Not too late for Trump to man up against NRA

President Donald Trump made a naïve promise to the surviving students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 21. He vowed to “figure it out,” to “do something about this horrible situation that’s going on.”

The kids naively thanked him.

Trump then bragged to a meeting with Congress that he was not afraid of the National Rifle Association.

Later, Vice President Mike Pence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other administration officials joined him when he said, “… we’re going to get it done.”

At the annual NRA meeting in May, Trump backed down. Instead he suggested bringing more guns into schools by arming teachers.

During the nine months since making his promise to the Parkland students, 559 children have been killed in 333 gun-related incidents, including some in the 281 mass shootings that have resulted in 284 dead and a whopping 1,100 injured of all ages.

To be fair to Trump, his promises and boasting were like a lot of things he talks about. He was not aware that the changes needed to eliminate gun violence are way beyond the power of the president’s executive order pen. Perhaps he is aware now, after meeting with the NRA and learning the power of their purse, and that’s why the messages of hopes and prayers have gone bye-bye.

The fact is, the Second Amendment to the Constitution and the Supreme Court that would toss out any law infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, represent the problem. Sadly, in their now-predominant literalist minds, the judges would be right in doing so.

On the other hand, interpreting the First Amendment to mean it is not a right to holler “fire” in a crowded movie theater provides a hint at how to at least slow down gun violence in our neighborhoods.

Dad threatened to remove me from his will if I became a lawyer, and I had my eye on his 16-gauge Winchester Model 12, so I can’t say what the exact wording of any changes would be. However our federal and state legislatures are supposedly full of smart people. Many of them are lawyers. If they were honestly interested in stopping the carnage, they could “figure it out.”

Of course, the big stumbling block is the NRA’s war chest, financing attack messages, to be aired ad nauseam.

There are already proposals for restrictions that are acceptable to the majority of citizens, as well as to the NRA. Slowing down gun violence starts with citizens speaking out to their representatives and to each other, making it safe for politicians’ efforts to implement, and judges’ rulings that interpret the proposals.

The fella that got picked off second base during the congressional baseball practice should be ready now to sponsor something that has bipartisan support. Our own Sen. Rand Paul, who witnessed the infield shooting, likely could agree that it’s better to be tackled off his riding mower than to have his neighbor sniping at him from his patio with an AR-style rifle.

Perhaps consensus would be goosed if local, state and federal legislators were on the call tree; required to accompany first responders to witness the carnage firsthand immediately after the shooting has stopped.

Or, they could be required to be at the morgue when families identified the bodies of sons, daughters, husbands and wives whose lives were prematurely ended. If this seems harsh, ask first responders their opinions.

If the president wanted to keep his promise, he should have used his well-honed bullying skills on his pulpit to shame all of us into action. It’s not too late for him to start. Just maybe our representatives, our judges and we citizens would all rally behind him to save a life today — maybe the life of someone reading this column.

This story was originally published November 23, 2018 at 4:22 PM.