The current impeachment inquiry against President Trump is based on an anonymous whistleblower complaint lodged by an intelligence officer. That complaint and the Democrats’ impeachment push that resulted may have doomed any chance they had of getting a background check or red flag bill passed.
The Second Amendment Foundation looks at the anonymous complaint and the legal action that’s followed and sees a similarity to red flag laws that allow gun owners’ firearms to be confiscated based on the claim of, well, almost anyone in some states.
BELLEVUE, WA – The anonymous whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump now being used by Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry is tantamount to a “red flag” action against a gun owner, with the accused being presumed guilty until he or she can prove their innocence, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
“The lynch mob mentality now being exhibited by Capitol Hill Democrats is the same kind of rush-to-judgment thinking that courts and prosecutors use to rationalize seizing someone’s firearms, while throwing due process under the nearest bus,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Far-left House Democrats, who have wanted to remove the duly-elected president from office since the 2016 election are treating this anonymous complaint like gospel, virtually the same way the legal system treats a so-called ‘red flag’ complaint against a gun owner.
“Completely absent from this political circus act is anything close to skepticism,” he continued. “There’s a transcript of a telephone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president which Trump’s detractors read one way and his supporters read another way, and that’s about it. At least the president has the advantage of knowing there’s been a complaint filed, but in the case of a ‘red flag’ allegation, the gun owner typically doesn’t know a thing until police come knocking on the door. In either case, neither the president or an affected gun owner has had the opportunity to face their accuser.
“Many people are convinced that the president’s case amounts to political theatrics,” Gottlieb said. “However, there are no theatrics involved when a private citizen’s property is seized. As we saw last year in Maryland, a gun owner was served and something went wrong, and that person was shot dead inside his own front door.
“We’re not sure how this drama will play out against President Trump,” he noted, “but we do know that anytime an anonymous complaint can be used to launch something as serious as an impeachment inquiry, by the same people who are pushing ‘red flag’ laws against gun owners, it’s time to seriously re-think both processes.
“If this can happen to a president,” Gottlieb observed, “how long will it be before a ‘red flag’ case can be launched on the basis of an anonymous complaint? Step-by-step, it appears we’re getting closer to the kind of government the Second Amendment was designed to protect us against, and that’s alarming.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.