Trump needs to reaffirm his commitment to the Second Amendment

OPINION:

President Trump is a fan of the Second Amendment. In 2012, before he launched his first presidential bid, the future commander in chief spoke with The Washington Times about the issue. “The way I view it, if nobody has guns, then only the bad guys have them. And they aren’t giving up their guns,” he said.

Someone ought to inform his cabinet.

“I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a press conference following last month’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting in Minneapolis.

Every year in the Old Dominion, the Virginia Citizens Defense League holds a massive rally in Richmond to demonstrate in favor of gun rights. Participants don’t loot, blow whistles or set trash cans on fire. Thousands show up locked and loaded, and all are respectful. They leave the state Capitol grounds cleaner than when they arrived. They even carry signs.

Others in the administration have echoed the ominous message. “As Secretary Noem said, no one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines. That is not a peaceful protest.” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.

Mr. Trump’s U.S. attorney for the District, Jeanine Pirro, said in a Fox News interview: “I don’t care if you have a license in another district and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding law owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this District, count on going to jail and hope you get the gun back. And that makes all the difference.”

In a video posted Tuesday on X, Mrs. Pirro clarified that she’s only going after illegal firearms. “If you’re responsible, you follow the laws, you’re not going to have a problem with me.”

This administration should not be championing D.C.’s indefensible gun ordinances. The Supreme Court stepped in multiple times to compel the federal city to understand when the Constitution says “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” it means people in D.C. can keep arms in their home, and they can bear arms outside it.

Stubborn city leaders defy the Founders’ clear intent by maximizing the time, effort and money required to exercise an inherent right. Out of pure spite, the City Council even forces gun owners to repeat the obnoxious application process every two years.

While the law-abiding are treated like crooks, D.C. judges ensure the real threats to society spend as little time as possible behind bars. From her words, Mrs. Pirro intends to use all the tools at her disposal to lock up those malefactors. It would be better if she did that without sending mixed signals to the 150 million Americans who live in pistol-packing households.

A dispirited GOP base won’t show up to vote in the midterms, and that would doom Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda. Already, polls show the Republican brand entering a downward spiral.

Look to Virginia to see what Democrats do once they reclaim lost power. On Thursday, the House of Delegates voted 58-34 to impose a ban on the most popular home-defense weapons, including mere possession of magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

If Mr. Trump wants gun owners to show up in November, he needs to stand up for them now.