Trump did mention improved background checks, and frankly, there is room for improvement. How many times have government incompetence let some leftist freak* who should have been barred by a conviction or mental instability buy a gun? Way too many. As for “red flag” laws, the idea of a process where a guy announcing his intent to go on a murder spree to, say, promote the Bernie Sanders agenda by attacking a baseball field full of Republicans,* is sensible in theory. But in practice, the due process considerations are essential – I mean serious due process guarantees, with teeth. Leftists have already promised to abuse these laws, so massive penalties for misuse of them to persecute political opponents must be part of the mix.

But any move toward the Democrat position that our basic gun rights are negotiable or that we can be disarmed in any way would be utterly unacceptable. And Trump knows this – he knows what we will and will not tolerate. He’s certainly not like the Fredocon GOP goofs who get MSNBC hits because they are eager to submit to the media’s narrative. He’s too smart to do exactly what the Democrats are using this furor to try to trick him into doing – create a rift between him and his base so one of the 272 pinko morons running for the Donkey nom can sneak in and win an election that right now is Trump’s to lose.

Trump does not want to lose.