In the wake of the massacre at an Orlando gay club that left 50 people dead, many Democrats have argued that a so-called “No fly, No buy” law—which would help prevent people on the no-fly list from purchasing firearms—could help prevent future tragedies from occurring. This law is enormously popular with voters, though it has been blocked by Republicans in Congress and the NRA. President Obama expressed frustration that the legislation had not been passed just a couple of weeks before Orlando.
Somewhat surprisingly, Donald Trump expressed support for the legislation on Wednesday morning:
I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016
Throughout the campaign, Trump has argued that Hillary Clinton’s support for relatively conservative gun legislation like the “No fly, no buy” law is proof that she wants to abolish the Second Amendment. It’s a slippery slope argument, in which gun rights are slowly eroded by small-scale legislation: First, people on the terrorist watch list can’t buy guns, then people who are convicted of domestic violence can’t buy them, and so on, until no one can buy them. So, if we take Trump’s own rationale to its logical end, by supporting any legislation regulating the ownership of firearms, he is basically calling for the abolition of the Second Amendment.