Donald Trump shifts his views on gun rights, now opposes further gun control. AP.

Donald Trump at the 2nd Republican Debate. Yahoo/AP.

Donald Trump has released a policy paper outlining his updated position on gun rights, showing a major departure from his previous beliefs. AP. In his book published in 2000, Donald Trump expressed support for long waiting periods and the assault weapon ban. However, Trump has now shifted to the right on this issue. In the policy paper Trump now says "The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon. Period." As for specific policy points. Trump opposes magazine limits and bans on assault weapons. Trump also expressed support for a national concealed carry system where concealed carry licences would be the equivalent of drivers licences, being valid in all 50 states. Trump also expressed opposition to any expansion to background checks due to the system failing to catch criminals. In addition, Trump would allow military members to carry firearms at bases and recruitment centers. Finally Trump called for enforcement of current laws and for better mental health treatment. 

My Comment:

Trump's policy paper on the 2nd amendment can be found here. 

What's my take on this? It's certainly welcome. In the bast I have questioned Trump's credibility as a Republican candidate due to his support of gun control in the past. It seems like he has flip flopped on the issue. Though I am still less comfortable with Trump as I am with candidates that have supported gun rights for their whole career, it's still an improvement. 

Indeed, Trump's support of gun control was a "dealbreaker" for me. Though I agree with Trump on a few issues and disagree on a couple of other issues, non of his opinions were so odious to me that I couldn't support him if he is the republican candidate except for his support of gun control. Now that the last hurtle is out of the way I can say that Trump is at least acceptable as a candidate by my definition at least. I still disagree with him on a lot of things, but I'm close to a single issue voter. Even if Trump isn't the greatest candidate, he's miles ahead of anyone on the left for this issue, so if he is the candidate I'll probably vote for him, just to protect my  rights.  

I'm not so sure how much this helps Trump though. Everyone else in the Republican field opposes gun control with Chris Christie being the sole exception. Saying he is in favor of gun rights doesn't exactly set him apart from the field. The only way this helps Trump is it might get him support from gun rights supporters who wanted to support him but were unsure of his position on guns. I don't think that is really a large group of people. .

Of course, compared the the Democarts, Trump is very far to the right on this issue. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Martin O'Malley are on the record for supporting draconian gun control laws. Only Bernie Sanders is different. As a Republican, Sanders would be Chris Christie tier, absolutely terrible. But as a Democrat, Sanders is practically a member of the NRA. Yes he supported expanded background checks and magazine restrictions, but at other times he has voted for gun rights. I don't advise anyone to vote for someone on the left, but if you feel you must, Bernie Sanders is the only one that even pretends to care about gun rights. He would still be a terrible president from a gun rights perspective, but not apocalyptic like Clinton, Biden or O'Malley would be. 

I'm also surprised how little gun rights has come up during this election campaign so far. I think the left is starting to realize that their gun control dreams aren't going to happen. Indeed, it seems like in all but the bluest of blue states, gun control laws are being trimmed back. Remember, concealed carry was illegal in many states until very recently and now it is legal pretty much everywhere, even though some states are much more restrictive then others. 

Still, you would think it would come up. I think part of it is that almost all of the Republicans support gun rights. If Chris Christie was higher in the polls they would be hitting him hard, but since he is pretty low in the polls nobody is making the effort. On the left there hasn't even been a debate yet. If there had been a debate at this point I am guessing that Clinton, O'Malley and maybe Joe Biden if he ever actually declares to be running, would hit Bernie Sanders hard since he doesn't quite toe the party line. Once the candidates are determined, expect the issue to come up some more. 

Hilariously enough the NRA released an add bashing Michael Bloomberg during the debate. Their argument was that he would spend all his money to try and support anti-gun candidates. I think that is very obviously true but either way I thought it was funny. I'd like to see more adds like this that bash the people that support candidates, and not the candidates themselves.