March 1, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to President Donald Trump’s statement that he favored an approach to “take the guns first, go through due process second”:
“President Trump’s statement that he wants to take away guns first and have due process later flies in the face of basic constitutional principles under the Fifth Amendment. The President knows better than anyone that a person is innocent until proven guilty, and to deny those basic rights is unacceptable under any circumstance. If he pursues legislation that tramples on due process, he will have cast aside constitutional protection of basic liberties in favor of perceived political expediency.
“The mental health issue is extremely challenging from a legal perspective, but one thing is clear, if the laws in place had been followed in Broward County, Florida, Nikolas Cruz would have received intervention that would have prevented this tragedy either for being adjudicated mentally incompetent, as the Gun Control Act of 1968 provides for, or being prosecuted for making terrorist threats.
“The great danger of President Trump’s confiscate first, ask questions later proposal is that it presumes that the possessor or potential purchaser of a firearm is mentally unstable and should be subjected to thousands upon thousands of dollars of legal fees, allowing simple allegations to be weaponized. This is why no person may be denied liberty without due process. To prevent this very thing from happening.
“When President Trump tries to figure out who’s right on this issue, he should look closely at those applauding him who have wished his political demise and wonder why. Without due process, and the presumption of innocence, the U.S. Constitution might as well be lit on fire because it would be worth less than the paper it was printed on.”
“Time for the nation to have an honest dialogue about violence,” By Rick Manning, Feb. 27, 2018 at http://netrightdaily.com/2018/02/time-nation-honest-dialogue-violence/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
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