| Sysop: | Amessyroom |
|---|---|
| Location: | Fayetteville, NC |
| Users: | 27 |
| Nodes: | 6 (0 / 6) |
| Uptime: | 38:11:17 |
| Calls: | 631 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 1,187 |
| D/L today: |
22 files (29,767K bytes) |
| Messages: | 173,683 |
A New Twist: National Rifle Association Blasts DOJ's Trial Balloon on >Transgender Gun Ban
Ward Clark
When it comes to Second Amendment issues, the National Rifle Association >(NRA) is still the 800-pound gorilla of the pro-gun rights movement.
Other groups take a harder line, but whenever an anti-gun politician
starts working his or her blowhole about the "gun lobby," it's always the
NRA they bring up as their arch-demon. Full disclosure: My wife and I
have been Life Members of the NRA since the mid-90s.
The NRA has pretty consistently opposed the stripping of anyone's Second >Amendment rights, any individual or any group, without due process. So
when the Trump administration floated a trial balloon about removing
Second Amendment rights from "transgender" individuals, the NRA was quick
to release a statement opposing any such move.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has sounded off on reports that
the Trump administration is mulling a way of limiting transgender
people's ability to purchase firearms.
The gun lobby group, the largest in the U.S. with 5 million members
according to its website, released a statement Friday reinforcing its
commitment that all law-abiding Americans have a right to bear arms.
It comes as Department of Justice officials have had several internal
meetings about placing restrictions on trans people in the wake of
Annunciation School shooter Robin Westman, who identified as trans,
killing two people and injuring 18 others late last month. Westman's
firearms were purchased legally, according to the Associated Press.
And, we might note, Westman had never been adjudicated to be a "mental >defective," nor committed to a mental institution. Not that Westman
wasn't a wacko, as subsequent events proved, but the law is the law. The
NRA is very clear on their stance: Due process must be observed.
"The NRA supports the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding
Americans to purchase and use firearms," the statement reads.
"NRA does not, and will not, support any policy proposals that
implement sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens
of their Second Amendment rights without due process."
Another group, the Gun Owners of America (GOA), a group known for taking
a harder line against gun control laws and gun bans, issued a very
similar statement:
As well as the NRA, Gun Owners of America (GOA) issued a clear,
uncompromising stance on the issue.
"GOA opposes any and all gun bans. Full stop," the GOA wrote on X.
That's as it should be.
This is as it should be. Due process is key. Rights do not belong to
groups; they belong to individuals. Rights cannot be defined as applying
to groups; there are no "transgender rights," or "immigrant rights," or >"black rights." There are only human rights, rights with which the
government is forbidden from interfering with without due process. Those >rights do not belong to groups. They certainly do not belong to the >government. They belong to the people.
It's easy to look for a quick fix after a tragedy like the Annunciation >School shooting. And yes, there are clearly mental health issues involved >here. Transgender people have committed an alarming number of these
attacks lately, and it's a matter of concern. But we must not stoop to
the level of yanking the constitutional rights of an identifiable group
or people because of what other members of that group have done.
The National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America are correct. >There should be no talk of stripping a constitutional right away from a >group. There should be no talk of stripping anyone of a constitutional
right without due process.
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/09/06/a-new-twist-national-rifle-assoc >iation-blasts-transgender-gun-bans-n2193656