Where Donald Trump stands on gun control
As the gun violence epidemic continues to plague the country, the 2016 general election has focused sharply on legal restrictions on the buying and selling of firearms.
Donald Trump, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in May, frequently promises to protect Second Amendment rights at his campaign rallies and often touts his own concealed-carry permit from New York.
“The Second Amendment is on the ballot in November,” Trump said shortly after the NRA gave its backing to the GOP nominee. “The only way to save our Second Amendment is to vote for a person that you all know named Donald Trump. Okay? I will tell you. I will never let you down.”
Trump pledges to enforce existing gun laws, but he has also indicated an openness to new “no fly, no buy” legislation to limit terrorist access to firearms.
Here are Trump’s policy proposals on gun control policy:
Trump pledges to defend the Second Amendment
His campaign website says he would “enforce the laws on the books”
Trump wants to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court that would also uphold the Second Amendment
Trump is open to “no fly, no buy” policies
In a “Face the Nation” interview in June, Trump said he was open to “no fly, no buy” policies to prevent people on terror watch lists from buying firearms, in a seeming break from his party. Of discussions with the NRA, Trump said “I’m talking to them about the whole concept of terror watch lists. Should we take somebody directly off it -- if there is a terror watch list and if somebody is on, should they be allowed to buy a gun? Now, we understand there are problems with that, because some people are on the terror watch list that shouldn’t be on. You understand that. And that’s happened. Maybe you can reverse it.”
Trump wants to expand mental health treatment programs
He wants to create a “national right to carry”
- Trump believes concealed carry permits should be valid in all 50 states.
- His campaign website says that “a driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state.”
Trump would get rid of gun-free zones
- Under a Trump administration, military bases and recruiting centers that are now “gun-free zones” would allow the use of firearms.
Trump would do the same for schools. After Oregon’s Umpqua Community College shooting where nine people were killed last October, Trump suggested that the outcome would have been better if teachers had been equipped with firearms. “It was a gun-free zone,” Trump said at a rally shortly after the shooting. “I will tell you -- if you had a couple of the teachers or somebody with guns in that room, you would have been a hell of a lot better off.”
He would enforce existing laws
With the upcoming election, CBS News is publishing a new feature series on the two major party nominees and their positions on important policy issues. Check out our list of stories and videos below: