In yet another slap in the face to gun owners who supported him during the election, President Trump has nominated Chuck Canterbury, president of the anti-gun Fraternal Order of Police to be his director at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

Canterbury has a long track record that should concern gun owners:

He’s testified before Congress to support anti-gunners like Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Under his watch, the FOP backed Congressional measures to expand the unconstitutional and failing NICS system — which is the same system where 95% of the initial denials are false positives.

And on the state level, the FOP under his watch has supported Universal Background Checks and opposed Constitutional Carry.

Canterbury, in testimony, has expressed his agreement with the FOP’s support of unconstitutional restrictions on gun ownership. While the President and some gun groups who continue to bend over backward to appease anti-gunners may claim the nominee is a pro-second amendment, consider the following letter written by Canterbury and sent to the U.S. Senate in support of a proposed expansion of the restrictions on gun ownership, use, and purchase:

I am writing on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police, the oldest and largest law enforcement organization in the United States, to strongly recommend that several measures, all absolutely critical elements of addressing gun violence, be included in legislation moving forward as a result of your deliberations:

These measures are:

Expansion of background checks on firearm purchasers;

The reinvigoration of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to ensure that it has the tools and resources necessary to its mission;

Improved law enforcement access to mental health records in the context of firearms acquisition; and

Funding to put more state and local law enforcement officers on the street.



A couple of paragraphs later, in promoting a more powerful ATF, Canterbury claims that liberty must be sacrificed to save the children, as the New American points out this language that sounds more like something Barack Obama would say rather than Donald Trump: “For too long we have denied AFT the proper resources and our nation and our children have paid the price.”

Later in the same letter, Canterbury calls on Congress to use doctors as informants, to keep guns out of the “wrong hands.” Canterbury writes, “Along with comprehensive background checks, better access to mental health records is critical to keeping guns out of the wrong hands.”

Sadly, this comes as President Trump told Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain he would “think about” a ban on gun suppressors, following news that the suspected Virginia Beach shooter used a legally-bought gun suppressor.

“I’d like to think about it. I mean nobody’s talking about silencers very much. I did talk about the bump stock, and we had it banned, and we’re looking at that. I’m going to seriously look at it. I don’t love the idea of it,” the president told Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.

So first bump stocks, then appointing anti-gun advocate Willian Barr as attorney general, now an Anti-gunner at the ATF, and maybe even a ban on suppressors – seems like we may not be secure as we thought on the second amendment under this President.

Yes, I know – the Trump can do nothing wrong crowd is going to go up in arms over this article, but again, I really don’t care. I support the Make America Great policies and the Constitution, not an IDOL. When President Trump violates those principles, we are going to call him on it just like we did with Obama!