Guns, Government, and God : ProgDems, CNN, Children, Trump, and the Second Amendment

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS ABOUT THE CONTINUING AMERICAN NATIONAL NERVOUS BREAKDOWN OVER GUNS. And, you will not be surprised to see who is feeding it. • • • CNN UNLOADS A PILE OF PROGRESSIVE PROPAGANDA. CNN anchor Jake Tapper led a CNN Townhall about the Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School shooting on Valentine's Day. A reasonable guess would be that ProgDems are terrified of taking on gun control directly, so their elites and whoever is paying for the political propaganda spouted every day by CNN decided to let CNN carry the load on gun control. • It seemed like it would be an easy task because CNN, as does the rest of the mainstream media, has traumatized children as its foot soldiers. BUT, a funny thing happened on the way to the CNN Townhall. A survivor of the Florida high school shooting said in an interview that CNN rejected his proposal to discuss armed guards in schools and instead handed him a "scripted" question to ask during Wednesday night's town hall on gun rights. Colton Haab, 17, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and an ROTC member, reportedly used Kevlar vests to shield students during the massacre. He said he decided not to attend the town hall after CNN presented him with the prepared question. Haab told Miami's WPLG-TV : "CNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted. I don't think that it's going get anything accomplished. It's not gonna ask the true questions that all the parents and teachers and students have. The Florida high school survivor added : "I wanted to go to the CNN town hall, but I was only allowed to ask scripted questions by CNN. I decided not to go. I expected to be able to ask my questions and give my opinion on my questions." • CNN had its usual answer fired up and ready : "There is absolutely no truth to this." CNN's Richard Hudock gave a full written statement : "There is absolutely no truth to this. CNN did not provide or script questions for anyone in last night's town hall, nor have we ever. After seeing an interview with Colton Haab, we invited him to participate in our town hall along with other students and administrators from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Colton’s father withdrew his name from participation before the forum began, which we regretted but respected. We welcome Colton to join us on CNN today to discuss his views on school safety." According to a CNN insider, Haab wanted to give an extensive speech and not just ask a question, something the network said the forum was not designed for. When the family was told this they decided to pull out of the event. • "Addressed at length" was CNN's Newspeak used to toss ProgDem positions out at TV audiences as if they were the whole, factual story. Actually, the Townhall, moderated by Tapper, included shooting survivors confronting several officials on gun rights. The only conservative politician present was US Senator Marco Rubio. Florida's other Senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, was there, as was National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. The atmosphere at the event was described by Fox News as "at times, awkward and even hostile for the Republicans, who were interrupted several times by the jeering crowd. At one point, the audience cheered loudly when a student asked Rubio if he would pledge to cease taking donations from the NRA." • • • WHO ARE "THEY"? • • • THE SHIFTING CONTRADICTORY NEWS ARTICLES. Real Clear Politics led its Thursday article on the shooting with a starkly anti-gun statement from a student : “ 'I turned 18 the day after” the shooting, said a tearful Samuel Zeif, a student at the Florida high school where a former student’s assault left 17 dead last week. 'Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war. An AR. How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How do we not stop this after Columbine? After Sandy Hook?' ” • And, RCP was quick to hit Trump with a half-truth, saying he had decided to arm all teachers : "Trump promised to be 'very strong on background checks.' And he suggested he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders. On Twitter Thursday, Trump continued to discuss arming teachers and others at schools, though said that didn’t mean giving guns to all teachers. 'I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun-adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best,’ he said." • President Trump, said RCP : "had invited teen survivors of school violence and parents of murdered children in a show of his resolve against gun violence in the wake of last week’s shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and in past years at schools in Connecticut and Colorado. The latest episode has prompted a renewed and growing call for stronger gun control. Trump asked his guests to suggest solutions and solicited feedback. He did not fully endorse any specific policy solution, but pledged to take action and expressed interest in widely differing approaches. He largely listened, holding handwritten notes bearing his message to the families." But, RCP snidely observed that “I hear you” was written in black marker on one of the notes. RCP said : "Besides considering concealed carrying of weapons by trained school employees, a concept he has endorsed in the past, he said he planned to go 'very strongly into age, age of purchase.' And he said he was committed to improving background checks and working