Presidential Campaigns Overreach on Guns

Blog Articles · Jun 15, 2016 · Regulation

Yesterday, presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton welcomed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump "to the cause" of placing additional restrictions on Americans' Second Amendment rights. While Trump's tweet was light on policy—and his campaign declined to provide specifics—it was widely viewed as an endorsement of the types of restrictions President Obama, Congressional Democrats and Michael Bloomberg support.

"The rush to eliminate due process rights is alarming," Heritage Action's chief executive officer Michael A. Needham said. "Responsible presidential nominees should lead the nation in a conversation about what types of counterterrorism measures are effective, but restricting firearm access by presuming guilt is not one of them. Americans deserve real leadership on the issue of Islamist terrorism, not made for TV sound bites intended to erode our constitutional rights."

Earlier this week, The Heritage Foundation's James Jay Carafano explained that "Restricting Americans' access to firearms has never been on the list of any responsible counterterrorism agenda" because it's not an "efficacious responsible measure."

Additional Reading:

Heritage: The Terrorist Watch List, Explained