campaign statements would play big in oral arguments. kate, i think they did play a factor with those justices who agree that this particular ban is discriminatory, but unfrnly, there are enough justices to strike down this ban, one thing about the travel ban 3.0 and it wasn t the first one and it s been given type, it s given the opportunity to at least develop some evidence that this was done for national security reasons and we reached out to certain countries and they haven t adequately told us they re doing what they should do as far as back ground checks. so at least they have a reason for it, so i think based on the fact that the supreme court let the ban go into effect earlier this year and based on the arguments we heard today, there s simply not enough justices to strike down this watered down ban, but i think
all. so i think republicans should take heed of their critiques and perhaps attempt to do something to move the needle forward on this. and historically gun rights advocates have been single issue voters. it is the gun control advocates who have not been single issue voters. and if this generation looks first at your position on back ground checks and minimums to purchase, that could certainly change a lot of these seats. you re right. and i think republicans should already be nervous looking at all of the elections, special elections since donald trump became president. it hasn t been good for republicans at all. but to me, there has been a lot of extremism on this issue and why can t people have some reasonable positions, right, more back ground checks, maybe not every single gun needs to be available to every single person. but i do think that what people are worried about and the single issue voters have been worried
going to be head of the school safety commission? i don t know. well, there is a joke here in washington that when you want to punt on an issue, what do you do? you create a commission. we ve seen many more examples of failed commissions. that said i do hear from folks on the hill that this is such an intractable issue that that may be the inevitable starting place where we have to go because if you look at what the president is supporting, it s nothing coming out of the white house other than this commission. it s kicking everything to the states, everything to congress. and even his own proposals, for example, increasing the age, if you remember the one thing from the round table he had with lawmakers that he was so strong on was strong background checks, strong back ground checks. there s none of that in here other than to strengthen the current system that we have. there s no expansion of the background check system which just a few years ago was
considered a minor concession that we couldn t even get through congress. so my guess is that, yes, we ll create this commission and, no it won t do anything but it will collect ideas and if at the end of the 2018 election there is an agreement that guns was an issue then maybe the new congress can pick up with those ideas and run. what s unbelievable is the new congress may pick up ideas and run but this congress won t even do the nra said they should do. this president won t even do what the nra claims they should do. maybe they are quietly killing it behind the scenes, they are that cynical but the nra said it s okay to move on bump stocks yet they re not moving on bump stocks. the nra said it s okay for them to move on the cornyn/murphy bill on enhanced background checks, nobody is moving on that either and david ignatius, how
the days after the massacre in parkland, florida, that he was ready to take on the nra over that issue. ready to support increasing the minimum age to buy some weapons but now if you look at this plan, it looks like he s backing away from that fight. backing away from increasing the age or at least that full-throated support of it. here are the main pillars of the plan. it calls for rigorous firearm training for some teachers. that s the controversial proposal this the nra fully supports. it also calls for establishing a commission to study school safety, ways to make schools safer. it supports legislation that could strengthen background checks but no language about increasing the age to buy some weapons. now the white house says, look, they are looking into studying the possibility of that so they re not backing away entirely but there s no language to that in effect this initial