President Trump has appointed Anthony Scaramucci as his new communications director, a move which resulted in Sean Spicer’s resignation earlier today. It also prompted something else: celebration from Michael Bloomberg’s employees at Everytown for Gun Safety.
It seems that Scaramucci has made some strident communications of his own in the past in support of strict gun control measures and Bloomberg’s bunch is declaring victory.
Following the Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 children and six adults in 2012, Scaramucci tweeted that he has “always been for strong gun control laws.” In another tweet, Scaramucci implied that keeping a gun in a home may give the “illusion of security, but more likely to cause you harm.” Additionally, Scaramucci tweeted that when it comes to guns, “it is just common sense [to] apply more controls.” In 2016, he tweeted that “killings went down” when “guns were taken from people who put their fellow citizens at risk.”
These comments would seem to contradict the stated position of the Trump administration. The NRA was one of the first organizations to throw their full weight behind Trump’s candidacy and they’ve been among his most strident supporters since his election. The President’s promises to reduce infringements on the Second Amendment and appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court (i.e. Neil Gorsuch) earned him the strong support of the nation’s gun owners.
Every administration includes those with beliefs counter to those of the Commander in Chief himself. But Donald Trump can’t afford to alienate gun owners, a group that has so strongly supported him so far. Going squishy on guns and the Second Amendment is a sure way to ensure that the People of the Gun are much less keen about showing up at the polls and casting their ballots the same way in the future.