President takes aim at the NRA

The NRA worked hard to elect President Donald Trump, but he may turn out to be their worst nightmare.

Be careful what you wish for.

The NRA worked hard to elect Donald Trump. He may turn out to be their worst nightmare.

To say nothing of Pat Toomey.

The president left a lot of mouths agape this week during a trademark wild session with lawmakers who gathered at the White House to talk about guns – and what Washington plans to do about them – in the face of the latest mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Let’s just say the National Rifle Association probably did not see this one coming.

Trump sent out several signals that no doubt raised the hackles of the NRA and Second Amendment absolutists who count themselves as part of the president’s base.

He suggested raising the age to 21 for anyone seeking to buy a semiautomatic weapon, something the NRA – and in truth most Republican legislators – have steadfastly opposed.

He wants to ban bump stocks – devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like a fully automatic one - and he said he will do it with or without the cooperation of Congress. The suspect who rained death down on a Las Vegas crowd of concertgoers had outfitted his arsenal of rifles with bump stocks.

He wants tougher background checks. And at one point, talking about keeping guns out of the hands of those with mental health issues – and disarming those who already have them – he seemed to cross the “third rail” of the Second Amendment backers.

“Take the firearms first, and then go to court,” Trump told the stunned panel.

Democrats left the session smiling, while their clearly rattled Republican colleagues looked a little shell-shocked. Probably none more so than Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. The president seemed to point him out when making his point that many in the room seemed “petrified” by the NRA.

When he asked the senator why his previous attempt to expand background checks, proposed after the Sandy Hook mass shooting, did not address the notion of raising the age limit to buy weapons, he cut Toomey off as he offered the explanation that many of those between 18-21 in Pennsylvania are law-abiding citizens, to offer his belief that too many of our elected representatives are scared of the NRA.

“They have great power over you people,” Trump told the group. “They have less power over me.”

Of course Trump has been here before, seemingly bucking his own party and power supporters.

It wasn’t that long ago he was sitting amid another group of legislators indicating he was ready to sign any deal put in front of him that would address the equally contentious DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) immigration question. Two plans were presented. He rejected both of them.

Still, as the echoes of the gunfire from Parkland continue to roll across the nation, this is beginning to sound different.

There were two other significant developments in the gun debate Wednesday. Two retail heavyweights stuck their fingers directly in the eye of the NRA.

Dick’s Sporting Goods announced it would no longer sell assault-style rifles and ban the sale of all guns to anyone under the age of 21.

That was quickly followed by word from Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, that it would no longer sell any firearms or ammo to people under age 21. The shopping colossus had already stopped all sales of AR-15s and similar semi-automatic weapons back in 2015.

But it was the comments by the commander-in-chief himself that seemed most to mark a shift in the nation’s consciousness when it comes to mass shootings and guns.

The president and Congress are feeling the heat from a group not heard from before. Young people – those who have seen the carnage of these incidents up close – are riveting the nation’s eyes on the issue. They are planning a massive march on Washington on March 24.

Trump and legislators seem resigned to the fact that this time – with the nation’s youth leading the charge, as concerned parents look on – there might be no turning back.

“It’s time,” Trump said. “We’ve got to stop this nonsense.”

That sound you hear is the mouths of the NRA and Second Amendment absolutists hanging agape, sitting in stone silence.