Real estate mogul and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday released his policy paper detailing his views on gun rights, saying he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms and that “our personal protection is ultimately up to us.”
“That’s why I’m a gun owner,” Mr. Trump wrote. “That’s why I have a concealed carry permit, and that’s why tens of millions of Americans have concealed carry permits as well. It’s just common sense.”
This is the second such policy paper from Mr. Trump. In August, he released his first policy paper on immigration.
“The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear,” Mr. Trump wrote. “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”
The New York businessman argued for tougher enforcement of current gun laws and blasted the Obama administration for failing to rein in violent crime in cities like Baltimore and Chicago.
“Drug dealers and gang members are given a slap on the wrist and turned loose on the street. This needs to stop,” Mr. Trump wrote.
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He also called for an overhaul of the nation’s broken mental health system, arguing “law-abiding gun owners get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen.”
Mr. Trump appeared to have changed some of his previous gun policies. In 2000, Mr. Trump supported a ban on assault weapons, but in his new paper, he dismissed those who use that phrase saying, “Opponents of gun rights try to come up with scary sounding phrases like ’assault weapons,’ ’military-style weapons’ and ’high capacity magazines’ to confuse people.
“What they’re really talking about are popular semi-automatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned by tens of millions of Americans,” he said, calling gun and magazine bans a “total failure.”
Mr. Trump advocated national right-to-carry bills saying permits should be valid in all 50 states.
“A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state,” he said.
Mr. Trump also called for allowing military members to carry firearms on bases and at recruiting centers, saying such bans were “ridiculous.”
“We train our military how to safely and responsibly use firearms, but our current policies leave them defenseless. To make America great again, we need a strong military. To have a strong military, we need to allow them to defend themselves.”
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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