use of the founder's intents. Criminal in my book. I bailed on the NRA 20 year ago when they went cry baby.
2
Is it too much to say Trump is a marshmallow?
What a surprise. The NRA have always lead him around by the nose.
1
WE THE PEOPLE MUST show up in force and march with the students and educators across America and around the world on Saturday, March 24th.
Sign up below:"
https://marchforourlives.com/
3
Who didn’t see it coming?
3
NRA is wrong about Aussie Gun laws
https://www.smh.com.au/national/study-shows-nra-is-wrong-about-aussie-gu...
1
The NRA dossier on Trump must be bigger than even the one is Moscow, It must contain lots and lots of dirt.
3
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Donald turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
1
This is the person who needed a cheat sheet on empathy.
4
On gun control: the US talks about exporting democracy, an institution which has at least some relationship to the will of the people. Really, shouldn't we try something before we export it . . . or pretend to.
Donald Trump, the Blowhard, you bragged about not being afraid of the NRA, has shown that is exactly what he is, not only afraid, but petrified by the NRA losing all of their millions of dollars of blood money.
3
Frank Rich, former NYT columnist, called this one immediately: Trump will never buck the NRA.
3
Sadly, Trump will never be the hero creating change in a sustainable way by standing up to the NRA. His words are as soap bubbles destined to dissipate. As a practicing therapist of over three decades working with adults as well as with the senior high school population, my masters degree is in Counseling Psychology. I can not help but to recognize President Trump consistently demonstrating narcissistic personality traits. Traits such as self absorption, limited empathy, changing positions, even lies-not backing down when photos disprove his false reality. The low impulse control he demonstrates combined with his inability to empathically connect in a sustainable way is a combination which does not support the well being of our America .
“Not much political support (to put it mildly),”
Well, except those recently surveyed in polls such as the NPR poll where 75% of all Americans want more gun control, 92% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans, and 68% of Independents. Even the members of the NRA believe in increased background checks and other controls.
So the lack of support is among the people who matter - the donors and their voters in Congress.
The rest of us, i.e., "targets", have no say.
2
This is where we must call and email to demand that the proposed Trump changes are taken and put into law.
The NRA is not the boss of us.
Why hasn’t that sterling example of woman caring Ivanka come forward on gun control? Just because her kids have bodyguards doesn’t mean we Americans should go unprotected. Don’t get kids understand there is an eminent danger, don’t they see or hear? She should ask them.
3
Trump ran as a non-politician, a president for the people.
This is just another example of how he's become a typical Republican politician very quickly.
This is surprising? Trump got his photo-op with the kids. He got to expound on how he would charge in and save them, even if he was unarmed. He got his moment in the spotlight. What else was there, really, that he wanted?
You expected more?
Back in Texas we call this "All hat and no cattle." Hopefully, Texans and more people everywhere will get tired of feasting on the hat, and want some beef for a change. I'm not hopeful, but then I'm still breathing, too.
1
The silence is deafening from our Congress leaders on this issue as it is on many issues like immigration. Nothing will be done on their level. NRA has everyone it seems on their knees. As Lisa a commentator in this thread wrote, keep our eyes on the prize. We need to keep punching otherwise if we rest we will forget who we once were. Manipulators use time to distance us from remembering who we are and instead replace that memory with doubt and fear. It is an age old trick by corrupted leaders. It has brought down many civilizations. But we are on to this game and one thing they have forgotten, we are Americans. Are we there yet?
Flip flopping on important issues has become a defining characteristic of the Trump presidency, and the sign of a weak leader.
1
45 takes the difficult position and stands behind it in the same way he'd run into a school and confront a shooter. What a profile in courage.
1
Why is anyone surprised. Remember during the campaign when he said the “Second Amendment People should do something about Hillary?
6
Oh gee what a surprise! The NRA changed his mind, which is pretty easy to do. I suppose that no one in the NRA has lost a child in a school shooting. Arming teachers is so lame and they actually believe that a teacher gun would be a hand gun against the AR 15 shoots by split second. If I was a teacher there is no way that I would be able to follow through with being armed. These people are academicians many of whom a frightened. Naturally the NRA want to solve the problem with more guns. They need to outlaw assault weapons which have no place but in a war zone. The offer shouldn't even be dignified. Does the NRA think we are that stupid? The certainly have the right guy to soften the offer. He cannot imagine that Barron could be in harm's way tomorrow, or perhaps he thinks he is invincible. It is so depressing to have this barbarian as head of our country.
6
Oh my! Anyone who's surprised by this would probably be surprised that it rains in Seattle. Next up, the "summit" in Korea. Anyone care to bet on how long it takes for Trump to back out of that? My guess is between 2 and 3 weeks, depending on how long it takes for the orange one to devise a shiny new "news story" to dangle before a gullible public desperate for diversion.
6
Once again, Trump's bluster fades like morning fog, and the NRA triumphs over another spineless Republican.
NRA=No Rational Answers
10
As in all things, Trumpś word can´t be taken seriously.
8
“Promise” and trump in the same headline=oil and water. There is always separation. Just ask all his promisees.
6
Sad state of our nation when a President values the loss of innocent children lives so cheaply. You would think that after meeting with the families and children of those personally affected by this shooting, he would somehow find the sense to do something right. Sadly to say, he used these people as a PR event for his own self glory. This man is empty of any decency, care, values, or morality. He is nothing but the worst of humanity. This man is OWNED by the NRA, a puppet of them, and will dance to their music all the time. Disgusting.
7
Who's afraid of the NRA, NRA, NRA? Trump the reality TV showman who will say anything in order to act tough when the cameras are on. What a coward and what a slap in the face to those remarkable young students who came to Washington to make the case for gun control.
9
Now why am I not surprised by this headline? The worst liar, most hypocritical, most divisive, and worst flip-flopper in the history of the Presidency actually stick to something that the majority of the people in the United States want? Ha! I can't believe the Democrats like Pelosi and Schumer even bother talking to him. Once again, Trump proves what a slavish stooge he is to special interests.
8
Donald Trump's tenor is like the experimental Presidency and it's a abysmal failure!
7
I knew it.
5
He sits in a room with children and parents who have suffered the worst imaginable horror and promises things will be different. Well, with this deplorable shill things never are - he is what he is and always has been: an expedient, cowardly, weasel who has no scruples or soul. God help us when he meets with Mr. Kim, a meeting which should never take place - given this latest despicable charade, just more evidence he would say or do anything to pump up himself and the mindless toadies who lap at his feet.
11
Are Trump's lips moving? Then he's lying.
11
How do I hate thee, Mr. 'Not my President'?
Let me count the ways...
It is impossible to express my disdain for thee.
9
The amazing and hate-filled comments herein are one reason gun owners will not surrender their rights to a firearm. Few would trust their personal liberty to people with such misplaced anger.
1
An 18 year old can't drink a beer in his own parents home.
But he is considered mature enough to buy an assault rifle.
Don't you just see a little, just a little, wrong with that?
6
Why not? I have to trust my liberty, don’t I, to people who feel they need a gun to protect themselves from those they disagree with?
Show me the country or state with strict gun control and more gun violence than the United States. Show me the country or state with more guns and less violence. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
The only place that meets those descriptions is in the imagination. On earth, in reality, no such place exists. I have to trust my liberty to people living in a fantasy world.
It’s the guns. It’s large magazines, lax regulation, and shielded liability. Hunters are restricted to 3 shells. That’s all anyone needs.
5
Oh yeah, right. I’d wager few of these outraged commenters own guns. He lied, people are upset. How is this anger misplaced? Please explain. And no one is even suggestion anyone surrender their right to a firearm. Just ludicrous.
5
Trump is also controlled by the NRA....he has no intention of coming up against them, he needs their $ for his campaign for personal power over others and even more $....he is a greedy hack who stands for nothing plus he must do Putin's bidding. I do wonder just how he would react if young Baron or one of his grand kids was killed/wounded by a shooter at their school? Guns & ammo need to be highly controlled and they do not belong on any campus. How hard is that to understand?
4
I find it Pathetic how just one Organization is running our country; THE NRA simply because it has too much money to buy our politicians with. It is pathetic that they rule as we and our kids die from their PR of guns.
And For that do not like this statement or for those who disagree, yes I do support our 2nd amendment but I support assault rifles or the NRA. When the Money from the NRA warps our Politicians focus and protection of us then they are dysfunctional as an ORG!
4
The sign of a incredibly weak "leader" - no backbone. Spineless. Should the North Korean talks happen, they are doomed to failure given his track record.
That's the problem with someone who has zero principles - the last person / group that speaks to him sways his opinion, since he has no thoughts of his own.
6
Trump's idea of The Art of the Deal, is to not commit to anything and that's it.
The Sham President.
7
Trump do the right thing? Godot will show up first.
6
Gun owners need their guns because it's the only thing they can get up. Secondly a gun is cheaper to boost their lamentable ego than the psychiatrist's bill.
7
Nasty, but wonderful, pierre!
Anyone surprised?
5
Trump has two strong masters -- NRA and Putin. He jumps to their orders.
7
Very surprising. Not!!!
5
When will even Trump's most ardent supporters finally realize that nobody can believe anything that this man says.
8
I'm still amazed that the American people have belief in Donald Trump. He has always simply said what the people wanted to hear at the time. He has never kept his world unless it was toward the wealthy.
4
In recognition of the Corporate States of America I offer the following in recognition of the new normal:
Christmas is important to business. However to prevent it's misuse as a poor excuse to pick a man's pocket every 25th of December the celebration of the holiday will hereafter occur on one of God's days, Sunday. The 4th Sunday of each December. Be at work all the earlier the next morning.
Citizens United Day on January 21, the anniversary of its decision. It will replace a holiday no one wanted , Martin Luther King Day. In recognition of CU Day owners and corporations will have the day off, however to pay tribute to the 1% and corporations employees will provide a day of free labor.
Memorial Day will continue.
Heller Day will be celebrated each June 28 affirming the individual right to own and use guns without having to be concerned of any militia, well regulated or not.
Independence Day, no longer being relevant, is cancelled.
Labor Day, no longer being relevant, is cancelled.
AR15 Day will be celebrated each September 13 to celebrate the ban on ownership being lifted in 2004.
Thanksgiving being an important to commerce will continue. However it will be moved to the 3rd Sunday in November to give an extra week of shopping for Christmas.
Tax Reform Day will be celebrated by the 1% on it's anniversary each December 19. As with CU Day employees will be required to work and give their income to the income to the 1% to celebrate the meaning of the day.
5
The most used political statement of the century "Flip/Flop", Trump is living proof that it is the unencumbered truth in fact!
2
Trump has committed so many outrageously illegal, unethical, and immoral acts that it is difficult keep track.
That includes his incessant LIES. But the LIE to the surviving families of the Parkland shooting, that fraudulent show of support for tighter gun control, stands out among all of Trump's decrepit behaviors for its soulless inhumanity.
As of January 2, the Washington Post tabulated 1,950 Trump LIES during his short term in office. The count is doubtlessly far higher by now. The outrageous effects have gotten worse, and there is no end in sight.
3
Never saw a Clinton tabulation of ahem, prevarication, rather an editorial version of candidate access to facilitate framing of such messages. However, I have read Safire's, 'Blizzard of Lies'... Here.
