Donald Trump Meeting NRA To Discuss Terror Watch List Gun Ban

Donald Trump has announced he will meet with the NRA to discuss if people on the terrorist watch list or the no-fly list should be allowed to purchase guns, according to WIRED.

The NRA’s executive director for its Institute for Legislative Action, Chris W. Cox, said the NRA has a strong opinion on this, according to CNN.

I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016

“The NRA’s position on this issue has not changed,” Cox said. “The NRA believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms, period. Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing.”

The idea of banning gun sales to people who are on the terrorist watch list has gained support since the shooting in Orlando. President Obama had expressed his frustration with not being able to stop someone suspected of having terrorist connections from buying a gun during a town hall meeting in the beginning of June, according to Vox.

“I just came from a meeting today in the Situation Room in which I got people who we know have been on ISIL Web sites, living here in the United States, U.S. citizens, and we’re allowed to put them on the no-fly list when it comes to airlines, but because of the National Rifle Association, I cannot prohibit those people from buying a gun,” President Obama said.

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he supports gun rights while campaigning, but he has also made fighting terrorism a key part of his message. Trump has been endorsed by the NRA, and he has criticized Hillary Clinton for supporting gun control measures.

Donald Trump has said that if there had been people who had guns at the Orlando nightclub, then there would have been far fewer people killed. According to New York Daily News, there was “an armed off-duty police officer at the club at the time of the shooting.”

The idea of banning people on the terrorist watch list from getting guns has actually faced some opposition from people on the left. Several liberal journalists have pointed out that since people don’t know if they’re on the watch list, and no one knows why they might be put on the watch list, their right to purchase a gun might be restricted without a trial.

“Normally we do not let the government strip people of their rights without demonstrating why they deserve to be deprived of them,” Cathy Gellis of The Daily Beast wrote in December. “Here, though, we would be removing that safety check.”

Gellis wrote that people could be put on the watch list for unfair reasons and then wouldn’t be able to purchase a gun, and they might not even know why they couldn’t purchase the gun.

Earlier in the campaign, Donald Trump wrongly stated that people on the terrorist watch list were already banned from buying guns.

“If people are on the watch list or people are sick, you have — this is already covered in the legislation we already have George. It’s already fully covered,” Trump told ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos, according to CNN.

Stephanopoulos pointed out that that’s not the current law, and Trump responded by saying that: “If we have an enemy of state, I don’t want to give him anything.”

Many have pointed out that Donald Trump hasn’t always been as opposed to gun control as he appears to be now. Trump was actually supportive of assault weapons bans back in 2000, according to The Intercept.

“I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun,” Trump said at the time. “With today’s internet technology we should be able to tell within 72 hours if a potential gun owner has a record.”

[Photo by Branden Camp/Getty Images]