With former President Donald Trump’s recent conviction on felony charges, New York is preparing to revoke his gun license and Trump haters are calling for all of his firearms to be confiscated.
But one pro-freedom group, which has long held that it is unconstitutional for nonviolent felons to have their Second Amendment rights taken away, has pledged to fight for the current presidential frontrunner.
Those on the anti-gun side of the Second Amendment debate are crowing over the conviction and pushing for the former president to be forced to relinquish any guns he might own. In fact, a headline at Bloomberg-funded thetrace.com crowed, “Trump’s Conviction Bars Him from Owning Guns. Will He Hand His Over?”
The subhead read: “It’s unclear when the former president will be required to surrender any guns following his guilty verdict in New York. The situation underscores the lack of procedure for how recently convicted felons should relinquish their firearms.”
As anti-gunners clamor for Trump’s guns, last week the Second Amendment Foundation sent out a press release vowing to defend the former president’s gun rights from those who would deny him based on the recent felony conviction.
“If Donald Trump is further prosecuted for owning firearms, we will offer to defend him and challenge the law,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said in the press release. “Donald Trump has no history of violent crime. Under the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen ruling, which requires gun laws to have some analogous connection to historical regulation at the time the Founders wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Mr. Trump should not lose his Second Amendment rights. There is no historical nexus to deny someone, including Trump, of their gun rights over such a conviction.”
In fact, the organization has long held the position that Americans should not lose their gun rights due to a conviction for nonviolent crimes.
“SAF has litigated challenges in the past to restore gun rights for people convicted of non-violent crimes and we will do so again,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “In fact, we are currently litigating a challenge to the denial of carry permits for some former plaintiffs whose rights were restored due to prior SAF lawsuits.”
In the end, Gottlieb believes the attack on Trump’s gun rights emphasizes the need to revisit existing gun control laws and change them to protect an individual’s Second Amendment rights.
“Until that happens, we will be more than happy to meet New York State or the federal government in court,” he said.
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