The NRA has more to do with middle aged men, who grew up in a very different era. For good or bad its all they have left. they have been on a losing streak for the last 50 years. Nothing will change until the next generation, the NRA will not give one inch. So, instead of hating or fearing them, have some empathy. Its not about the 2nd amendment or AK's, its about a lot of worried middle aged men.
1
It’s about money, influence, and profits, my friend.
3
Trump didn’t “retreat” from his promise of gun safety laws, he ran from his promise like a dog with his tail between his legs after being scolded by the NRA.
Voters have an opportunity in November to change all of this if they go to the polls and vote. I am hoping that every youth who turns 18 before November takes the initiative to register to vote and casts a ballot. I also hope that those older voters who saw Trump as a promise for change now see him as the shill he and his family members are.
8
I'm not a President, but I play one on TV.
4
Clean the repub swamp run by the NRA.
Vote them out. The N R A gives very little to dems.
We must fight back and defeat this truly evil lobby and organization that puts childrens lives behind owning assault type guns that have no place in society. And infact pose a threat to all of us who who are peaceful citizens.
2
Dear Mr.-not-my-President,
The students, parents, and staff that you hosted in DC will not forget the lies you spewed. Their will and resolve will harden and will not be to your benefit. Of all the hideous lies you have told since your non-election, this one ranks at the top in terms of spreading genuine disgust amongst thinking, compassionate, and true Americans.
8
James Buchanan, who is grateful for trump for pushing him out of the "Worst President in US History" spot he has held for a century and a half, was known as a "dough face." The meaning is simple - his "face" could be molded into any shape by whoever was in front of him at that moment. Uncle Buck was an equivocator.
trump is that but worse. Buchanan behaved like that because he did not like conflict. He was a fundamentally good man who wanted to make people happy. trump des it because he is a belligerent narcissist who wants adulation and praise, all the time. He does not care how many he hurts, who is damaged, as long as his fragile childish ego is being stroked at that moment, and his pockets are being stuffed with cash.
As predicted, trump was and is an NRA stooge. He would bathe in the blood of massacred children if the NRA order him to, because they will tell him how smart he is, and continue to fill his campaign coffers with ill gotten rubles.
5
Yet more White House policy based on the "who 45 spoke to last" doctrine.
2
One more reason to please show up at a rally on March 24th to end this craziness. Why are we surprised that he did this? We need more women and and people of color running for office. The chokehold that white republican NRA lovers have on this nation needs to be stopped. It starts with being aware, choosing to care about the issue and the people it involves your children. Run for office vote and be present!!
2
This is why Trump is a fraud; because he's actually afraid to lead. If you listen to him he's always jumping back and forth over the fence. I like it, it's great, but if someone doesn't like it I won't support it, just get something on my desk and I"ll sign it, changed my mind, don't like it.
It's exhausting and he's hoping nobody remembers all the gibberish....we do. Even Fox doesn't put any credence in his comments any more, taking a "wait and see" approach.
We all remember him calling out one of his Republican colleagues and telling him that he (Trump) isn't afraid of the NRA. Just another lie.
3
Each time a child or innocent is shot, the country should stand up and say "Trump killed my child." Because his blind backing of NRA for campaign funds is truly killing our citizens.
5
Trump feeds off the broken spirits of the young and vulnerable.
1
A cruel liar and flim flammer. Our country will need a serious reckoning that may never come to unravel the damage he has done to the credibility of the Presidential office. Congress will most likely never recover, well, perhaps not until the current enablers, who seem to hate our democracy, fade away into dust. He and all the rest are an utter disgrace. in the mean time, another shooting with an AR-15 is most likely on the way.
3
One can only assume that the NRA told Trump in no uncertain terms that he would not be re-elected if he stuck with his brave gun control stance. Coward that he is, he caved. This one act tells you everything you need to know about Donald Trump.
2
Our non-existent gun control regulations will only be brought up to meet modern society needs and reinstated to reverse current public weapons proliferation when and only when we begin electing leaders of the Columbine/Sandy Hook/Parkland generation.
They are the only ones who have not been brainwashed and bought off by the nascent NRA lobbyists. They are the ones who have lived to see the traumatic horrors of easily accessed weapons of military style mass destruction being discharged by the hands of unstable, unhinged men who have NO business anywhere near these deadly firearms.
Until then, no prayers from me for these evangelical NRA hypocrites. Only for my grandchildren, that they live long enough to see real gun safety change in the form of real Federal and State anti-assault weapon legislation.
4
Of course he fears the NRA. He is so clearly a coward, although more salient is that he has no values or positions. Path of least resistance. His cowardice and insecurity are revealed in every meeting he holds, with his very self protective and crouching body language.
1
So what if he did a 180 on guns. You have nothing to fear, Trump will always be the first man on the terrorist scene unarmed prepared to save the day.
2
Trump has demonstrated all his life, times without number, that he is, first and foremost, a liar. He says what suits him, to strike a pose, to take advantage of the simple and trusting, to cheat and manipulate. He did the same after the recent school shooting. Of course, he had no intention of hitting at the NRA's interests - he knows well how effective the NRA's targeted attack ads are, funded by anonymous donors. The GOP and Trump need the NRA, even more as the odds increase of mid-term losses followed by impeachment of this scam artist, the Trump University's ex-president.
3
The man speaks with forked tongue. Is there no promise he can keep, poltically, professionally, personally? To quote Kistofferson: "He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction", only his part truth consists of alternative facts. He's a legend in his own mind, such as it is, and that mind is stuck in tne sand.
How could Kim trust a word this liar says, much less we trust a word that Kim says. What could possibly be acomplished that would last? No preparations on US side, no diplomats with knowledge on US side, no conditions stuck to on US side, the worst negotiator on US side, and no policies on US side.
Kim proposes a nucear free Korean peninsula and Trump doesnt realize that includes no US nuclear weapons as well. Has this boychild no thoughts beside his own little needs?
Kim/Trump talks -about what? No plans to agree upon have been made. Just give a gift to Kim to appear on the world stage with a US president? Houston, we have a problem.
2
You knew I was a snake when you took me in. The only sure thing about Trump is his true nature will always come out.
4
Trump's top priority is Trump. NRA paid off Trump/GOP with many millions in contributions;did those contributions come from Russia? NO real gun control legislation will be passed by Trump/GOP. VOTE THEM OUT. Ray Sipe
2
"I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do." - James Baldwin
6
Trump... the bait-and-switch president.
1
He is too burled, warped and myopic to know it but Mr. Trump is on the wrong side of history. A majority of Americans want bans on assault weapons, cross-the board background checks and age limits on gun purchases. Sooner or later, the tide of history will make today's struts, lies and kowtows seem unbelievably cruel and anachronistic.
2
Making those poor families show up at the White House and turning them into hapless props for what has proven now to be a cruel joke is just beneath contempt. My hope is the anyone who is or will be 18 in November shows up at the polls and helps throw out all these weasels in Congress. My "thoughts and prayers" are that they are all soon eating out of dumpsters.
3
Same old thing. Trump has no clue! He calls people names. He uses vulgar language in public. He brags about how smart he thinks he is. He just can't do anything positive. There is something seriously wrong with him.
3
Republicans continue to conduct their deadly experiment. Their experiment has failed and school children have died. Let’s stop this deadly experiment and join the rest of the civilized world. Let’s elect Democrats who will enact sensible gun controls.
1
“Brave Brave Ser Donald” boldly turns his tail and runs.
2
Once again, the GOP ignoring the citizens of their country in favor of their donor puppet masters.
1
The NRA donated $ 30M to Trump's campaign. yhey donated $ 7 M to Mitch McConnell's and $ 6 M to Paul Ryan's. These spineless puppets are owned by the NRA, as are other members of Congress. Remember the Las Vegas shooting: Trump said we're going to legislate laws abolishing Bump Stock guns with a lot of public gut-wrenching and nothing happened. And now with the Parkland tragedy, the same thing: after every public school gun tragedy there is a period of 3-4 weeks of public outrage and pseudo-concern by the President ( a total sociopath ) and fake empathy by his cronies. Maybe if there were a similar tragedy in Janesville, Wisc. involving one of the schools which Paul Ryan's children attend, only then would be he finally have the guts to face the NRA. Instead, he remains spineless and a public phony. One great result will come out of the recent school tragedy: a revolution will arise when millions of high school students will join the crusade to get Trump removed from office, by being able to vote in 2020, thus resulting in a cleansing of these genuinely horrific Republican charlatans who are selling this country short with their personal career interests and their disgusting greed.
1
The chaos candidate is doing his job. Sowing chaos. Who benefits from hundreds of millions of guns and high capacity magazines in the hands of everyone?. Foreign governments who want to weaken the US that’s who. Who funds the NRA? Foreign nationals that want to weaken the US, that’s who. Who allows foreign nationals to fund their campaigns through the NRA? Republicans - that’s who.
2
This is just further proof of how untrustworthy the liar-in -chief is.
This is one of several such "staged" TV ops where he appears to be listening to both sides and then makes somewhat plausible suggestions all for the cameras benefit.Like his predictable self he then back-peddles or does an about face on the issue.
Any wonder why this country has lost credibility and the confidence of our allies?No one can trust this man at his word so how is he expected to make any credible negotiations with N. Korea?
And Trump is going to “negotiate” with the North Koreans? You can bet Kim and his cadre of generals have taken note of Trump folding like a card table to the NRA.
1
How about we raise free speech to 30? Religion to 50? Support the NRA, the oldest civil rights organization in America.
He later told lawmakers that while the N.R.A. has “great power over you people, they have less power over me.”
He should be reminded of this statement - and that he's a coward - at every public appearance going forward.
You dream a complex story and everything makes sense, until you wake up and realize how absurd the story was. I hope the same will one day happen to Americans. People of America, there are 300 million too many guns in your country because you want them. Don't blame anyone else.
2
The only solution is to vote out Trump and his GOP enablers. In PA, start by voting against Saccone, on Nov. 6, vote straight Dem.
It is nothing less than obscene to have an 18 year old purchase an AR 15 or any other semi-automatic weapon. These weapons need to be banned from civilian possession just the same as the UK. If we want to learn something about guns and civil society we should study the UK laws.
What more can one say about President Trump. Just the words "President Trump" makes me ill. What he says today evaporates a few hours later. You cannot build a church on anything he says. He's a veritable dilettante on virtually every subject matter. And all of this is compounded by a clinical profile of egomaniacal narcissistic behavior. It is disgusting to watch. He doesn't have a micron of humility about him.
He was the least prepared person to enter the White House. He's opened the office to populist celebrities thinking of running, reducing the presidency of the United States to something of folly.
Americans need to ponder how this came about. I know exactly how it happened. But I'm just a voice in the wind.
1
No surprise here. Mr. Trump is the leader of the GOP (Guns Over People) party. You know, the political party wholly owned by the gun/murder industry.
How ashamed we should all feel that money for a political campaign is more important than children's lives. Those that cower to the gun lobby should be ashamed of themselves. At what point do people young and old get to speak about what is good for this country. A child's life for a political job! Shame on those politicians and anyone who supports the gun lobby.
1
We now know who's running this country, and his name ain't Trump.
