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“We didn’t yield”: Trump brags to NRA about lax gun control during his time in office

"There was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing," Trump said at the NRA presidential forum

Senior Culture Editor

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Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association presidential forum at the Great American Outdoor Show on February 09, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association presidential forum at the Great American Outdoor Show on February 09, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In 2019, a year in which Donald Trump served as president, the U.S. suffered more mass killings than any other year on record — according to a database compiled by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University — but in a speech delivered at the National Rifle Association presidential forum on Friday night, the 2024 Republican frontrunner brags about not yielding to pressure in terms of tightening up on gun restrictions.

In his remarks given to a crowd of fellow gun enthusiasts at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, Trump praised himself for championing a right to self-defense — seemingly at any cost — saying, "You’ve always had that right, and during my four years, nothing happened, and there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield. And once you yield a little bit, that’s just the beginning. That’s when the avalanche begins."

Referencing President Biden as ushering in "four more years of anti-gun communists" should he be re-elected at the end of this year, he furthered that, "They’re gonna run it . . . they’re running it now, just in case you have any questions. But it means hundreds of more radical left judges waging a crusade against law-abiding gun owners, and four more years of Joe Biden means a non-stop war on gun manufacturers, dealers, and sellers designed to put the entire industry right out of business. They want to put it out of business."

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By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Senior Culture Editor, where she helps further coverage of TV, film, music, books and culture trends from a unique and thoughtful angle. Her work has also appeared in Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vice and many other outlets that don't start with the letter V. She is the author of one sad book called "Something Is Always Happening Somewhere." Follow her on Bluesky: @WolfieVibes

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