on mental health." RCP called Trump : "A strong supporter of gun rights, [who] has nonetheless indicated in recent days that he is willing to consider ideas not in keeping with National Rifle Association orthodoxy, including age restrictions for buying assault-type weapons. Still, gun owners are a key part of his base of supporters. The NRA quickly rejected any talk of raising the age for buying long guns to 21 : 'Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection.' " The student body president at the Parkland school, Julia Cordover, tearfully told Trump : “I am confident you will do the right thing.” Trump later tweeted that he would “always remember” the meeting : “So much love in the midst of so much pain. We must not let them down. We must keep our children safe!!” • Real Clear Politics noted : "Throughout the day Wednesday, television news showed footage of student survivors of the violence marching on the Florida state Capitol, calling for tougher laws. The protests came closer to Trump, too, with hundreds of students from suburban Maryland attending a rally at the Capitol and then marching to the White House. Inside the executive mansion, Trump said at the end of an hour listening to tales of pain and anguish, 'Thank you for pouring out your hearts because the world is watching and we’re going to come up with a solution.' ” • TV personality Geraldo Rivera had dinner with Trump at his private Palm Beach club over the weekend and described Trump as “deeply affected” by his visit Friday with Parkland survivors. In an email, Rivera said he and Trump discussed the idea of raising the minimum age to purchase assault-type weapons. Trump “suggested strongly that he was going to act to strengthen background checks,” Rivera said. • Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Jeff Flake said Wednesday they would introduce a bill to raise the minimum age required to purchase rifles from gun dealers, including assault weapons such as the AR-15. Flake tweeted : “A kid too young to buy a handgun should be too young to buy an #AR15.” [And, what about voting at 18?] Flake did not note that a buyer must be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed gun dealer and dealers cannot sell long guns to people under 18, according to the Giffords Law Center, which tracks gun laws and advocates for more restrictions. Some states already impose laws with tighter minimum age requirements. • Trump embraced gun rights during his presidential campaign, though he supported some gun control before he became a candidate, backing an assault weapons ban and a longer waiting period to purchase a gun in a 2000 book. On Tuesday, Trump directed the Justice Department to move to ban devices like the rapid-fire bump stocks used in last year’s Las Vegas massacre. The White House has also said Trump was looking at a bill that would strengthen federal gun background checks. But those moves have drawn criticism as being inadequate, with Democrats questioning whether the Justice Department even has authority to regulate bump stocks and arguing that the background check legislation would not go far enough. RCP said : "An effort to pass bump stock legislation last year fizzled out. On background checks, Trump has suggested he is open to a bipartisan bill developed in response to a mass shooting at a Texas church. It would penalize federal agencies that don’t properly report required records and reward states that comply by providing them with federal grant preferences. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the bill is 'a small step,' but said Democrats want to see universal background check legislation. [AND, that is why on the numerous occasions when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House, they ignored enacting any new gun control laws.] But, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Wednesday that he’ll probably reintroduce bipartisan legislation that would require background checks for all gun purchases online and at gun shows. He said he planned to discuss the idea with Trump. That bill, according to RCP, "first emerged with backing from Toomey and Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia following the 2012 slaying of 26 children and adults in Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. It failed then and at least one more time since. • During the almost two-hour session, Trump left the floor open for suggestions to prevent school shootings. One parent floated the idea of concealed-carry for teachers -- an idea the President discussed at length with support, noting the administration would look “very strongly” at the option. His Thursday morning tweets, said Fox News, seemed to double down on his earlier comments, even as he criticized media coverage. At the same time, Trump made clear Thursday that he will urge several new gun law restrictions -- including raising the age for purchasing firearms, something sources said he was considering : “I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue -- I hope!” Fox said Trump especially sought to clarify and defend his comments about guns in schools, quoting Trump that “a gun-free zone to a maniac, they’re all cowards, is 'let’s go in and attack because bullets aren’t coming at us.' ” On Thursday, Trump tweeted : “History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/ coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!” Minutes later, Trump added : “If a potential ‘sicko shooter’ knows that a school has a large number of very weapons-talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work.” • • • PRESIDENT