3
Trump is beholden to the NRA. When the next mass murder occurs all politicians will run for the hills from the NRA even though the people will be demanding change and reform. The US is a great example to the rest of the world of how not to regulate guns. Shame on Trump!
2
And they still like him!
1
What a sell-out Mr. Trump is.
Too many guns, not nearly enough scrutiny as to who can buy them. You would think that is something every American could agree on (with the unfortunate exception of the sleazy NRA, of course...).
2
I can count about 30 million reasons why Trump turned chicken.
1
If if you are 18 years old please register to vote . Trump just sold you out to the NRA. Wonder how many Trump hotel rooms they will be staying in during their nasty like conventions.
3
This is the second instance where a public TV show demonstrating the president's alleged concern for legislation turns out to have been a reality TV show with something for everyone who was stupid enough to listen and watch. In fact nothing has changed in each instance except the president's mind, if one can say he has one. DACA and now gun control! Democrats should eschew participating in these TV reality shows for what they are, an attempt to cover up intransigence in the Republican Party.
1
There's a new kind of criminal: a person in office betraying the public by lying and not keeping promises made. Trump is the prime example of this criminality. He should be arrested for this betrayal; it is treason. Put him out of office and behind the bars for public shaming.
1
I am utterly shocked to hear Trump changed his mind. Shocked!
2
Be the change you seek. Work for a campaign. Get involved. Give money. Vote.
1
Obvious from the beginning. Trump always lies. Always.
2
At least Trump said he would run into schools to save children. Right?
2
You can tell charlatans when they say 'big' in front of everything - Harper Reed
2
oops. I blinked. What did I miss? Something about Trump standing up to the NRA?
3
Good example of what "NOT being a leader" looks like.
5
Bought and paid for by the NRA and the gun manufacturers. Drain the swamp indeed...
2
And you thought Trump was serious about actual measures to reduce the ability of people to purchase weapons they have no business owning? When do you know Trump is lying? When his lips are moving and his fingers are in contact with a keyboard.
2
Is anyone surprised? Did anyone really think he was going to do anything? Healthcare (Remember when it was going to be better than Obamacare? Haven't heard much on that huh?), DACA, trade, and now guns. He lies. How hard is it to figure it out?
2
I think Trump never planned to raise the age to 21. He says what is politically expedient. Lying is an art form to him. By now he has burned all of us, so we should know better that what he first says is should be considered suspect. He'd lie to the Pope. Trump didn't give in to NRA demands. His mind was made up from jump street. Everything he says is fake news
2
OK it's on .., the kids of Parkland Vs the POTUS. I'll be rooting for the kids of course.
2
The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, apparently, is a good guy with a gun, who arrives too late to save the first 50 students and may/may not be willing to die to carry out his duty.
1
When was the last time the world had such a deliciously nincompoopish instruction (command? edict?) to brighten up our day as this from Huckabee Sanders ...
"...you can't just decide you want laws to pass."
We just can't decide we want something? So what, then? Ask for someone more experienced in stuff to decide for us? Take courses in wanting things? Forget it and move on?
Where did this woman come from? When will she go back?
1
Admit it, everyone. You knew he’d renege. I, for one, never thought he was serious about gun control. The NRA owns him, lock, stock, and barrel.
1
Very disappointed.
Donald his the "Hollywood" and "business as usual" president.
Daryl
Odd. Trump doesn’t seem to mind wading in other places where he has little political support. Oh! He meant financial support. From the gun Libby. Now I get it. Semantics!
Surprise, surprise. This guy is all about the teaser just before the commercial break. Cue the dramatic music and closeups. After the commercial nothing happens. Because there's nothing there. It's "reality" television. Vacuous, inane, nothingness. It's all obscene in its own particular way. The worst part is that he's mocking children who were hunted down in their school by a lunatic with an automatic weapon. But in his own mind, he's done his due diligence and his hands are clean. It's Obama's or Hillary's fault. Ugh.
1
Trump once again slinks away from any promise where he gets less money in his own pockets. America once again looses focus on an issue of grave concern, until another school/hospital/house of worship/mall gets shot up tomorrow/next week/next month. The NRA laughing all the way to the bank with its blood money while our families get slaughtered.
1
In addition to thoughts and prayers, now we have "studies". The president is a coward like most of the rest of his party, with the exception of Brian Mast, who has taken NRA money, but knows the dangers of lax laws. Lance, Curbello, Fitzpatrick , and Curbello don't take the blood money and have supported gun safety measures. Vote the rest of them out!
Is this surprising to anyone? Shame on you if it is. Nothing that this President says matters.
Let’s give machine guns to the kindergarten kids. Why should they be defenseless?
1
Typical of the liberals who hang out here, they think the NRA is some sort of deep state funded group. We Americans who work for a living and support the 2A and the NRA must all be deep state and not know it.
This man is incapable of telling the truth about anything. His modus operandi is to do a completely insincere head fake toward doing the right thing (DACA, gun control), then when the heat is off does a 180 back to exactly where he started from.
I continue to be amazed at the gullibility shown by Democratic members of the congress and senate who continue to be momentarily taken in by this charlatan's phony, grandiose pronouncements.
By the way, if you continue to believe that he's going to rebuild U.S. "infrastructure", I have some D.C. swampland to sell you.
2
His word means nothing!!! How could N. Korea believe anything this man says. He changes his mind constantly. But. Netanyau has ordered Trump to dump the Iran deal........so that complicates things even more.
1
Russia donated 30 million to NRA, NRA donated 30 million to the Trump campaign. It's payback time now: Trump is afraid of the NRA in case Russia demands payback. So is the US a democracy or a satellite of Russia via NRA?
4
did anyone ever doubt that he'd backpefdle on all that get tough with the NRA talk. They paid him 300 million so far that we know of for this "campaign". don't get me wrong NRA plays a lot of Dems and most Republicans too..They pay them all and gun laws never ever get passed.
1
Did anyone actually believe him when he said it in the first place? If so, please contact me regarding a bridge for sale here in Brooklyn.
1
Is anyone surprised? As soon as he advocated for gun control I knew it would be short lived and that he would, as usual, change his mind, bowing yet again to the NRA. It's sad because these children probably believed that the President would follow through but alas that will not happen and it will remain business as usual as more and more massacres occur from sea to shining sea..... God help us!
Ephemeral moments, the mark of convictions or beliefs that ruffle at the slightest breeze. The photo op in the aftermath of tragedy made good copy.
Would anyone expect less from the carnie show of the moment?
Mark your calendars now.
Tuesday, November 6th - that's the day we can fix this problem.
Make sure you're registered, and everyone you know is registered. We can take this country back, and let our children know that they are our priority, not the NRA.
5
It's time for the majority of US citizens who believe in sensible limits on gun ownership to turn the tide. Get out and vote — and make it known far and wide that you will not vote for anyone the NRA approves of. We have to show the NRA (aka, the National Rifle Manufacturers Association) and their employees in Congress that the A rating is a ticket to defeat, a political death-knell.
I'll say it again: tell everyone you know that you will vote against anyone the NRA approves of. And that you will vote.
1
It's more important than ever that every single person who values true democracy in America - and believes we have a right not to be gunned down in public places - MUST march with the student and educators across America and around the world on Saturday, March 24th. Sign up below:
https://marchforourlives.com/
2
Trump and every member of Congress opposed to gun control are traitors to the American people.
1
Is it any more evident that this guy is the President of Some the United States?
Arm educators to take on killers armed with assault weapons & high-capacity clips?
Why not just give them a copy of the Second Amendment? They can shout "Well-regulated militia, well regulated militia!" from the NRA's moral high ground. "Mission accomplished."
1
No surprise here. Sad D has never stood up to a strong opponent. He's never taking any of his famous lawsuits to trial; all get settled "confidentially," which means he gave in. He's a coward of grand narcissistic proportions.
Human sacrifice and child sacrifice are back on the menu! cried the voracious orc.
1
Anyone detect a pattern here?
He heard his master's voice. Well, one of his masters. There's also Putin.
1
Neither stable, nor a genius.
1
So, I guess if you want to exercise real power in the United States, you don't run for the Congress or even the Presidency. You run to be head of the NRA.
1
"Conceding to N.R.A., Trump Abandons Brief Gun Control Promise"
Surprise! Not.
Hear that? Listen carefully.... *poof*... Yep, there it goes... Trump's last shred of credibility. Not that he had much to lose, anyway.
1
trump places loyalty to NRA above protecting our children's lives.
1
45 caves on gun safety-did anybody really expect him to keep his word to the Parkland survivors who shed tears in their heartbreaking memories of friends so recently murdered. This shell of a man lied to them, insulted and taunted congress members as being afraid of the NRA when he himself is the most despicable coward.
What has happened to this country that this heartless liar is our president?
Its pretty simple:
Americans love their guns more than their children.
1
The blood of innocent victims cries out to heaven for justice. March for all lives on 24 March.
1
Trump is scared of the NRA and their money. Period.
2
No surprise here. Wayne LaPierre has been playing the NRA fiddle for years while republican politicians danced frenetically, obscenely stuffing black money in their pockets, daintily avoiding the bodies of dead Americans, children and adults, slaughtered by assault weapons.
Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Bill Cassidy, Roy Blunt, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott to name a few, all accept blood money from the NRA.
1
This is our tough negotiator?
Regardless the bravado emanating from our Presidential office, cowardice in the halls of Congress and sleight of hand in Supreme Court chambers, many among us, "the hot polloi", appear to be taking the words of a gutless liar as truth. I don't blame the poor stiffs who put the guy over the top much as the others chosen to lead by example. They have and are dragging a once respected flag and the people it represents through the mud of their political pigsty.
Today's election in Pennsylvania may give an indication of our discontent, but if not it is just another nail in our cheap political coffin.
How I wish I had been wrong!
I expressed strong doubts, March 1st, when you reported the President's "seeming embrace of comprehensive gun control" - and now?
As a certain Nobel Laureate might put it : "how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?"
[And, in light of their own inaction, I must, in fairness, add : "Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call etc."]
1
Why do we allow the NRA to masquerade as defenders of the 2nd Amendment? They are not. They are defenders of a purposeful misinterpretation of the 2nd, an amendment put in place by the founders because of a fear of the repressive power of standing armies, an amendment mooted by the existence of such.
But I call on all those fighting for reasonable gun laws, such as the teenagers who now lead us, to instead of banging their heads against the 2nd, demand that it be enforced; that guns, as clearly stated, be "well regulated". Next time you have a chance to meet with Senators Rubio, or Cruz, et al. put their 2nd Amendment fetish on the spot. Ask them: "What does 'well regulated' mean to you?" "How can the word "arms" in an 18th century document possibly refer to assault rifles?" (And if they make the argument that "well regulated" refers to militias, ask if they are advocating replacing our armed forces with a militia system.) Well regulated, well regulated, well regulated! Make it the first argument you make. Put it on every sign. Let's take back the 2nd!
1
"Bowing to N.R.A., Trump Abandons Gun Control Promise"
As expected, Trump has bowed to the NRA. So the bloodshed in America can continue with assault weapons available almost every where.
Trump has reverted to his normal course of "action." He talks real big on any given problem or issue and then within days, even hours, he backs away and does nothing, or nothing of any consequence.
