Thread by @GodlessNZ

(1) President Trump did NOT say anything that could reduce your #2A rights in his bipartisan meeting on school & community safety on 2/28/18.

I could show you just the most relevant excerpts but I've ended up analyzing the whole transcript, bc it was such a good meeting.

(2) I will try to be succinct in this thread. I present excerpts I think have value in terms of understanding the current state of progress toward doing more to prevent another Parkland, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs and on and on and on.

(3) Here's the transcript of the meeting. I watched it live; as soon as I heard Trump say certain things, I said he's using a strategy and we should wait for the transcript. This proved to be right. Look at Feinstein.

whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat…

(4) The transcript is best for accuracy of the words used, but the video adds a whole other lot of information, too.

(5) POTUS used an opening monologue to set out his top priorities in this area.

This part argues that this time it's DIFFERENT and he will ensure it gets done. His reasoned optimism is maintained for the whole meeting, which is superbly facilitated.

(6) Opponents forget that he learned negotiation from the best, spent >40 years making extraordinary deals that people never thought could happen, then defeated 17 candidates + the media on his first foray into national politics.

He is good at this.

(7) Nowhere here does he say ALL teachers will be armed. His view has always been that only the willing & adequately trained will be considered for this.

He invites discussion - no one took him up on this point, despite ample opportunity.

(8) "Certain ideas sound good, but they're not good."

One of Trump's core policy/political values, which is shared by the "ordinary voters" he sought to represent. It's wisdom, common sense & a mainstream policy analysis approach - just in plain language.

(9) The core of the President's approach to school and community safety.

IMO he says "I feel that" as a rhetorical device. He "thinks it." I also believe he is genuinely open to suggestions. It's just that it's extremely difficult to win this argument against him - or me.

(10) I wonder why Feinstein suddenly felt safe enough to stop carrying a handgun after the 70s? Rhetorical question. Perhaps she had 24/7 bodyguards after that point, who knows. We don't have them.

Her arguments are flawed, obviously. All bullets tear flesh with velocity.

(11) I love his noncommittal, one word answers here. A good strategy for dealing with fallacious nonsense eg her implying that her statistics are accurate, correlation equals causation & banning legal guns would work.

He lets her say her thing. Which is an excellent tactic.

(12) Now we come to the first of the Trump comments in the meeting that set people off because they didn't study the context.

He talks about options for removing guns from the genuinely severely mentally ill whose risk level is most obvious.

Options. Not commitments/promises.

(13) Firstly, I have heard that Manchin's (#JoeVotedNo) claims about the so called "gun show loophole" are not quite accurate. I will leave it to better informed gun law analysts to assess and explain that for us.

(14) Where Trump says "Number one... " I knew straight away that this is possible now under the Baker Act. The problem is that once the hold is ended after 72 hours, LEOs have to give back the guns (essentially).

The Act may have been an option re Cruz. It's contestable.

(15) So Trump is simply referring to an existing law that allows LEOs to separate the person from their guns for 72 hours without a lengthy court process that allows them to commit crime before the case is decided.

(16) "I think they should have taken them [a]way anyway, whether they had the right or not."

He's expressing an opinion, not advocating a law change. Yes, yes, it was unwise to say it. Big deal.

If you are seriously using this against him, it makes you look somewhat silly.

(17) "But I’ll tell you this: You have to have very strong provisions for the mentally ill. Now, a lot of people are saying, oh, I shouldn’t be saying that. I’ll tell you what — I don’t want mentally ill people to be having guns."

Take him seriously, not literally.

(18) In this instance, I believe he is arguing very strongly for optimal law changes re mental health and guns, in the context of a very severe problem that everyone in that room wants to address. Context matters. He has to fight hard for this.

(19) Great example of Trump's genius in shutting down a spurious and divisive claim about identity politics by cutting to the heart of the issue: the content of one's character.

Gender & race aren't the issue. Personal choices are.

(20) In the midst of Deutch's political speech he tries to dismiss the NRA as having anything to offer in a community-wide discussion of actual policy options.

