Real estate developer and current GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump issued the second policy paper of his campaign late last week, shifting his attention to guns. The paper, entitled “Protecting our Second Amendment Rights Will Make America Great Again,” was published just a few days after the Second Amendment made a brief appearance at CNN’s Republican debate.
Where Democrat Martin O’Malley’s comprehensive gun policy plan proposed numerous specific initiatives and goals (like cutting the country’s 32,000 annual gun deaths in half), Trump’s platform largely ignores the details and complexities of the gun debate in favor of pro-gun buzzwords, filtered through Trump’s signature bombastic voice. Predictably, it also drew extensive coverage and sharply divided opinions. But the most noteworthy thing about the document may be its sudden appearance, as guns had not previously been a significant part of Trump’s rightwing populist pitch. Reading his positions on Friday, one immediate question was, Where did this come from?
“The NRA,” was Vox’s succinct and not-inaccurate answer. But we wanted to take an even deeper look at the underpinnings of Trump’s gun plan. So we decided to annotate Trump’s paper, using Genius.com.
[Photo: Flickr user Gage Skidmore]