How many more Americans; kids, adults, people in church, are going to have to die in a hail of bullets before the politicians act like the leaders they should be, but are not, and get rid of the assault weapons, huge clips and add on devices that can make a semi-automatic weapon work as if it were a true automatic weapon?
I hope we hear loud and clear from the Parkland kids on this political failure. Maybe they can shame the politicians to do something for the good of all Americans.
1
and this is the hero that would have run in and confronted the shooter? he doesn't even have the courage to stand by his own statements!
2
First we criticize Trump because we say he won't listen to anyone. Then if he does we criticize him when he does because then we say he's listening to the wrong people. Whatever.
1
SO disappointing. Just when I though Mr Trump was starting to show mature and brave leadership. He wants North Korea to stop murdering its citizens but it seems, its OK for North American citizens to murder their own because the NRA says so.
2
How does the NRA say so?
It is proven again that the president is all talk and never has any courage or power to do anything. IT is absolutely pathetic. He did speak his mind on the press meet but he is not allowed to do what he felt is right. The GOP is really controlling what the president can do and can't do. Plus he has no idea or courage to do anything even if he feels it is right thing to do. There are politicians or lobbyists who have clear agenda to get the country in the different direction, will support the president until they can get all what they want. I am sure once his usefulness ends the GOP will start alienating the president.
“It really to me is simple,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said. “Do people want their whole laundry list of things done and end up empty-handed? That’s what usually happens. If you say, ‘I want 100 percent of what I want or nothing,’ we invariably end up with nothing.”
We're definitely empty-handed, nothing done at all. Get rid of Senators like this, and hypocritical lying President like this one.
1
"The president’s retreat is a stark reminder — if anyone in Washington needed one — that the gun debate remains stuck where it has been for more than a decade."
No, it's just a stark reminder Donald Trump is sociopathic liar who will and do and say anything to satisfy him momentary infantile impulses.
I am a gun owner who knows a lot of other gun owners ... I can't think of a single peer who doesn't support raising the age limit and more diligent background checks.
3
Unfortunately, "Same on you, Mr President" has no impact on Donald J Trump, a man who does not know the meaning of shame.
1
I hate becoming a one issue voter, but until we see some changes, folks with state reps up to House Reps and Senators who support the slaughter that goes on in this country have to vote them out.
4
Ok we know why he walked this stuff back and made headlines about it today. It's all about the election in Pennsylvania. I hope the turnout for Democrats overwhelms this fake news President.
Oh and by the way, we all predicted this would happen. So why does he get headlines on both stances? The man is a total coward with no convictions, and will not stand up to his base, who own him. He has found a promising way to improve his cash flow ... endless campaigning. And the NRA and the other Koch donors are part of his latest con job.
What is it about some people's need to own a gun? I do not think it is for safety. It is for power. "I have this thing that can kill you, so you better not mess with me, or even disagree with me." Does that make sense? You cannot disagree with me or I will take your life? Gun ownership must end, so that we can be safe from gun owners.
Let’s face it: The NRA owns our government. The GOP won’t do anything without the NRA’s okay. And Trump is just the same. The only way to any kind of sensible gun regulation is to vote out the GOP.
1
Any meaningful gun control related to military weapons in the hands of the public is dripping away. What to do instead? Well, while we live in a Republic sponsored by the NRA, our Captain Ahab thinks the solution to mass murder is to turn our school buildings into bunkers with perhaps M60 machine guns in turrets on all corners. The madness continues...
How can we let such a disturbed person govern a country such as the US? How come no one is stopping him from damaging the world? I am speechless.
1
This begs the question: how long will the purportedly responsible media go on giving this huckster hour-long urgent coverage for every preening, empty headed meeting, every groundless accusation, every braggadocios moment that we all all know in advance will amount to nothing.
Trump called out all the cowardly legislators only to turn around at his first opportunity and show us who his daddy is.
There are so many issues we need to explore and address; Trump's consistent failures as a man and a President are well established, move on.
The NRA is out of control and has become a cancer on America. None of this should even be happening and no lobby should ever have this much influence and power. This is just wrong...and un-American. Guns don't make us patriots. That is a simple paranoia inflected lie. I love this country too and was born here, but I don't need a gun to feel safe. In fact, what would make me feel more safe is if I knew that everybody wasn't carrying a gun. We have a right to not worry about getting shot at any time, anywhere by anyone. This is simple common sense. The second amendment needs amended again. That is why it is an amendment.
1
How about we remove the armed guards outside the House and Senate. Then the House and Senate members can hold Active-Shooter drills. And where they think school teachers should be armed, we’ll arm Mitch McConnell in the Senate and Paul Ryan in the House.
2
What do we call the American people in these cases? The abused spouse?
The problem I have with the 4th estate is that it claims to speak for me. But how? It only reports what our overlords want reported.
As i've written and the NYT tossed, those Parkland kids will have little to show for all their hard work. There's your Democracy inaction kids. Look to Scandinavia for Democracy in action.
Trump. The only thing consistent about him is how frequently and how widely (or is that wildly) he vacillates on issues...except for his wall.
What happened to:
“I’m not afraid of the NRA. You might be, but I’m not”
“I really think I would have run into that school.”
“Others presidents have tried, but...”
Yada, yada, yada...
I could go on but we all know his schtick by now. Make boisterous self-aggrandizing statements in front of the camera. Walk them back in private after a good dressing-down by - insert special interest group of the moment here.
He has demonstrated himself to be Mr. Photo-op, Mr. Braggart, and my personal favorite “Cadet Bone Spurs” bestowed upon him by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel. He is anything but Mr. Presidential.
1
Sadly, an example of political correctness, Republican style.
Hardly a surprise from someone whose theme song should be:
"How could you believe me when I said 'I love you' when you know I've been a liar all my good for nothing life?"
1
The vast majority of AR-15 and other assault rifle owners in the U.S. have avoided service in our nation's well-regulated militia. I'd like to see such ownership limited to veterans and active military.
1
Title 44 in the Code of Virginia defines its militia as: 'The militia of the Commonwealth of Virginia shall consist of all able-bodied residents of the Commonwealth who are citizens of the United States and all other able-bodied persons resident in the Commonwealth who have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, who are at least 16 years of age and, except as hereinafter provided, not more than 55 years of age.'
So all Virginia citizens between 16 and 55 are in the militia. That means they all should buy an AR-15 rifle? I vote we don't let those under 18 do so, but am fine with all those 18 and above who can pass the national background check.
1
The man has no spine.
Time (way past?) to ignore the tweets, and everything else he says. Just watch what he does.
1
There many things about the current administration that give me cause for concern. This is one time though, that Trump really got it right. I fully support the National Rifle Association. What a lot of commenters here don't get, is that the NRA is strong because of individual Americans who value the RIGHT to defend themselves.
Trump finally concedes: the NRA brand is bigger than his own.
1
Teenagers will now determine if Trump gets re-elected in 2020. Vote him out kids.
3
Lets up the ante on protest and students and teachers close the schools until something is done. Make the coward politicians get political will.
Of course he abandoned his "promise" because he is a liar who will say anything in the moment which should come as a surprise to no one. This is who he is. An empty shell of a person with no morals, or ethics or ability to honestly care about anyone or anything. At this point there are no words left to describe what a true abomination and danger to our democracy, our country, and the world he truly is. The headline might as well read trump lied again.
this is the first time Trump has done something entirely predictable if he were a craven, spineless corrupt republican, some little solace that he's not completely nuts but at the end of the day just another machine politician who will allow the US to fade away into soft fascism.
Surprised? Of course not. Trump is a coward. But his polarizing circus antics have no boundary. To imagine that a school teacher , no matter how trained, is able to confront a madman equipped with an assault rifle is beyond description. I served in the infantry in Vietnam, and I had an assault rifle. I was scared to death at each occasion of combat, and still recall the feeling 50 years later. But we expect teachers to become a school based infantry now? How a draft dodging phony like this president can be given the latitude by any citizen to suggest that we put guns in the hands of teachers as a anti violence policy leaves me numb. But not to numb to vote in November. NRA, are you listening to us?
1
The next one belongs to trump.
Why has no one asked how an armed teacher will respond to being out gunned when a maniac entering a class filled with children is armed with an AR15. Shootout across the kids?
Is it a lack of courage?
Is it a lack of conscience?
This man’s need to invite loathing is astonishing.
What is wrong with my country that he is in any form of public service?
It really makes you wonder what was said or threatened in Trump's closed-door meeting with the NRA that made him do a 180.
1
The lack of any campaign finance laws will prevent any and all legislators from running on or putting forward any meaningful gun control legislation, even if 100% of voters wanted it. As long as the NRA has an unlimited ability to buy candidates of their choosing, anyone running against them has little chance of winning. The NRA has no problem running ads lying about their opponents and they have unlimited cash to do that from wealthy donors abroad whose purpose is to keep Americans killing each other.
1
Despite being *for* a near-total ban of semi-automatic firearms (which I think is consistent with the 2nd Amendment), I am appalled that Times (and others') coverage of the mass shooting issue is so devoid of context as to be intellectually dishonest.
School shooting are *incredibly* rare events, and students and staff are already very safe from them, even over the last few years. The annual rate at which folks in school have been killed *and* injured by guns in the 5-1/4 years from Sandy Hook thru Parkland, including Sandy Hook, is about:
28 - students (K-12)
5 - staff
(I used Time magazine's recent detailed count to derive these rates, since gun control advocates' numbers, i.e., Everytown for Gun Safety's, have been been shown to be inaccurate; see http://time.com/5168272/how-many-school-shootings/ .) In comparison, for a recent year in this period (2014), the number of 5-to-14-year-olds *killed* -- one can't fold in high-schoolers because the next age-group is 15-24) was as follows: 1,480 - transportation accidents; 597 - non-transport accidents; 428 - suicide; 279 - homicide (173 by firearms); 41 - drug induced; 54 - flu; 45 - pneumonia. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf
A school kid is more than 100 times more likely to be killed in other ways, and more than 50 times more likely to be killed in a vehicular accident. Suicide, guns *not* in schools, drugs and drowning, flu, and even sports, *each* kills way more students than school shootings.
2
Little did I know that there are actually four branches of government - only three of which are mentioned in our constitution. Seems that the first three branches are there for show; the fourth branch is the 'secret' government that gives orders to the other three.
The gun problem is yet another reason why we need publicly-funded elections with only small contributions by individuals allowed. The legal bribery system that we have will never allow the wishes of we the people to be recognized.
I continue to be amazed and puzzled by those who continue to call for the creation of more gun control laws and that none of these people ever question why the laws that are already on the books aren't working, or why in many cases they aren't being enforced. Years ago I saw an estimate that there are 22,000 gun-related laws in the U.S. I don't know if this is accurate, but I do know there are 1,000s.
An earlier commenter noted that, while it is illegal for someone with a felon record to attempt to buy a firearm by lying on the federal form 4473, which is required on each firearm purchased from a licensed firearm dealer, the federal government rarely, and I mean exceptionally rarely, prosecutes the individual. Why? Any felon found in possession of a gun is punishable by a long prison term under the current law. Very few are receiving these sentences. Why? Chicago has some on the most restrictive gun laws yet a ridiculously high shooting and murder rate. Why? Could the answer to these questions be that our federal, state and local law enforcement teams are not focusing on reducing illegal gun possession and related gun crimes and murders by enforcing the existing law?