It's one of several groups with a wealth of legal & practical analysis to offer. But that challenges the narrative.

(21) Then Trump expertly ignores all of Deutch's logical fallacies (strawman, argument from emotion & more) and highlights the main point: states can and should make certain decisions themselves.

(22) Everyone should read this exchange between Scalise and the President. It covers several crucial points about preventing mass shootings.

It's also where the comments about concealed carry reciprocity were made, that have been misrepresented.

(23) In the next excerpt we see POTUS agreeing with what Scalise said in the previous excerpt.

Crucially, POTUS said several times he supports CCR, but in a separate bill.

(24) "I think that maybe that bill will someday pass, but it should pass as a separate. If you’re going to put concealed carry between states into this bill, we’re talking about a whole new ballgame.

And, you know, I’m with you, but let it be a separate bill."

And again:

(25) "You’ll never get this passed. If you add concealed carry to this, you’ll never get it passed. Let it be a separate thing."

"I don’t think — again, you’ll never get it passed. So we want to get something done [right now]. But what’s your second point?"

And again:

(26) "REP SCALISE: Clearly, the Senate may have some issues with parts of the bill. But let’s not just discard [CCR]. Let’s at least have a broader conversation, and we’ll continue this.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, I think that’s fine."

(27) A set of good suggestions from Rep Blackburn on:
a. Agencies' information sharing
b. Video game content ratings
c. Retired LEOs providing armed protection in schools

Showing the value of a meeting like this, and that a range of options are needed.

(28) Still more excerpts to come. Taking a short break before continuing.

(29) This smackdown of Murphy & other Democrats is a delight.

"THE PRESIDENT: No, I tell you what... [the NRA] do have great power, I agree with that. They have great power over you people. They have less power over me. I don’t need it. What do I need?"

#ITellYouWhat

(30) Another quote about CCR.

"I just don’t think you’re going to get it approved... they’re never going to consider it. But people may consider it, but they’re not going to consider it IN THIS BILL."

Remember: We don't have the votes PRE midterms. We may have them after.

(32) Details about how "gun violence restraining orders" might work. This would address the problem of mental health crisis "holds" that are too short to keep the person and their weapons separated for the required period of time. Could get an order in days not months.

(33) Well reasoned arguments and practical comments from Rubio and Cornyn.

Gee, it's starting to look like all the common sense options are coming from Republicans, isn't it?

(34) This excerpt shows the President's negotiating style and skills, as well as his clear commitment to results in this area. He has made it a top priority. Highly unlikely he would let the process fail after doing that so publicly.

(35) Now POTUS moves on to wrapping up the meeting. This excerpt leads in to another great swipe at the Democrats for not fixing the problem, because they focus on the wrong aspects of it.

(36) But first, I forgot to highlight this quote:

"[T]ake the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system. Because a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures."

Again, already exists:

(37) Mental health crisis holds of, say, 72 hours, already exist. POTUS is emphasizing LENGTHY court due-process procedures on purpose bc: Unless they are well designed, they will take too long & won't work.

Can design a days-not-months process. He's really asking for that.

(38) Rep Elizabeth Esty starts in on an argument from emotion speech & gets stopped in her tracks by a Presidential truth bomb. #ButYouKnow

He essentially points out that Congress has never succeeded in this area bc they'd rather let the urgency subside than properly negotiate.

(39) POTUS then places saving lives ahead of a politician's desire to get a strong rating or endorsement from gun rights, privacy rights or any rights group. He knows that's what motivates everyone else in the room.

Making the case for citizen politicians like himself.

(40) The President's concluding comments, where he repeats his key points, with even greater emphasis & there is again an opportunity for people to misread him on CCR, but the fact he is just talking about the current proposed bill is there in black & white.

(41) Lastly, Feinstein tries to squeeze some more emotion-based and fact-free nonsense into the meeting but gets shut down ever so nicely by our very stable genius.

(42) Well, this was fun! ICYMI, here are the links to the transcript and the video. Greater school and community safety - we can do it.

whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat…



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