After President Obama’s gun-control announcement Tuesday, MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” aired an interview with Hillary Clinton on the subject of—what else—gun control. In it, Clinton proclaimed, “There needs to be a rival organization to the NRA of responsible gun owners who know that their hunting rights, their shooting rights, their collection rights … all of that is not going to be affected.”
But then she says: “I do support comprehensive background checks, and to close the gun show loophole, and what’s called the Charleston loophole, and to prevent people on the no-fly list from getting guns.”
We know enforcing comprehensive background checks would require gun-owner registration—an established path to confiscation. Closing the “Charleston loophole”—a misnomer if ever there was one—removes from the FBI all accountability to gun purchasers. And using the no-fly list to prohibit gun sales is a blatant violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of due process.
What sort of “responsible gun owners” would be in support of that? And why would gun owners stand against an organization dedicated to preserving their rights, in favor of a politician committed to tearing them down?