TRUMP IS IN OVER HIS HEAD ON GUN CONTROL. Sad but true. While President Trump reiterated support for background check legislation and signaled the possibility he could go further a day after directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to issue a memo banning bump stocks and other devices that allow guns to operate like automatic weapons, he was careful not to confront the NRA, saying : “There are many ideas that I have, there are many ideas that other people have and we'll pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas and the ideas that will work and we’ll get them done. It won't be talk like it has been in the past. It has gone on too along. Too many instances. And we'll get it done.” Trump's remarks and suggestions are scattered all over the issue, giving no sense that he has a strategy for dealing with school shootings, which are, after all, the issue in point, not the increased control of firearms in a country that already has more than 20,000 gun control laws on the books at the state and federal levels. • The NRA says it does not see any distance between itself and the President it strongly supported in the 2016 campaign. While calling some of the policy proposals being discussed “troubling,” Chris Cox, executive director of NRA-Institute for Legislative Action, offered support for Trump, calling him the “most pro-Second Amendment President in recent history.” Cox told TheHill : “We believe he is serious about finding meaningful solutions to our nation’s serious problems, so that sociopaths and the dangerously mentally ill are prevented from committing these horrific crimes.” For instance, on bump stocks, the NRA has not supported a ban, and has instead called on Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco to review whether the devices comply with federal law and to determine whether they should be subject to new regulations. Bump stocks came into public view after the gunman attached one to his rifle in the attack that left 58 dead in Las Vegas last year. The NRA also opposes new age limits on gun purchases. In a statement Wednesday the group said federal law prohibits adults under the age of 21 from purchasing a handgun from a licensed firearm dealer : “Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection,” NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said. “We need serious proposals to prevent violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from acquiring firearms. Passing a law that makes it illegal for a 20 year-old to purchase a shotgun for hunting or an adult single mother from purchasing the most effective self-defense rifle on the market punishes law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals.” But, in what seemed to be a haze of emotional reaction to a horrific attack, Trump told the parent of one survivor of last week’s shooting who pleaded for Trump to enact an age limit on gun purchases : “we’re going to go very strong into age of purchase.” On background checks, Trump and the NRA have both offered support for legislation approved by the House that would incentivize state and federal agencies to submit conviction records into the national system. The bill was proposed after a gunman killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The shooter should not have been able to purchase firearms but the US Air Force failed to register his violent past and court-martial guilty plea into the system. That legislation is paired with a top NRA priority -- a bill to allow concealed weapons to be carried across lines that is opposed by most Senate Democrats and does not have the 60 votes necessary to clear procedural hurdles. The NRA says it will back the background checks measure on its own, but Trump has signaled he could support going further, saying on Wednesday : “We’ll be very strong on background checks. Very strong.” • • • WHAT DOES PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY WANT ON GUN CONTROL? Is President Trump "caving to political pressure," as suggested by Second Amendment activists, or is he reverting to the opinion he expressed in 2000 in his book, when he said that too many Republicans “walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions on gun purchases.”? Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights said : “It’s pretty clear to me that President Trump has officially caved to the anti-gun media when it comes to gun control. He’s turning his back on gun owners.” In his 2016 campaign, Trump warned that Democrats would look to confiscate guns and called expanded background checks a “slippery slope.” Last year, Trump became the first President in three decades to address the NRA’s annual meeting. There, Trump declared that “the eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end." The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which shares the same view as the NRA on bump stocks, said it’s unlikely Trump was breaking with the gun lobby in calling for a ban. Lawrence Keane, the group’s senior vice president for government and public affairs and general counsel, said Trump basically just asked DOJ to accelerate a rulemaking process that was already in the works. Keane said : “Maybe the President was inartful in his phrasing.” Cox said his organization and the NRA support efforts to prevent those who are a danger to themselves or others from getting access to all firearms : “At the same time, we will continue to oppose gun control measures that only serve to punish law-abiding citizens for the acts of criminals.These are not mutually exclusive or unachievable goals.” Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition and executive director of the California-based Calguns Foundation, said Trump’s proposals signal a shift to policies supported by the Obama administration : “I don’t think attacking the fundamental rights of law abiding people is the right policy. We’re talking about emotionally charged arguments on both sides...tragedies should not drive public policy.” • Meanwhile, gun control activists are also not satisfied with Trump's ideas, saying that the proposals Trump is mulling are toothless and only small steps in the right direction. They want to see what the ATF and DOJ propose on bump stocks, but say that legislation is the only proper way to address those components. Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign, said : “I don’t’ have a lot of hope that he’s serious about making robust changes but I hope I’m wrong.” Democrat Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said : “The only way to close this loophole permanently is legislation. He should call on Congress to...ban bump stocks, not write memos." • • • WHY DO AMERICANS PROTECT THEIR RIGHT TO CARRY GUNS? Security is certainly one big reason. The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard wrote Wednesday an article titled : "Carry Nation: 9 million pack loaded handguns, 80% for 'protection.' " Bedard noted that the push for armed security in schools would only offer students the same protection now offered for "money in a bank." Bedard also noted that MS-13 has spread, reporting that : "The vicious MS-13 gang, stifled under former President George W. Bush, exploded during the Obama era fueled by 300,000 illegals, including those given amnesty under the DACA program, and has now been linked to crimes in 22 states, according to a new Center for Immigration Studies report. Since 2012, 207 murders have been tied to the gang called “Mara Salvatrucha,” and there are over 500 cases nationwide of MS-13 members being charged in major crimes, according to the report from the CIS. But it can sometimes be hard to deport the illegals involved because about half of the crimes detailed in the report occurred in so-called 'sanctuary cities' that do not cooperate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. President Trump has pledged to, and has had early successes in, cracking down on MS-13 and deport those in the US illegally. Report author Jessica M. Vaughan suggested that it can’t happen soon enough. Detailing how the gang rebuilt itself under Obama’s open-border immigration policies, she said, 'this resurgence represents a very serious threat to public safety in communities where MS-13 has rebuilt itself. The resurgence is directly connected to the illegal arrival and resettlement of more than 300,000 Central American youths and families that has continued unabated for six years, and to a de-prioritization of immigration enforcement in the interior of the country that occurred at the same time.' The research she supervised at the immigration think tank found that MS-13 concentrations were in areas where so-called 'unaccompanied alien children' were put under Obama, including Virginia, California, Maryland and New York. They included those participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals who Democrats in Congress are fighting for." • The Washington Examiner said the Democrat Party and likely 2018 presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders signaled their moves to make gun control their theme in the mid-term elections this week when they joined with gun control advocate Gabby Giffords in campaign emails : "The Democratic National Committee sent out an email today that asked supporters to take the anti-gun pledge of the former Arizona congresswoman. It said, 'The only way this cycle of gun violence will end is when politicians realize they have more to fear from all of us together than they do from the gun lobby. Take Gabby Giffords' pledge: ‘I promise that I will Vote Courage in November and support candidates who will stand up to the gun lobby and take action to make our communities safer from gun violence.’....Giffords sent out her own message via Sanders’ email list : 'Bernie Sanders has fought to reduce the epidemic levels of gun violence in this country. And at the end of the day, both of us know that the root of this issue lies in the outrageous amounts of money the corporate gun lobby spends buying candidates and elected officials. So if we want to change the equation, that means Congress must realize they have more to fear from all of us standing together and acting than they do from the gun lobby's money.' " Democrats are heading for a repeat of their 1994 mid-term disaster after the assault weapons ban signed by then President Bill Clinton. Bedard says "it was a driving force in handing the GOP control of the House for the first time in 40 years." • Bedard cites the CIS report, where Vaughan is policy director, saying it spelled out problems related to the 300 sanctuary regions in the nation that don’t cooperate with ICE : “The proliferation of sanctuaries may complicate disruption of MS-13. Many of the hotbeds of MS-13 activity are also places where local officials have adopted sanctuary policies. These policies prevent ICE from working effectively with local law enforcement agencies. There are approximately 300 sanctuary jurisdictions in the country, and they include municipalities, counties, and states.11 About half of the MS-13 arrests in our case set (222) occurred