NEWS

Trump rails at Clinton in NRA speech

Joseph Gerth
Opinion Columnist | Louisville Courier Journal

Donald Trump slammed Democrat Hillary Clinton during his speech at the NRA's annual meeting on Friday, calling on her to release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees she would turn to if she’s elected.

If NRA members were at the Paris subway attacks 'you wouldn't have the same carnage,' said presidential candidate Donald Trump while making a handgun motion with his hand to NRA members Friday at Freedom Hall.

“I put forth, and you probably saw it a few days ago, I put forth a list of judges who will protect and defend all of our freedoms, including the Second Amendment,” he said. “The judges will follow the Constitution.

“Now, I’d like to call for Hillary Clinton to put together a list also, OK. Let her put together a list, because I’d like to see what that list consists of and you will see it’s day and night, OK, day and night,” he said. “And it will not be good for the people in this room.”

The Clinton campaign declined to comment on Trump's remarks.

Numerous speakers, from National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre Jr. to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, urged attendees to vote against Clinton because, as Trump said, whoever is elected could appoint anywhere from three to five members of the Supreme Court.

“We must stand united against the tyranny and hypocrisy and the corruption that comes from career fake politicians like Hillary Clinton,” Bevin said.

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Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, accused Clinton of wanting to “release violent criminals from jail, she wants them all released” and said she wants to strip the right of self-defense from people.

“This is the thinking of a person who is not equipped to be president of the United States. Believe me, she doesn’t understand it. Bad judgment.”

The gun issue is likely to be front and center in this presidential election year as Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has already made it an issue during the primary, criticizing Sen. Bernie Sanders for opposing a measure that would have allowed victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers.

And Chelsea Clinton, her daughter, said in April in Maryland that the death earlier this year of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could open the door for legislative action on gun control.

Supreme Court decisions in 2008 and 2010, which for the first time said individuals have a right to own guns and struck down gun laws were decided on 5-4 splits with Scalia in the majority. Clinton has said she believes the Supreme Court got those rulings wrong.

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The appointment of a more liberal justice could shift the court and allow state and local gun laws to stand, even if federal gun legislation can’t get passed in Congress.

“She’ll be president until 2025. The damage that would be done by her policies and her Supreme Court picks would destroy individual freedom and therefore destroy the nation we love,” said NRA-ILA executive director Chris Cox.

“We have to unite and we have to unite right now,” Cox said, before giving the NRA’s endorsement to Trump.

The first four speeches at the NRA’s annual meeting were full-throated attacks on Clinton, with speakers bringing up everything from her role in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, which left Ambassador Christopher Stevens dead, to the Affordable Care Act.

In fact, only Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, didn’t use his speech to attack Clinton.

Numerous speakers also brought up the fact that Clinton used a private email server while secretary of state. The CIA later declared some of the emails that went through the server as classified.

“We must stay United against the tyranny and hypocrisy that comes with fake … politicians like Hillary Clinton,” Bevin told the gathering, which was held in Freedom Hall.

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Trump repeatedly called Clinton “Crooked Hillary” and said she wants to do away with all gun rights.

"Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment, just remember that," he said. "... We’re not going to let that happen, I can tell you that right now. We’re going to nourish it, we’re going to take care of it."

Politifact, the Tampa Bay Times’ service that judges whether politicians are telling the truth, has previously deemed that statement to be false, saying that Clinton has never said, nor implied that.

Trump mentioned several times that he has a concealed-carry permit and his two sons are hunters, and he noted that a couple of polls have come out recently that show him ahead of Clinton.

And noting that he was in Kentucky, Trump said he was going to “put the miners back to work.”

He accused Clinton of wanting to “release violent criminals from jail, she wants them all released.”

He pushed his own gun agenda, which includes allowing the military to carry guns on posts, which is not generally allowed.

“We’re getting rid of gun-free zones. OK. We’re getting rid of them,” he said.

He promised to repeal Obamacare and said he would replace it with something great, but didn’t say what that might be. He called for getting rid of Common Core educational standards and he said he would “knock the hell out of ISIS.”

And he said that if the country elects him, “We're going to win, win, win. We’re going to win with the military. We’re going to win at the borders.  We’re going to win with trade, we’re going to win with everything.” 

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