Principled Americans might recall that, circa 2018, Ms. Bondi and Mr. Trump appeared side-by-side in Florida at a press conference in which they extolled the virtues of her efforts as then-Florida Attorney General, to execute the equivalent of Red Flag gun-grabs -- or what she termed, “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” – on people who had not been granted due process, not been convicted of any crime, and are, by definition as human beings who supposedly possess the right to keep and bear arms, unmolested by government goons.
Mr. Trump’s triumphal enthusiasm alarmed many traditional conservatives, who saw him nod as she blissfully promoted the idea of government agents engaging in towering attacks on the Second Amendment, the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unwarranted searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition of government depriving people of life, liberty, or property without due process, the Sixth Amendment’s promise of a speedy trial by a jury of one’s peers, the right to face one’s accuser(s) and the right to call witnesses for one’s defense, the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment (how can one be punished if one has not been accused of a crime and put on trial?), and the Fourteenth Amendment’s reiteration of due process.
Mr. Trump added to the frustration and alarm by issuing in his first term unconstitutional so-called “Executive Orders” through which he attempted to ban “bump stocks” and pistol braces.
But now, both Mr. Trump and U.S. Attorney General Bondi seem to be singing a different tune, a pro-gun-rights song that comes to us on the changeable winds of political expediency.