So, for all those calling for new gun laws, please tell me what is going to be done differently to enforce these new laws, since the existing laws aren't being effectively enforced. Lunacy is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Therefore, new laws are crazy!
1
According to USA Today (2/21/2018), The states with the highest number of gun related deaths per 100,000 are states with lax gun laws. The top ten from first to tenth: Alaska, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Montana, Missouri, New Mexico, Arkansas, South Carolina. Most of these deaths are suicides.
Laws that would allow guns to be taken away from people who are dangerous to themselves or others could help. Smart gun technology could save the lives of children. Better background checks would have stopped Charleston and the Texas church shooting. Banning bump stocks would have reduced the carnage in Las Vegas.
So, yes new laws can help. Please visit the No NRA Money website. Do not vote for people who take NRA money.
1
I always love seeing people comment about Chicago gun laws and violence who don't live in Chicago. I do live in Chicago. To answer your question about why: Chicago is minutes away from the Indiana border. Indiana does not have restrictive gun laws. Therefore, to help resolve the gun crime in Chicago, you should be advocating for more restrictive Federal gun laws.
I'm sorry, I thought the reason for raising the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle was because of their potential to be used by the immature to commit murders. I didn't know that suicides were an issue with this type of firearm. In case you haven't noticed, it is pretty difficult to commit suicide with a rifle of any type. It is much easier to use a handgun.
I agree that mental illness is a big factor in both suicides and homicides, and we should do something to address this. Focusing on more gun laws does not help. Perhaps, we should focus on identifying and treating those with underlying mental issues by putting more trained personnel in schools, but this takes financial resources that most states and localities don't want to expend.
One thing for certain, Betsy’s brother will get the contract for arming and training teachers.
1
Those that argue against raising the age limit for purchase of a semi-automatic weapon are onto something when they use the example of young persons entering the military and being issued similar weapons. When evaluated more fully the logic is sound and I I fully support approach. This logic would require a person desiring to purchase such a weapon to first enter a "boot-camp" program and learn how to operate the weapon, how to fix a jam, disassemble in the field, clean the mechanism, reassemble the weapon and ensure its safe operating condition. There is also training on when to use a weapon, the repercussions of using it, how to safely store it ... This type of approach would be in-line with the well-regulated militia requirement and would make all of us safer, including the gun owner. The claim that the military just hands over battlefield weapons to high school graduates is pure rubbish. A person must earn that right! The military knows what the results would be if untrained civilians were given access to automatic weapons and that's why the training is so intensive. Follow their lead and make all semi-automatic weapons title II firearms with a requirement for significant training.
1
So much so so much for being a leader - NOT!
So much for being a person with moral convictions - NOT!
1
I was wrong when I posted that the president of the USA should be more powerful than the NRA and should be able to control gun possession and use to ensure the safety of all Americans. Obviously our president by abandoning his gun control promise has demonstrated who is in control of gun control. Not the president of the USA. I applaud the Florida governor for signing off on bold gun control measures including raising the age of gun ownership and possession to 21. It looks like states should take control of gun control.
1
I've been watching the debate on guns and their role and their control in American society since at least 1966. Some of us remember this, I certainly do:
On August 1, 1966, after stabbing his mother and his wife to death, Charles Whitman, a former Marine sharpshooter, took rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop the Main Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin, then opened fire on persons indiscriminately on the surrounding campus and streets.
He killed 19 innocents.
Here we are some 52 years later. And all that has changed is the weaponry now available to mass killers. If anything, the NRA is now more powerful than ever. Call me a cynic but America, as a setting for the commission of mass murder, has only gotten worse and will continue to become ever more so.
After 52 years of watching the carnage unfold I have I only have seen the proliferation of more mass murder as the serial killers gain access to ever more deadly weapons. The carnage will continue unabated. As if giving the ability for mass murder on an unimaginable scale was somehow the intent of the founding fathers when they wrote the documents that defined our democracy.
trump has zero integrity. Other nations see this - they watch and observe, and they know trump has not integrity. Other nations know that trump will not negotiate in good faith - this affects everything from negotiating with North Korea to negotiating trade tariffs with Europe and Canada. These people know trump can not be trusted just as well as we know trump can not be trusted.
2
Well, at least the student survivors of the Parkland gun massacre now know the full truth: change in gun control legislation HAS to come from them and from the states. The NRA owns Congress and Trump. There was a moment there when it seemed that courage might win the day, but that moment has passed for Trump and Congress. Don't forget to march on March 24th, in a city near you.
American citizens need to show the NRA who owns the country.
Trump is in collusion with enmities both foreign and domestic. They must know what Stormy Daniels knows and would use it. Is that legitimate politics?
The problem of gun violence—from mass shootings to incidental aggression (crime/passion-related)—will not be solved for two reasons: (1) the gun myth is too strong in the American psyche and (2) given that, effective measures to reduce gun violence—better qualified counselors in schools to spot issues early (as part of a renewal of the public mental health care system), socio-economic rehabilitation of high-crime areas, both urban and rural, improvement of public education, especially in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, improvement of family services at the state level, aggressive enforcement of gun-control legislation, etc.—are too expensive and too long-term for anyone's taste. Imagine a member of Congress telling their constituents, "Give me billions of dollars and twenty years, and I'll give you a safer America." Good luck, outgoing Congressperson.
What a spineless 'leader' we have, who challenges the NRA one day, even berating other politicians for being scared of the NRA, and then backtracking the next day after a meeting with NRA representatives.
Trump attributes it to "not much political support"; isn't the president the one who should be marshaling such support?. I do hope those students in Florida, and around the country at high schools and colleges, remember this at election time.
The NRA must have the same 'dirt' on him that the Russians have.
1
Trump just lost an entire generation of potential voters. So, too, did the Republicans, if there is any sort of Justice in the country at all. I will never again be able to think of ours as “the greatest country in the world”, or even as a good place to live, as long as we so blatantly value our dangerous playthings over the lives of our citizens, even including our children. Our collective shame could hardly be greater. If I did not have to live here, scared every day, for several reasons, I would leave. The alternative, to stay and fight for change, well...it doesn’t seem like there will ever be a possibility for actual change, does it?
1
Meanwhile its ridiculous that in the US everybody can buy a gun without psychological check, the statistics of the anti-gun lobby are also flawed, they compare shootings in the US with those in Germany or Austria. Sure, we have far less shootings per capita, but stabbings flourish. In the past two days just many in Vienna that made it into the news.
In Austria if I would get a handgun, after psychological test and exams, police clearance, etc I still would be unable to shoot a stranger breaking into my apartment waiving a knife, he also should have a gun with him, otherwise I would be supposed to use the kitchen knife. Like robbers have over here more rights than those who they rob.
Every day a new way to view these spineless individuals as a real and present danger to our society and our way of life. And because this administration keeps piling on, it is numbing and so very difficult to maintain outrage and our willingness to oppose. But, oppose and fight we must. For children are dying in Florida and Connecticut by automatic weapons. The children are fighting back now. They don't need a commission that does nothing about the NRA. I will fight with the children who show more leadership than all the pathetic people in DC who are bought and sold by big money. And for some reason which I do not understand, the National Rifle Association is willing to let children die so they can sell guns. That is savage.
1
What is that word again? You know, the one that defines the situation when 2% of a given population holds the other 98% hostage to its demands?
Did anyone seriously doubt that Mr.Bluster would wilt in the face of the NRA 's insistence that there be no gun control ? The handwriting was on the wall- his lack of integrity, lack of morality, lack of courage made Trump's decision as obvious as his orange combover. His tough talk was all bark,no bite.
Once Wayne LaPierre gave him the command from the NRA,the guy who told the world he would have raced into the Parkland High School, without a weapon, to save the day,tucked his tail between his legs and crawled away. The Apprentice has no clothes or courage.
1
Children are being gunned down and the President uses them for photo ops filled with lies and he still has a base of supporters who worship him. I for one will get to my local high school and support their walkout, they are going to shame politicians who have forsaken them. Please join them with all your hearts.
1
I propose this deal: I'll support people like Harvey Weinstein and others in their virtue signaling efforts to ban the NRA and deprive it of taxpayer funding if "progressives" will agree to do the same with respect to Planned Parenthood.
Consider: Both organizations have powerful a lobbies, both, in the minds of their opponents, are responsible for the deaths of children, and both receive annually billions of dollars in federal subsidies confiscated from taxpayers morally offended by their practices.
Oh wait. The NRA gets no federal subsidies but PP does?
Then its simple: de-fund PP. Then we can talk about the NRA.
You mean the trade off is we exchange providing women with essential health services for the right not to be randomly killed?
1
Nice try, but this has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood.
Well, then - how prescient of him to tell the “scorpion” fable so often during his campaign rallies.
As a teacher, I am disgusted that this president will experiment with my life in the hope that 20% of us can be trained to be as efficient as military personnel and dispatch a shooter without harming any students, or die in the attempt. While I would try to protect my students, my sense of duty is abused by this president's cowardice.
3
What a complete fiasco. Trump was likely never in the camp to genuinely push for a limit on the age of assault weapons purchasers, only making an appearance that he was in favor of it. While he appears to do whatever he likes as to trade, the "wall," and immigration, surely he could devise an executive order that would put brakes on the age at which one could purchase assault weapons. If the NRA thereafter sought to challenge it, so be it.
What is hard for me to fathom is that while the NRA has some assets at its disposal, why is it that one of the many billionaires that have sprung up in our country, reaping so much from the largesse of our nation, do not take a stand and pour serious money into the issue. People ravish over the likes of Ophrah. She has the money, as do many others. So step up, you billionaires to save the lives of our students...and the many others at the mercy of gunmen with weapons of war in our midst...and make a difference.
1
Michael Bloomberg has done just what you ask but it's Congress that holds the power.
Republicans cannot do the people's business because they do not represent the people. Simple as that. It aint't changing. Vote them out!
1
When I became a buyer for a large luxury retailer in America I was advised that taking anything from a vendor was strictly forbidden. This made perfect sense to me for quid pro quo IS an expectation. But, you see it was not my money I was spending, I was trusted to act on behalf of the company responsible for my employment, this I took very seriously. Why would we expect our cowardly President, the proud beneficiary of 30 million from the NRA to care about our beautiful, innocent children. To reiterate what has been said so very many times, America knew who Donald Trump was when they elected him to the highest office in America where he could do the most harm. I don't twitter, facebook, watch tv; living a beautiful life fills me up. I'm repulsed, disgusted and disheartened with the bipolar Presidential sideshow that has become a fascination, addiction for Americans; BASTA as the Italian's would say ENOUGH.
1
When are Americans going to show their "representatives" that they reject the concept of a country governed by the N.R.A.?
Donald Trump has not guts before the NRA and everything else for that matter. He's acting like a victim blaming anyone but himself. He's predictable. But above all he is a man of no substance. Hopefully in May, he is not going to be the one meeting with Kim Jong Un (North Korea). It should be an intelligent American adult, a person of principles - - instead of a mobster.
This is very disappointing. He told us he was not afraid of the NRA. When will be able to believe what he says after this unfortunate retreat.
"Bowing to unions, Trump announces steel and aluminum tariffs"
"Bowing to open-borders extremists, Obama suspends immigration enforcement measures"
Don't remember seeing any of those headlines.
