The gun lobby’s best friend

One year ago, Americans were waking up to agonizing news for the umpteenth time. At a Walmart in El Paso, a man motivated by anti-Hispanic hatred and wielding a legally purchased AK-47-style gun killed 23 people and injured 23 others. Outside a bar in Dayton, a man with a legally built killing machine featuring a 100-round magazine fired 41 shots in less than 30 seconds, killing nine and wounding 17 others.

President Trump, playing a unifier, soon said, “Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks.” That echoed a priority held by 90% of Americans.

Then, after sending confusing and conflicting signals, he gave up. It’s ninth in our long train of 99 reasons Trump must be denied a second term.

It had happened before. Just after the Parkland

school massacre in February 2018, Trump sided with Democrats on banning assault rifles and endorsed a long-stalled measure to ensure universal background checks. Of the NRA, he said, “We have to fight them every once in a while.”

Soon thereafter, the gun lobby told the president he was straying beyond the bounds of his shock collar — and Trump heeled.

Yes, he managed to ban bump stocks, which turn semiautomatic guns into fully automatic ones. And took one small step to streamline the background check system.

But he folded on assault rifles and making checks universal. Pressed for a universal right to carry concealed weapons, which would devastate cities like New York. And pushed new rules that could allow the proliferation of 3D-printed firearms.

Vote him out.