Key Points
- Trump promised to rescind a rule curbing sales of gun accessories put in place by the Biden administration.
- Conservative gun owners are critical to Trump’s re-election chances.
- Republicans largely oppose stricter laws, despite a spike in mass shootings and gun death rates.
What are the curbs in place?
“Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,” Trump said in a speech at the Great American Outdoor show in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
The NRA enthusiastically backed Trump during the 2016 race and throughout his administration, cheering him on as he appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court and adopted a series of steps sought by the influential gun lobby.
Why does Trump want to undo the restrictions?
He told the crowd on Friday that if he is re-elected “no one will lay a finger on your firearms” and bragged about resisting pressure to implement gun restrictions during his term in the White House from 2017 to 2021.
Republicans, with the support of the NRA and other gun rights groups, largely oppose stricter laws, citing the right to bear arms established in the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.
Mass shootings and spike in gun death rate
At Friday’s address, Trump’s eighth in front of an NRA crowd, he urged his supporters to “swamp” the polls in November, a recognition that he needs the battleground state he lost in 2020 if he wants to retake the White House.
Trump again raised questions about Biden’s mental acuity after a Department of Justice special counsel report said Biden, 81, suffered from memory lapses, even as it concluded he should not be charged in a probe into his handling of classified documents.
The White House blasted that characterisation and called the report “clearly politically motivated”.