If some stories call out a bogeyman and some don't, the claim of unbiased reporting falls flat.
Raising the minimum age to 21 is Unconstitutional. Anyone want to debate it rationally bring it on
You're saying there can be no restrictions on gun ownership?
OK - why is raising the minimum age unconstitutional? If you'd like to provide a rational explanation well, as you said: bring it on.
It's already been done on the federal level, yes? 18 USC 1922.
Everything Trump says or does is for effect and ratings. Back gun control in a televised meeting? Of course! The media coverage will be through the roof! He could care less ahbout dead children.
The man has no core and no principles. His first and last considerations on anything are "how will this affect Trump?"
1
Considering the past performance & knee jerk responses or lack of from trump it doesn't surprise me at all that trump dumped again on a promise.
trump is protecting the NRA GOP and his base who feel they have the right to own weapons meant for the military.
trump has been campaigning since he swore the oath.
Did anyone believe Trump's TV performance with members of Congress where he played the part of gun control advocate? Most of us have already learned the drill. Trump does a Reality TV Show called, suppose I am president, but then when the lights are off and the NRA beckons with another $30 million so Trump can run for re-election without spending his own money, Trump genuflects back to the NRA and asks them if they believed the TV show stunt he pulled to fool someone who has not seen his act before. They laugh and Trump and the NRA sing their song of an ode to the AR-15 and the blood spattered children and adults mowed down with this military weapon having no business in civilian hands let alone in the hands of a mentally deranged juvenile or adult. What a show!
1
I am waiting for a breakdown of just how the NRA and the rest of the pro-gun lobby has such sway and specifically with whom and for how much.
You have to wonder how much Russia had to do with this decision, through the NRA. Putin loves the NRA and is not only encouraging them to become a presence in Russia, but has possibly funneled money to them for Trump’s campaign. He has his fingers in every single American pie, and gun advocacy is just one more way he can divide this country. Trump is so obviously a Putin stooge, it’s painful to witness such abject sycophancy.
For heaven's sake -- and for the sake of all of us -- don't let this guy go and talk one-on-one with the North Korean leader. He'd probably say whatever he thinks Kim wants to hear, and then, back home the next day, say the exact opposite on Twitter. Where will be then?
He, and the GOP have blood on their hands. Plain and simple. They are either for the lives of our children and teachers, or they for the mass murderers.
A president without an ounce of foresight or forethought. He impulsively makes decisions without consulting those he should, because his desire to be popular is tantamount. Then he finds himself having to back peddle because his decision makes him unpopular with others. The result, of course, is that he looks foolish, weak and pitiful on all fronts.
2
Nothing Trump says means anything. Literally, it is just random sound. In a way, that's the most frightening thing about him. The leader of the free world just babbles away meaninglessly. And 4 Americans in 10 thinks he's just what they want in the White House. O Putin, how great is your triumph!
America's Stochastic War Shall Continue.
I'm not surprised at all. If he really had been serious about that meeting it would have happened behind closed doors. But it was a photo-op, as I said when it took place. And his posturing during the debate was laughable. Nobody really believed he would do something so drastic and anger a big donor. T. was, is and will always be a spineless worm with delusions of grandeur.
1
How many have to die, before the NRA decides it can no longer sell shameless lies to the American public after every mass slaughter on this nation's soil?
How many have to die, before Republicans decide American lives might actually be worth saving over their own sad careers and blood-stained gun-lobby cheques?
How many have to die, before Trump decides the industrialised slaughter of innocent Americans might actually leave an indelible moral stain upon the (now-desecrated) sanctity of the President's office?
Turns out, when your leader and his entire party have sold themselves - mind, body and spirit - to the satanic altar of Big Guns and its voting machine, there can never be too many to die.
What happened to “We won’t get fooled again.”
The headline should read "Bowing before his masters, Trump abandons gun control promise".
1
To anyone who fell for his happy-talk narrative about "listening" and not being afraid of standing up to the NRA: told ya so. This man is easier to purchase than an AR-15, and the NRA knew it.
its not good to have have an firearm because you can kill innocent lives.
And this is the individual who picked the incompetent individual who heads the education system for the entire country.
Blessed Mary, pray for us,
The faux-king of the Art of the No-Deal.
Trump is compulsive liar. This is documented.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html
So no surprise there!
He doesn't care about mass murders. But he does care about votes.
He knows the support of the NRA is more important to him than the lives of students. (Even though, in this country, anybody can get any gun if they really try, (Google "Gun Shows, USA"), he needs the support of the NRA.
I say, lets vote out of office any legislator who takes money from the NRA.
I stand with Emma Gonzalez.
All I can wonder about is how many people are going to accept that Obama made him do whatever or if not Obama that nasty woman. We used to use the term dirt to describe certain people. But perhaps dotard is better.. and there are millions out there.
There is no hope... here-- actually there is.. A few more shenanigans and re-election will be far from a slam dunk.
Trump leads by concensis of only his own base. He seems to not understand that he is took an oath to serve all the people. He hasn’t gone beyond seeing his job as more than a popularity contest . . . But then again, that’s his experience as a reality show host.
1
Of course this is expected. Tweeter in chief, i.e. our national shame,
cannot tolerate the possibility that he appear weak in public.
So a loss on this in congress would have done just that. Rather
than use such a loss as an opportunity to turn it into a teaching moment
where WH echoes the will of the (non)voting majority and at least
rhetorically chooses to side against
the tyranny of the voting minority, the decision was made to
tuck tail firmly between legs and flee at the slightest pushback. That is seen
as being less a loser than the other option.
Which goes to show how strong is this inner need to maintain a
posture of winner at all costs and all the time. It makes him
appear an even worse loser...though not necessarily to
the devoted faux news viewers who will not have this
story interpreted in this way for them. Naturally.
But perhaps the students to commemorate the memory of
their fallen colleagues and friends can help convince young people
elsewhere and everywhere that this is well worth internalizing as a defining issue that requires registering to vote and then voting against any nra
funded lackey and foot soldier who insists upon maintaining
the status quo, that is, our current reality in which
their beloved fetishes are cocked and aimed at all of us anywhere and
at any time.
Well, that certainly confirms who really runs this country.
Folks, this was so predictable.
I'm a retired cabinet maker looking to make some extra cash.....looks like coffins and gun cabinets are what the USA wants.
Any party willing to throw millions of people off their health insurance is not interested in saving the lives of school children.
8
Trump like most of his predecessor, pushed the responsibility down to the states. The liberal left seems to forget that Obama did not take on the NRA.
Alright, Yuri; I'll take the bait, and just point out that the "liberal left" did criticize Obama for not doing more on the issue of gun control (though he was rather busy with actually trying to do something productive with health care the first two years, and hamstrung by Congress for the last six). The Brady Campaign gave him an "F" on the issue.
Obama consistently publicly supported, in speech and through Executive Actions (not orders, which he knew would not stand up in court on this issue) expanded criminal background checks for gun buyers and banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Unlike Trump, he didn't go weak-kneed and abandon these positions in the face of NRA pressure.
If liberals want to know why there's no progress, they should look in the mirror. Most liberals don't believe gun ownership is a Constitutional and civil right. Most conservatives do. There is no middle ground between those positions. You can be dishonest or ignorant and claim your opposition is only to "assault weapons," but since there is no such thing (the term merely refers to any semi-automatic rifle or handgun that has whatever cosmetic features are in that version of the law at the time), a ban on "assault weapons" is a ban on all useful firearms.
Our Constitutional rights are defined with respect to the legitimate versus illegitimate exercise of those rights. For example, freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution; lies, despite being speech, are not. There is no reason the Second Amendment should be treated differently.
The middle ground is based on what you view as "useful firearms". I find single-shot rifles and double-barreled shotguns useful for hunting, and support the legal rights of citizens to own them, provided they do so in a responsible manner. There is at least a fair debate that a handgun might be useful for home defense, though I don't own any. There is no legitimate civilian use for semi-automatics or automatics with high capacity magazines; these are weapons that were designed for the military with the express aim of allowing it to cause as many human casualties as possible in as short a time as possible.
1
Raise the age to 21 unless you are active military.
7
You must not have an 18 year old daughter living outside the jail.
Mr Trump, my heart truly bleeds for you. I know your pain. For 'cowards die many times before their deaths'.
4
Glad to see Trump does not want to deny citizens their constitutional rights just because they are 18,19 and 20 years old.
You can hate the NRA. Hate is a prerequisite of being a progressive. However the NRA is not a monolithic entity, but millions of Americans defending our constitutional rights.
Sure you progressives can hate and be intolerant of these Americans. However, they outnumber you. And they are rght.
Deal with it.
2
Sometimes it seems fear is a prerequisite of being a present-day conservative, and certainly of being an NRA member. Why are you so afraid as to think you need a semi-automatic weapon with a high-capacity magazine?
But he’d rush into a school with an automatic weapon ablaze. Courage is just dripping off him.
2
To leave school children telling a real problem standing in the rain is so unbelievable that it gives one headaches. What is going on in the brain of this primitive, self serving man in the White House. Apparently the last feeling for a moral reaction has left him. Disgusting!
2
The “smoke and mirrors” president..all blather and bluster and NOTHING! Let’s paralyze this loser in November! Trump has done nothing but allow his racist right-wing, misogynists drive court appointments and fill the pockets of the rich and corporations.
3
So now we know for sure that the NRA runs the White House.
Who would have thought?
5
Because for all his bluster about being a renegade and shooting from the hip, he's still a cowardly tool for the NRA.
5
Does anyone else feel terrorized by the notion that the NRA and its members are holding a gun to your head, America's head?
7
He’s a weak person. Full stop. See it in his lack of impulse control, his lack of consistency, his bullying, his lying, his unquenchable need to sate his desires.
6
Anyone surprised? Anyone?!
4
So Trump tells his fellow republicans that are afraid of the NRA and now he's in the same position with his tail between his legs. And he is going to be the first president to deal with the regime whose leader shot his uncle and fed him to the dogs and later murdered his own brother.... as the saying goes... there's always a last time.
3
Trump is no leader; he's a coward and a hack, though this is no surprise to anyone who knows how he operated before he walked into the Oval Office. This entire administration is a nightmare; a bunch of bad guys with guns. Vote them all out.
4
I was astonished that Trump would actually do something morally correct and admirable and ready to give him credit for it, but I am not at all surprised that this gasbag of a so-called president would do an about-face as soon as his NRA puppet-masters told him to. Blood is on all their hands.
3
Anyone who thought otherwise was quite delusional.....
NRA owns the government, guns aren't going away.
Ever.
3
Is the National Rifle Association and it's members a "well regulated Militia"?
3
Disband the Defense Department and leave our security to the NRA. If you listen to them, that’s all we need
Is anybody surprised, did anybody think that president was going to follow up on what he told the students, parents and teachers? NRA runs this country, they spent millions to elect Trum, McConnell, Crews, and others, and they collect. As long as republicans are in cont, there will be no gun control laws, period. That's why we must vote, vote vote, come November.
2
What a great deal maker you Mr President!
1
Government failures from the school system, Broward County Sheriff and the FBI are to blame for the latest incident in Florida along with Obama era policies to avoid the "School to Prision" pipeline that made it harder to ensure the shooter had a record and therefore would be banned by the NICS to purchase any weapons.
