Ahead of Donald Trump’s appearance at the NRA event in Texas, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump has spent years caving to the NRA’s demands and putting the millions he gets in campaign cash from the gun lobby over Americans’ safety. As murder rates skyrocketed during his presidency, Trump refused to pass commonsense gun reforms and instead even made it easier for criminals to carry guns. President Biden, meanwhile, has consistently worked to keep American communities safe and signed the most significant gun safety legislation in decades — that’s the progress the American people will choose in November over Trump’s dangerous soft-on-crime agenda.”

While the murder rate skyrocketed, Trump worsened the gun epidemic as president, refusing to pass commonsense gun reforms and making it easier for criminals to carry guns.

New York Times: “Conceding to N.R.A., Trump Abandons Brief Gun Control Promise”

“President Trump on Monday abandoned his promise to work for gun control measures opposed by the National Rifle Association, bowing to the gun group and embracing its agenda of armed teachers and incremental improvements to the background check system.”

The Hill: “The [Trump] White House on Monday issued a statement warning that President Trump would veto proposed legislation to enhance background checks for gun purchases if it passes the House and Senate.”

Politico: “Trump quietly used regulations to expand gun access”

Associated Press: “FBI: 2020 homicides up nearly 30%, largest 1-year jump ever”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Council on Criminal Justice, a D.C.-based research group, found that homicides in 21 American cities were up 32% between March and October compared with 2019. And some analysts believe 2020 could record the largest-ever single-year increase in murders in the United States.”

Now, Trump is running on a dangerous MAGA agenda that would fail to address gun violence.

Trump: “I will sign concealed carry reciprocity. Your Second Amendment does not end at the state line.”

CNN: “Trump suggests arming teachers as a solution to increase school safety”

Reuters: “[Trump] also called for eliminating gun-free school zones, adding that such zones leave victims with no means to defend themselves in case of an attack by an armed person.”

CNN: “Guns are the leading cause of death for US children and teens, since surpassing car accidents in 2020. Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That’s about five children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States.”

KFF: “Firearms were responsible for 20 percent of all child and teen deaths in the U.S. for both 2020 and 2021, compared to an average of less than 2 percent in similarly large and wealthy nations.”

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions: “Around 4.5 million women in the United States have been threatened with a gun, and nearly 1 million women have been shot or shot at by an intimate partner. Over half of all intimate partner homicides are committed with guns.” 

Pew Research Center: “More than half of all suicides in 2021 – 26,328 out of 48,183, or 55% – also involved a gun, the highest percentage since 2001.”

Pew Research Center: “In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC.”

Today, Trump will keep pandering to the NRA, which has given tens of millions of dollars to his campaigns.

New York Magazine: “President Trump met with survivors of the Parkland school shooting and attempted to convey a sincere intention to act. … What happened next was predictable. Trump met with the head of the NRA. He stopped talking about the issue he was going to solve.”

Rolling Stone: “Trump on Iowa School Shooting: ‘Get Over It’”

“A day after a gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five other people at Perry High School northwest of Des Moines, Donald Trump returned to the state at a campaign event and told residents that they ‘have to get over it.’”

Trump: “There’s no bigger fan of the NRA [than me].”

NBC News: “Trump says mass shootings are not ‘a gun problem’ as 2024 GOP hopefuls pledge loyalty to the NRA”

New York Magazine: “After Taunting Republicans for Being Afraid of NRA, Trump Gives In to NRA”

Washington Post: “After latest shooting, Trump pushes Facebook ads ‘straight from the NRA playbook’”

Politico: “Former President Donald Trump on Friday addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in Houston … just three days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.”

CNN: “A slew of 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls courted gun rights activists Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis that took place in the wake of mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee in recent days. Former President Donald Trump … attended the gathering.”

Yahoo News: “The gun-rights group spent $54 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $30 million to help Donald Trump get elected president.”

Fortune: “For instance, in 2020, the NRA alone spent over $12 million campaigning against Biden and another $4.5 million in favor of Donald Trump.”

The contrast is clear: President Biden signed the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades and is calling for an assault weapons ban, which would help drastically reduce mass shootings. 

New York Times: “In the face of N.R.A. opposition, [Trump] has also retreated from his earlier openness to expanded background checks and a renewal of the expired ban on assault weapons.”

Northwestern University: “A federal assault weapon ban was highly effective in reducing public mass shootings, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study just published in a pre-print.” 

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery: “Conclusion: Mass-shooting related homicides in the United States were reduced during the years of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004.”

Reminder: EVERY Republican in Congress voted against President Biden and Democrats’ American Rescue Plan, which included hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments that could be used to boost local law enforcement. 

ABC News: “President Joe Biden will announce Friday that $10 billion from the American Rescue Plan has been committed to police departments and public safety across the U.S. … These funds show what has been reported from cities through the end of 2021. The COVID-19 relief law included $350 billion for state and local governments to reduce violence.”

White House: “The American Rescue Plan (ARP) has provided over $15 billion to prevent crime and promote public safety, including community violence intervention programs and crisis responders, while Bipartisan Safer Community Act —the most significant gun safety legislation in the last 30 years—provides $250 million in funding for community-based violence prevention initiatives, in addition to key investments for schools to expand mental health services and violence intervention programs.”