Donald Trump’s Big Gun Idea? Literally Stolen From Tim Kaine.

[applegrove]

by Brandy Zadosny at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/11/donald-trump-s-big-gun-idea-literally-stolen-from-tim-kaine.html

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As with most of his political opinions, the Republican presidential nominee’s stance on gun rights has changed over the years. But Trump does have a plan to rescue the sacred yet apparently imperiled Second Amendment, one he lays out in his official position, published on his campaign website in September 2015.

Trump’s plan calls for a number of policies, such as an expansion of gun rights and the overhaul of a “broken” mental health care system, common refrains from Second Amendment advocates. It begins, however, with another directive—“Enforce The Laws On The Books”—and as best practice, Trump invokes, but never names, Senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine. Indeed, Trump’s plan to Make America Great for Gun Owners Again leans heavily on Project Exile, a 1997 program Kaine implemented as mayor of Richmond, Virginia, that was aimed at driving down crime rates by elevating gun offenses to the tougher federal court system.

“Several years ago there was a tremendous program in Richmond, Virginia called Project Exile,” Trump’s policy reads.

“It said that if a violent felon uses a gun to commit a crime, you will be prosecuted in federal court and go to prison for five years—no parole or early release. Obama’s former Attorney General, Eric Holder, called that a ‘cookie cutter’ program. That’s ridiculous. I call that program a success. Murders committed with guns in Richmond decreased by over 60% when Project Exile was in place—in the first two years of the program alone, 350 armed felons were taken off the street.”


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