For the first time since 1981, an attempted presidential assassination occurred on July 13, 2024 ,when Thomas Crooks shot former president Donald Trump at a campaign event. Like many terrorists, the would-be assassin used an AR-15, which has renewed calls for an assault weapons ban.
Outlawing Ar-15’s
On July 16, President Biden appealed to the nation once again to support outlawing AR-15s. Although he has pushed several measures over the course of his first term to tighten gun control, he still hasn’t garnered enough political will to renew a weapons ban on assault weapons or limits on magazine capacity. After a very near miss by a bullet, what gun control measures might Trump support if he wins this year’s presidential election?
While former president Trump has been a vocal supporter of gun rights in the past, he has long walked a tightrope of appeasing his base while appearing to acknowledge the problems with widespread, easy access to high-capacity weapons in the United States. In his last term, one of the first acts he took as president was to reverse a rule that Barack Obama had implemented, which had required the reporting of mental illnesses by Social Security recipients to the NICS background check system. However, Trump was also responsible for implementing a ban on bump stocks in the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting.
gun owners and manufacturers
He additionally supported state-level red flag laws and expanding universal background checks. This past February at an NRA event, however, Trump promised that “every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day.” Only 3 days after an attempt on his life that clipped his ear, that sentiment appeared unchanged as a senior campaign advisor confirmed that Trump will continue to push against gun control in a second term.
Assault Weapons Ban
Should President Biden prevail in November, his track record on gun control clearly indicates that he will do everything in his power to bring back the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Although he has tried multiple times to gain support for eradicating AR-15s, there has never been enough traction to take legislation across the finish line.
Biden did claim an important victory for gun control, however, with his 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This act represented the most significant piece of gun control legislation in decades. Its key provisions included expanded background checks, extended powers granted to law enforcement, and closed the so-called “boyfriend loophole.” The law expanded the background check process for those purchasing firearms under the age of 21 by allowing these background checks to include access to criminal and mental health records of minors.
This part of the legislation also provided access to the NCIC database for all federal licensed firearms dealers and sought to specify and narrow the definition of a gun dealer so that all individuals who routinely sell firearms have to become FFLs.
Gun trafficking
Gun trafficking laws were expanded in this bill, making it a federal crime to illegally import guns into the United States and allowing these activities to be criminalized if they occur outside the country as well.
Law enforcement was granted wider powers to investigate trafficking, including wiretapping, forfeiture, and pursuing racketeering charges against perpetrators. The law specifically targeted “straw purchases,” in which a person purchases a firearm for another individual who is prohibited from purchases one on their own, making it a crime punishable up to 15 years, or 25 years if the weapon is then used in drug trafficking or terrorism.
Probably the most applicable provision of the law to the everyday person is the closure of the “boyfriend loophole.” Previously, if an individual was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence against a spouse or domestic romantic partner, they would be prohibited from purchasing firearms.
This iteration of the law includes any misdemeanor convictions of domestic violence against any romantic partner, regardless of legal status or co-habitation. This restriction expires after 5 years, assuming there has been no further violent criminal convictions.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act represented a significant shift in the political arena for firearm legislation, but it has been very rare in the last decade for both houses of Congress to complete the passage of a gun control bill into law. President Biden’s last attempt to revive the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, H.R. 1808, failed to survive moving from its passage in the House to a vote in the Senate.
It is possible, however, that his second term could move the needle for finally accomplishing one of his longest-standing political goals. Despite the assassination attempt, it is likely that Trump would continue to support his base for second amendment rights. Given his mercurial approach to gun control, however, what he might choose to support in a second term is anybody’s guess.
Bump Stock Boomerang?