This does not surprise me one bit. When the pResident met with legislators to discuss gun control it was nothing more than a photo op. He did what he always does and throws a bone to the liberals then yanks it away because he can and he is a vindictive person. This has been his modus operandi from the beginning.
He just thre dirt in the faces of the Parkland students who came to DC to meet with the pResident. In an interview, Emma Gonzalez said that she would not go to DC to meet with the pResident because she knew it would be nothing more than a photo op. His hand written notes confirmed her suspicion. Emma was right.
This wannabe dictator is nothing more than a threat to the US Democracy.
5
So called 'dark money' has found its way through various 'legal' channels from Russia into the NRA's what-shall-we-do-next fund. I question whether they're still interested in the Constitution, the Separation of Powers, or the Will of the People. Vote like your Country depends on it, please. It does.
6
The American public has made it eminently clear that they want national gun control. Why is the majority of the American public’s demands being abandoned to the wishes of a looney money-loaded corrupt gun toting organization called the NRA? This is wrong immoral and obstructive to America well-being.
3
luckily we are protected from the uninformed whims of the majority.
It is amazing how much influence $30million can buy in Washington
1
Five million NRA members- 325 million Americans means that 1.5% of the population has made their values the rule for 98.5% of the population. Is this democracy?
4
The NRA represents many more Americans than their paid membership would indicate.
Again. Another instance of why we need to bury what he says and tweets and focus solely on what he does. Trump continues to play the media and the population off each other masterfully. His tweets should be stuffed onto a back page of newspapers -- like where the dirty old classifieds used to be. His words should be ignored as they have little to no correlation to his actions. Instead, a sharper focus on what his administration and his congress DO should be the primary focus. Deny this ogre the oxygen his manipulative game requires. Otherwise, you are complicit in it.
2
Trump didn’t cave to the NRA. He never had any intention of keeping his promise to the American people regarding gun control in the first place. The NRA has their guns pointed at the American populace and they will continue to hold us hostage till we stand up. Till then the mass shootings will go on and on and on.
2
What do we expect? Shame on us for letting this person win the presidency.
1
In the old days when we were looking for teachers who could draw fast, we just wanted to employ them in the Art Department.
4
Did anyone believe for a second he was going to do anything? That little meeting at the WH was political theater, nothing more. How many times as he done this on any given issue? We know he lies as easily as he breathes. He used all those grieving people for props, nothing more. If I were them, I'd feel sullied and furious.
1
Trump has no "evolving" position. The man has no concrete set of convictions. He is like a reed blowing whichever direction the last gust of wind takes him.
1
The NRA is a business. It is a vile business that exists to enrich its leaders and promote the agenda of the armaments industry on the blood of children. Its primary business model is to make unfettered personal gun ownership a deeply emotional political issue that allows it to continue to prosper. It is anomic and cares not how many children die because of it agenda.
2
Everything the swamp king and the GOP rats do or don't do, defies comprehension.
And then they have the audacity to name their supposed bill to combat mass murder at schools the "STOP School Violence Act" which has such bold ideas as adding classes on preventing violence, reporting threats and adding bulletproof windows and doors. I'm sure arming teachers will be added too.
That's their answer. Not common sense things like getting rid of AR15s, upping the age requirement for purchasing, thorough background checks and mandatory gun classes for any gun purchase, new or used, and long waiting periods before obtaining a weapon, etc.
They demonstrate over and over they are owned by the wealthy, especially the NRA in this case, and care nothing about decency, common sense and the collective good.
And of course if trump even opens his mouth we know a lie will come out. Despicable creatures, we must send them all back to the slime pit where they hatched.
1
“...you can’t just decide you want laws to pass.” Really? Seems to be what this administration is doing re the environment and safety regulations.
1
The March 24th Rally in DC will be bigger than the crowd for Trump’s inauguration.
Vote to flip the House and Senate in November and bring this reality TV nightmare to an end.
3
“Not much political support (to put it mildly)” whines your leader. It is the job of your President to lead the nation into granting its’ political support to programmes that he feels warrant it for your narions’ betterment and, if he fails, to be voted out of office. No pain-no gain.
Anyone who is surprised by this story hasn't been paying attention. I'm only surprised it took this long.
1
They don't even bother to hide the corruption anymore.
2
I commented on the day of the parkland shootings, and I will do so once again today...dead children = rich politicians. All gun industry supporters in congress have taken in huge sums of money as a result of gun deaths. They personally profit from the shootings and they need for them to continue for their financial model for their re-elections to work. Dead children = rich politicians.
And, oh, BTW, quit saying "and nothing changes". Things change. After every shooting, gun laws have been loosened. Now, we are actually at the point that the government is going to start purchasing millions of guns to "protect" us, as they arm guards and teachers in schools. And, last but not least, surprise, surprise, we apparently need to arrest large numbers of black students to protect us from all the shootings by white students. Thanks, Sen. Rubio!
1
Was this two-week apparent charade any more than part of his attempt to influence today's Pennsylvania special election?
2
If Trump could spray on his "positions" some of that cast-iron-based locks locker that he applies to the half-dozen or so strands of hair that form his coif, we might have at least some sense of continuity in this administration.
(Please note: "Continuity" is not to be confused or equated with intelligent, quality, sincerity, practicality, morality...)
My daughter would not post this on Facebook and it probably will be moderated out. But, let's get every male of color try to buy an AR15 and see how quickly there is legislative action.
7
Trump just made sure this issue will get forgotten by sacking Rex Tillerson.
3
Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the WH is studying the issue because "you can't just decide you want to pass laws." Yet, DT has no problem acting unilaterally when he wanted to ban Muslims from entering the US or deciding that people who are transgender shouldn't serve in the military.
7
Another cynically calculated risk that the Republican'ts can do nothing and still squeak by in the elections. So let them misbehave, refuse to legislate, deny the will of the majority, fail to do the right thing, equivocate and outright lie. And aid and abet a so-called president whose abundant lapses (I'm being charitable) in any rough equivalent by Mr. Obama would have spurred zombie Republican'ts to be knotting the impeachment noose.
But that's alright. It's less than eight more months. Let's recount just a few of the bad-faith, no-faith, abusive Republican't positions that flip obscene gestures to the majority. 1) They don't legislate a form of affordable, viable health care insurance--which a majority want--but enable a virtually unlimited supply of guns, which a majority don't want. 2) Republican'ts neglect to weigh a livable minimum wage, which a majority want, instead heeding the whistle of their donor masters who wish to keep profits high and most wage earners enslaved. 3) The 'Can'ts (with the help of some turncoat Ds) are acting to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Board, of which a public majority approve, and obeying their big bank donors, increasing future rip-offs and the risk of another financial crisis. 4) Equal Pay for Women. 'Nuff said. 5) Women's reproductive rights, imposed by a gaggle of sneering old white men.
Remember in November. The above cannot be rectified by letters to the media or phone calls to Congress. One thing: V-O-T-E.
3
Seems like there should be some political advantage here for somebody in 2020. That should sounds like a long ways off. I wonder how many more school children will be massacred before then. Will the opposition offer anything more than feel good measures?
1
The 2nd amendment is a part of our Constitution, so the right to bear arms cannot be infringed upon. The blind fealty by the likes of the NRA to it, however, is absurdly irrational. Even Wyatt Earp understood that the best way to insure safety for all citizens in public spaces and such was to contain, constrain and removal of all fire. That was well over 100 years ago. But now, now, we've reduced ourselves to an argument that the best thing to do is arm all teachers and such. It's ridiculous.
Somewhere along the way we've forgotten Wyatt's simple and basic rule, the end consequences of which are that once again we're back in the days of the wild west where some of the few keep shooting up the place. This irrationality cannot stand. We need a Wyatt to draw the line, don't we? Clearly it is not the "Commander in Chief."
John~
American Net'Zen
1
Trump has a few convictions and doing something about guns was briefly one of them. But our lying president is also a wuss, a coward, a flip flopper again. So in addition to being a man who assaults women, he is a nothing burger on policy. This is what we get to end abortion and give corporations a 20% tax rate. Basically Trump is raiding Social Security to reduce taxes.
3
This is a surprise? This is simply the DACA meeting redux.
3
The next time Trump holds a reality show bipartisan meeting to discuss a controversial subject, the press should not bother to cover it. Whatever comes out of his mouth during such sessions amounts to -- you've got it -- fake news!
4
I am a political independent who does not own guns but, as a military vet, knows many who do. These people aren’t evil.
Here are my suggestions for progress:
1) Retire the phrase “gun control”. Call it “gun safety” or better yet “student safety”. Semantics matter a lot.
2) Instead of trying to pass a Christmas tree bill, start with something simple. The ban on bump stocks and high capacity magazines is a good start.
3) Demonizing the NRA is politically convenient and good for fundraising but misguided. Start talking to grass roots members and support more reasonable candidates for office there. Things may change.
4) Get to know gun sportsmen so you can appreciate and respect them. Then they will know that you are not their enemy either. Too much of this debate sounds like the contempt present in the “deplorables” comment that sadly got Trump elected.
3
guns kill...simple fact.
2
Per your point number 4, might I suggest that gun sportsmen get to know mothers in places where there are already too many guns. Gun sportsmen care so much about their gun ownership for their hobby, but care nothing about others in the country where we feel there are too many guns, too readily available.
1
I look at the news. Real news. No need to go any further. School children are being massacred by assault weapons. Concert goers are being massacred by assault weapons. Republicans largely ignore pleas for something substantive to be done, yet continue to accept money from the NRA.
I do go further however. I know many sportsmen and women . They hunt animals with legitimate hunting rifles. Not assault weapons. You brought up deplorable. Deplorable is receiving a call that your child or other loved one has been killed or injured by some nut with an assault weapon.
Did you hear NRA's LaPierre at CPAC? He sounded positively demonic. His head may just have well been turning in circles, spouting green gruel.
I refuse to wait while "things may change". That is how the NRA works. Give a little, then refuse to budge another inch, wait for another tragedy. Start all over again.
If there ever was/is a deep state in Washington, THIS is it.
The MONEY behind our politicians, comprises the deep state, comprises the swamp. The government working FOR us, belonging to us is a farce. If bumbling Trump and cronies have done anything positive it is that they've shown us exactly why Washington isn't working for the people anymore: it's controlled by the MONEY from outside interests, whether corporate, private or international government. We're watching it all unfold before our eyes in real time.
Now shut up pay your taxes and try to vote if you haven't been gerrymandered into oblivion.
7
Why would this surprise anyone? Seriously.
1
I wonder, given the deaths of so many children, and the tendency to view the NRA commands as a religion or cult, that the headline should not read "Bowing" or "Conceding" but rather "Groveling, or Prostrating himself in front of the NRA alter of money, influence peddling and gun sales...". That is their holy trinity after all.
2
Presidents can be bought a lot cheaper now than they used to be.
4
Trump, having bragged that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, is one of the crazies that would have his guns taken away. Of course he reversed himself.
2
Apparently he IS afraid of the NRA.
3
What is it they say in Texas? All hat and no cattle? Trump to a T.
1
Surprise Trump lied! Not really a surprise you could call this one as soon as the words left his mouth.
Next non-event: Summit with Kim Jong-Un.
2
Trump super power: He continues to be able to walk with his pants on fire.