in sanctuary jurisdictions.” • Meanwhile, Bedard reported on Wednesday that the nation’s 10th largest school system this week will be urged to consider revamping security in the wake of last week’s Florida school shooting rampage to include adding more armed protection in all schools. Fairfax County, Virginia, school board member Elizabeth Schultz, whose professional background includes work with Fortune 300 companies, USAID, U.S. Customs, the Secret Service, FBI and ATF, says : “Are our kids important enough to protect in the same way we guard money in a bank? It’s time to have an honest discussion. The largest school boards in the nation have to lead. At the board’s meeting Thursday she plans to push an initiative for a comprehensive new security plan that could include adding police or armed guards to middle and high schools that already have them and also to unprotected elementary schools. Included could be trained military veterans. In addition, she wants the board to consider buying technology that can identify an active shooter on campus and adding emergency preparedness drills. Schultz says : “What happens here reverberates around the country. Potentially it creates a blueprint for schools across the country.” Schultz said the time for resolutions is over and she is not wedded to any one solution or even a one-size-fits-all for the county schools. But, she said, it appears that gun control isn’t an answer and that nobody has suggested removing all guns from the nation : “Guns aren’t going anywhere. The question is, ‘Now what?’” • • • TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN ARE NOT THE BEST ADVISORS ON GUN CONTROL. Michelle Malkin asked the right question on Tuesday : " Where are all the grown-ups in times of crisis and grief?" Malkin noted that : "Two adult men, occupying lofty perches as law professors, argued this week that the voting age in the US should be lowered to 16 because some high school survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting who want gun control 'are proving how important it is to include young people's voices in political debate.' That was the assertion of University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas on CNN.com. He praised some student leaders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who've been making the rounds on TV, shouting at President Trump, Republicans in Congress and the NRA 'to demand change' -- which Douglas defines obtusely as 'meaningful gun control,' whatever that means. Because these children are apparently doing a better job at broadcasting his own ineffectual political views, Douglas asserts, 'we should include them more directly in our democratic process' by enfranchising them now. Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe similarly tweeted, 'Teens between 14 and 18 have far better BS detectors, on average, than 'adults' 18 and older.' " Malkin writes : "This is not compassion, but abdication. America is not a juvenilocracy. It is a constitutional republic. There is a reason we don't elect high school sophomores and juniors to public office or allow them to cast ballots. There are many, many reasons, actually. Pubescents are fueled by hormones and dopamine and pizza and Sonic shakes. They're fickle and fragile and fierce and forgetful. They hate you. They love you. They need you. They ignore you. They know everything. They know nothing. All in the span of 10 seconds. I know. I have two of them. If you're lucky, they've only Googled 'Should I eat Tide pods?' or 'What happens if I snort Ramen powder?' and not actually attempted the latest social media stunt challenges. But that's what kids do. Because they're kids. Many may be exceptionally smart, passionate and articulate beyond their years, but they do not possess any semblance of wisdom because they have not lived those years. Their knowledge of history, law and public policy is severely limited (Common Core certainly hasn't helped). And their moral agency and cognitive abilities are far from fully developed." Malkin accused President Obama of using "this very same kiddie human shield strategy to ram his federal health care takeover through Capitol Hill and down our throats. Immigration and education lobbyists use it, too. Their cynicism is unbounded. Human prop-a-palooza infantilizes public discourse and renders measured, mature dissent impossible. Those who question the logic, efficacy and wisdom of the latest left-wing 'children's crusade' face accusations of 'hating' the children. Refusing to acquiesce to their tears and protests is tantamount to letting them die. Showing resilience and resolve in the face of horrific adversity deserves the highest praise and attention. Juvenile victim status, however, does not warrant absolute moral authority or the unfettered powers in the political arena that ideologically stunted law professors are so eager to bestow upon them. It's fine to listen, but do not let the children lead." • • • THE REAL 13TH CENTURY CHILDRENS' CRUSADE. The Children’s Crusade is one of the more unusual events that occurred in Medieval Europe. In the year 1212, tens of thousands of self-proclaimed, unarmed crusading children set out from northern France and western Germany to regain Jerusalem from the Muslims. While never actually receiving official sanction, the so-called crusade was a disaster. None of the children reached the Holy Land, many were said to have been sold into slavery, and thousands never returned at all. According to a 13th century source, the Chronica regia Coloniensis (‘Royal Chronicle