1. This giant gun control bill that is being pushed here isn’t going to pass either the house or the senate, so it’s never going to be on his desk for him to sign. That’s the only strategy I can see here. If he really means what he said, then he can forget about winning a second term. The left is always going to hate him with a seething passion, and if he loses us, he’ll have almost no friends left at all.

   I’m hoping that he refused to let the reciprocity bill be attached to this because he knows this bill isn’t going anywhere, and therefore reciprocity won’t die along with it. So I’m remaining optimistic. Time will tell.

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   1. I agree with this premise. Because the media has made this such a hot issue, he needs to come off as somehow accommodating. At least until it cools off a bit. He is already back-tracking some, either by design or by sudden (expected) pressure from 2A folks. But like amnesty, he lets the left ask for ALL the candy in the candy store. When the bill fails, because the left over-reaches, well that’s not Trump’s fault. (or so I hope it goes again.)

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2. It could be an exercise in feeding rope to the left. I hope that’s what it is. The alternative is that he’s still suffering from being a New Yorker.

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3. Got to understand trump. He’s like a magician except you have to watch both hands to see what’s going on. In one way he’s putting some pressure on the nra to get in front of issues rather than doing their standard reactionary responses after the fact. At the same time he’s challenging the other end of the spectrum to come up with better solutions than let’s ban all guns, which is another reactionary stance. So he throws all these ideas out there and gages reactions. Unfortunately the gun issue is right up there with abortion issue when he comes to visceral responses in people. Personally I don’t like the AR platforms just because I can’t get a good cheek weld on the damn stock and finally gave it all up and went back to my bolt actions

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   1. Why are you bringing up “the AR platform”? “Assault weapon bans” aren’t about the AR platform. And the 21 year notion sure as hell isn’t. Every time one of us uses the phrase “AR-15” in discussing proposed laws, we’re playing the game of the opposition.
      Also, what “standard reactionary response”? For those who love the Constitution, the NRA is not exactly a bastion of extremism, but rather an organization all too likely to go wishy-washy.

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      1. I need to reword that because that wasn’t right. On the NRA comment, what I should say is: some of us are strict constructionists, and from that point of view the NRA isn’t exactly a bastion of extremism.
         What I wrote earlier could be read as saying Chris doesn’t love the Constitution, and that wasn’t a good thing to say. Apologies, Chris.

4. Trump is being Trump, he is trolling the media and the democrats just like he did with the “I’ll sign any immigration plan you give me”. He is just giving them, again, enough rope to hang themselves.

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5. As others have said. Trump is (hopefully) using a Rope-a-Dope strategy.

   If he starts demanding this bill before November, you know it’s rope-a-dope. No sitting rep or sen will risk re-election on this.

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   1. Reductio ad Absurdum (also known as: reduce to absurdity)

      A mode of argumentation or a form of argument in which a proposition is disproven by following its implications logically to an absurd conclusion. Reductio ad absurdum is a technique to expose the fallacy.

      I have this dream where Trump gets the first draft of the proposed “stacked against 2nd Amendment – loaded for bear” bill and turns around to the democrats and says “You know, this m’fr does not go far enough. Why don’t you guys make it even stiffer? I won’t sign a feel good bill. I want “more cowbell”. Then the democrats go back and add more crap, making it more and more unconstitutional, and Trump just keeps repeating himself “Go back and make it stronger or I won’t sign it.” In the end he doesn’t sign anything and his charade unmasked these “nobody wants to take your guns” idiots
      and Trump says “Mr. and Mrs. America, I couldn’t sign it , don’t turn them in at ALL.”
      ….sigh….I can only dream….
      The other thing is that gun hysteria headlines have disappeared from the Yahoo’s and other fake news websites of the world….This guy can play all these newsies like a friggin violin and they are too stupid to see through his master promoter craft.

6. It’s not time to worry, yet. It probably won’t be time to worry any time soon. It seems to me that he’s doing with firearms exaclty what he did with DACA: get most of the major viewpoints in a room, say enough that can be interpreted as conciliatory to get them all talking honestly about their positions, make sure it’s all being recorded by the media, and let the left show just how extreme their positiion truly is.

   With immigration, there are now many media clips of leftists putting illegals before citizens. I didn’t watch the gun meeting, but, if he’s true to form, there shoud be media clips of the usual suspects being honest about their desire for confiscation. On both issues, he’ll be responsible for some good material for campaign ads showing people just how ignorant and out-of-touch the left is, and the extent to which dumbocrats vote their party over their constituents. (See also, Manchin at the State of the Union….)

   Trump is probably the world’s best at trolling his opposition. IMO, that’s what we’re seeing. That’s why I’m not worried (yet). If you’re interested in an excellent example of his chess-and-trolling approach, take a look at the articles on NAFTA and trade negotiations on conservativetreehouse.

   YMMV…..

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7. It could be that someone told him that Obama was the Gun Salesman of the Century, and nobody is a better salesman than he is!
   He’ll show you some record gun sales- it will be Uuuuuge!

8. Trump is an old school NYC Democrat. I’ve been saying this since he announced his candidacy. I have several family members that are similar to Trump in their political views. Most of them are FUDDs. I could write a novel about the mindset. It’s inconsistent but to keep it short, imagine the following conversation:

   Overheard at a city roadway construction project that is overbudget and overdue during a second required 15 minute break after an hour lunch…

   NYC Union Construction Worker: “I’m so pissed that it takes me 2 hours to get home because of all the road construction.” *takes another bite of his snickers* “We should get more break time in our next contract.”

9. Relax. Take a deep breath. Pay attention to his actions, not his words.

   I read a good comment about this at Ann Althouse. Basically, just like that public immigration meeting, President Trump is pushing the Democrats to overreach, go complete gun banner, and otherwise do stupid stuff.

   https://althouse.blogspot.com/2018/03/i-mean-i-see-some-folks-that-dont-say.html?showComment=1519917645816#c4178391745500217880

   Brian at 0920 on 3/1/2018.

   Conclusion, “This isn’t about guns. It’s about positioning for the November elections.”

   Trump wants a Republican landslide on November 6.

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