No political support? Only79% of Americans want the age raised to 21!!But 30 million for your campaign speaks very loudly. Ask the students who met with him if he has an ounce of integrity!! They now know the real Donald. A pathetic ,pathological liar,who will lie to every rally or meeting he will ever have. He will protect his fellow Republicans ? He is incapable of presidential leadership!! Sanders says he could revisit this issue- when in 2040?Of course she would never lie to us!!The worst president in American history!!
1
@NYTimes
I believe the word for "abandoning a promise" is "lying." Can you please just say "Trump lied (again)"?
6
The term flip flopping used to be used a lot but now just when you need it, its hardly ever used. Could the NRA have something on this pompous commander in chief? Like Russia seems to.
3
The NRA *is* Russia, purchased and paid for.
1
Who's afraid of the N.R.A? Trump is. His words were just bravado as usual. We can only hope that all of these angry 18 year olds go out and vote to change the broken system. It will be a long hard battle to rid government of the NRA.
5
Craven, gutless, and for sale. Trump 2020!
3
President Stand for Nothing abandons gun reform? Is anyone really surprised? And in a startlingly craven move - now blames Obama's review of educational discipline?!!!! Perhaps we should send blue ribbons to the WH, to commemorate his leadership in creating a commission "to study" the issue. His is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
2
i'm only surpised that Trump's reversal was measured in days and not hours, Most spineless, gutless president ever.
We will blockade Cuba!
But, sir, that's where your cigars come from.
We will NOT blockade Cuba. Excellent country, Cuba. Lotta Trump supporters in Cuba
5
Any one else think that Gov Scott signed the Florida gun bill after consultation with the NRA that this would be the way to get the issue into the judicial process all the way to the Supreme Court?It's the same methodology used to get Heller v DC
1
President Trump should be ashamed of himself. He flat out lied to those kids from Parkland. He told them he would fix the terrible wrong that befell them and instead he caves in to the swamp creatures he said he would tame. Shame on you, President Trump.
4
Ok, time to think outside the box. Quit criticizing the gutless wonder Putin buddy and let’s get to work figuring this out. Time for the dems to offer lots of solutions and dare the GOP to shoot them all down. No omnibus gun bill. Instead a bill to raise the age of purchase, another to outlaw bumpstocks, another to remove big magazines and semi automatics, another to fix the database, on and on. Make the GOP take vote after vote or at least ignore the proposals so that anyone running for congress or senate can say that the incumbent wouldn’t support any sensible gun regulation. Also, it’s time to talk more articulately about the duties and responsibilities that go with Constitutional rights. The debate is stuck and frankly the dems don’t seem to have a great deal of thirst for getting it moving again. If we’re a nation of laws then a discussion of duties to obey the law is a natural topic.
3
I was going to say "amazing" but, you know what, it's not amazing any more. One can't trust the word of the president. If he were employed in a private company and exhibited this behavior, he would have been fired. Yet... his base loves him.
2
Did anyone really think that Trump was actually going to do something about gun control? I feel badly for the kids who believed that he was going to help them. But the truth is that "the Donald" talks big and accomplishes very little.
4
What seems to have gotten lost in the debate is the fact gun massacres have not occurred only in schools. What about movies theaters? Night clubs? Are we going to start arming supermarket and library employees? It's all about the guns.
6
Here you have a person (I can not write 'man') who is President of the United States of America, occupies the highest, most august position in the land, who is without character, does not possess even one virtue that I perceive. Yet millions do not care; they have other interests such as their pocketbooks, their stuff, their erstwhile activities, their spewing out ideology and propaganda, etc. They do not care, which suggests that a huge swath of Americans, no matter how religious, how better-than-thou, how sanctimonious they be, do not espouse and laud a man of character. To me, this suggests that America is on a downward spiral towards decadence and is in many ways an unfortunate model for other countries to follow in this same manner. (We now in Canada have a person who is a candidate for the Premiership of the Province of Ontario, who lauds this characterless President of yours will no doubt attempt to legislate a similar agenda.) This is curious given your country has the most marvelous and glorious founding documents, but riches, materialism, dishonesty and unethical behavior, ignorance and egregious arrogance outweigh them these days. Very sad, and only men and women of good faith can rectify this. How many are there among you, I wonder.
4
As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" The chief accuser becomes target of his own attacks on the GOP. Arming teachers and talking about mental health is not gun control. It's NRA-sponsored slight of hand. They have convinced my elderly father for the last 50 years, that the government is at the door demanding his guns. 3 million members hold us all hostage to their made-up, paranoid insanity. And Trump provided more proof that nothing he says is true, nor can it be believed. Jello man melts again.
2
In 1791, when the 2nd amendment to the constitution was ratified, the types of weapons Americans used for defense and the gathering of food were single shot muzzle loaded flintlock pistols and muskets. Their ammunition was nothing more than lead balls that tended to be fairly inaccurate as most rifles did not even have sights to help aim at their intended targets, not only that but at most the number of times a weapon could be fired was 3 rounds per minute. Musket and pistol balls were also victims of gravity, because they were quite heavy, the maximum effective range of a musket was only about 50 yards. Generally speaking the weapons available at the time were bulky, slow to load, slow to fire, were highly inaccurate, and used for a few purposes: hunting for food, protecting one's property (which at the time included slaves), and for fighting in local militias against Native Americans and the threat of war. There was no such thing as as police back then and the United States didn't even have a standing army at the time of the 2nd amendment's adoption into the United States constitution.
Does anyone really think that the founding fathers could have forseen the evolution of handguns and rifles to where they are are today? It is absolutely ridiculous to think that they did because living back then was all about day to day survival. Their biggest mistake was being ambiguous in how the 2nd amendment was written and now we are all suffering the consequences
5
The only way moving forward in this case and others politically important for society as a whole is now fostering direct democratic campaigning as [email protected]
in his interview with Beto O´Rourke has discussed. The country needs a different approach Policy is made by Politicians who are too strongly influenced by Pack Lobbiist. The NRA is an extreme example of it.
In Switzerland the Right bringing in Initiatives and Referendums is a Constitutional Right since more than 100 years which gives the people eligible for (electorate, voters, older than 18) the chance controlling and influencing the political process via voting. That´s unfortunately in today´s battle between the Reps and Dems an almost all levels the only way uniting the society again.
As Swiss I´m calling for an "Peoples Action for Progress".
1
Sadly Trump will store this issue away for when he can use it best - for his own re-election in 2020. He lied now and he’ll lie then. He’ll promise to fix our gun problem in hopes to sway public sentiment in his direction. If, somehow he manages to stay in office and out of jail until then, please let’s not fall for his deceitful ways. Mexican wall, health care reform (it’s easy), drain the swamp...Never Forget. He’s not to be taken at his worthless word.
2
So predictable — hot air and no credible action on addressing the core issue of mass gun violence. Can’t just lay this in Trumps lap either, though he quickly caved in the now traditional way while the NRA continues to wield uncanny power. Their money talks much louder than tragedy and grief.
Have to note this bit:
“We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees,” Mr. Trump said during a political rally on Saturday. The president said that members of such commissions do little more than “talk, talk, talk” and then, “two hours later, then they write a report.”
So true but also so misleading. The commissions are not the culprit, most do their best with good intentions. Its the politicians who choose to deep six their recommendations in favor of avoiding any chance of offending their valued special interest patrons.
Finally, not hard to understand why Congress is not focusing on guns. Gutting banking regulations is a much more productive and satisfying undertaking. Then two weeks off — Spring Break and all that.
1
From a perspective from abroad it looks like the NRA not just are more powerful than the President and the Congress, they seem to be more powerful than the Constitution itself.
3
Notice how NRA members are never accused of any of these shootings. I seriously doubt that outlawing a mechanical device that the owners are almost 100% law abiding will solve anything. Outlawing semi automatic firearms will do for guns what Prohibition did for alcohol. Create an unregulated black market.
I wish there was this much noise when gas when up to $4 a gallon and 25% unemployment in parts of the US. And former Presidents Bush and Obama did absolutely nothing.
2
If he has been smart he probably asked them to commit more money to his next campaign in lieu of backing down.
Only Trump could respond to a tragedy like Parkland by proposing a money making scheme for the gun industry - I imagine tens of thousands of guns will be bought by school authorities to arm their employees. Sad.
3
As numerous people, including those commenting here, have observed Trump's repeated, serious and long history of lying and cheating, I had commented on his offers to concede something about gun control as to be wished but also to be disbelieved. If any persons would still believe anything he says (despite his frequent plea "believe me!"), they should probably have a psychological evaluation, along with Trump himself. Scholarly history (if we survive) will include such condemnation of this outrageous aberration of an Oval Office holder as to leave people flabbergasted. Let us live through it and be delivered--beginning with the children's march!!
1
Students should boycott FL for their Spring Break and go to another location. Families should do the same for their vacation this year.
1
A change in the culture will require that any politician be punished for accepting money, endorsements, or any in-kind contribution from the NRA. As of this moment, an A rating from the NRA should be considered a large bull's eye for the voter; you accept anything from the NRA, you do not get my vote.
3
For those of us who have been slogging away for years at the gun violence problem, this news of Trump's flip flop does not matter. We are on the rise. Come to our gun violence prevention rallies and feel the change. We are like hobbits watching the ents finally awaken. The people are on the march. We will have our protections for domestic violence victims, for police officers, for the black and brown children of our poorest neighborhoods.
We are not coming for your guns. We are coming armed with common sense ideas for change. Expect us.
3
The NRA really owns congress, this is apparent by the POTUS changed position concerning common sense gun controls. Also the senate fear to act in a reasonable manner. Those who are suggesting teachers should be able to carry guns have never been a teacher. This would only open up more chances for unexpected negative consequences.
2
No political support? How about doing the right thing?
1
This just goes to show that the little silver goes a long way.
Did we just see him choke? That was indeed a quick turnaround!!
31 million reasons to do so. Never mind the kids from Parkland, or around the country. Who cares?? Not the POTUS. Not the NRA. Not the GOP.
1
The veneer of democracy is extremely thin. It always has been. Despite all the "progress" evident in the West, essentially, the serfs are still run by the overlords, and the hymns to globalization and free trade politely overlook how extraordinarily much power globalization has placed in an equally extraordinarily small set of hands who quietly and invisibly control the direction of the lives of billions.
All governments act primarily in their own behalf, and governments these days are run by those same overlords. who in turn are only driven by markets and money.
We can moan about Lapierre all we like, and about Trump all we like, but the bottom line is, lots of Americans like buying, owning, and using guns. There is no parallel gun culture in any other country I can think of in the West.
If Americans stopped liking guns, the NRA would wither and die.
But as long as there is a rich market supported by a culture, power is going to come down on that side.
Personally, I think IPhones and texting are destroying civilization and, e.g., killing people on the road every day. I am nearly killed on the road several times a day by people who are clearly either talking on the phone or texting as they drive. I can seen them talking away with one hand on the wheel as they go through busy intersections flouting the laws, never mind common sense, with impunity.
Yes, changing the gun laws would help, but not as much as changing the culture. The enemy is still Us.
3
He didn't "abandon his promise." He completed his lie. This is a person who looks at a country grieving after its children are shot dead and thinks, "how can I make this situation work for me?"
3