of Cologne’), the Children’s Crusade began around Easter or Pentecost of 1212 : "Many thousands of boys, ranging in age from six years to full maturity, left the plows or carts they were driving, the flocks which they were pasturing, and anything else which they were doing. This they did despite the wishes of their parents, relatives, and friends who sought to make them draw back....One thing is sure : that of the many thousands who rose up, only very few returned.” The Children’s Crusade was a popular movement whose details remain obscure and hard to trace, but that sadly resulted in thousands of childrens' deaths. • • • AN NFL PLAYER MAKES SOME SENSE ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON. During an interview on Fox News with Martha MacCallum,” Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson advocated for a renewed value in faith and human lives. Watson explained that while suspect Nikolas Cruz must be held accountable, America, as a culture, is one that “gravitates towards violence” and needs to change. He added that while it's “easy” to put the blame on guns or a law that needs to be changed, we also need to identify “where we've gone wrong and be willing and have the courage to fix it.” The NFL player acknowledged the hardships Cruz endured during his life and the outspoken Christian pointed to faith : “When you take faith out of the public arena, when you take God out of there people suffer. Whether you believe you're a Christian or not those principles really carry us through.” Watson called the negative way we treat each other on a daily basis the “underlying foundation” of instances such as the Florida shooting. In the wake of tragedy, people are quick to turn to prayer, and while Watson said that's wonderful, he explained it's not enough to think of God only in times of need : “We cannot come to God as some cosmic vending machine whenever we have a problem,” he said. “We need to be submitting to him daily in our lives.” He criticized taking prayer and God out of schools and moving towards a society that doesn't listen to God and instead does “what we think is best.” Just as people trust God in times of turmoil and struggle, Watson also called on people to trust him in times of peace. • • • WILL TRUMP LOSE SUPPORT IF HE ABANDONS THE SECOND AMENDMENT? On Thursday, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre warned conservatives that socialists are smearing gun rights advocates and seeking to eliminate their rights : “Socialism is a movement that loves a smear. Racists, misogynists, sexists, xenophobe and more. These are the weapons and vitriol these character assassinations permanently hang on their targets because socialism feeds off manipulated victims.” LaPierre was speakign at the Political Action Conference (CPAC). LaPierre claimed "European socialists” are taking over the Democrat Party. He also named the “Occupy” movement, Black Lives Matter and Antifa as examples of social groups that he claimed promote “uncivil discourse”....LaPierre’s remarks come as gun control advocates, Democrat lawmakers and some Republicans, including President Trump, have called for legislation to curb gun violence in the wake of last week's shooting at a Florida high school. But, some Republicans have cautioned against moving too quickly on legislation as a reaction to the incident. In his speech at CPAC, LaPierre called proposals to limit the amount of weapons available to Americans “completely ridiculous,” and said more security would help prevent future school shootings. • • • DEAR READERS, it cannot be said too often that President Trump is walking a very fine and dangerous constitutional line in trying to be everything to everybody in regard to gun control. Conservatives and Republicans may look the other way about immigration amnesty for Dreamers, but the Second Amendment is another issue altogether. It has defeated more Republican and Democrat politicians than any other single issue in the last quarter century. Trump is not immune to its bite. • The Second Amendment is clear -- "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. • There is a constitutional solution -- IF a constitutional majority of Americans want to abolish the Second Amendment. It does not involve executive orders, the Attorney General, calling on Congress to pass bills, or the advice of traumatized children. Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution, the nation's frame of government, may be altered : "ARTICLE V : "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." • Approximately 11,539 measures to amend the Constitution have been proposed in Congress from 1789 to 2014. Thirty-three of these amendments to the Constitution have been approved by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Twenty-seven of these amendments were ratified and are now part of the Constitution. The first ten amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are known collectively as the Bill of Rights. • It is appropriate to note on his birthday that in his farewell address, President George Washington said : "If in the opinion of the People the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield." • Simple, isn't it? Cast aside the ProgDem games and Trump's trying to be all things to all men and stand up in Congress and vote to abolish the Second Amendment. We know that won't happen -- because Congress, President Trump, and the media are fully aware that Americans will never abolish the Second Amendment, but may well "abolish" politicians who try to do it in their name.