NRA's Donald Trump Endorsement Rankles Members

The winner of the Ted Cruz gun raffle won a shotgun engraved with the campaign symbol of Cruz's run for president. Photo credit: Cruz for President

Why would a gun rights group endorse a presidential candidate who has come out in favor of an assault weapons ban and longer waiting periods?

That’s what some NRA members want to know.

The National Rifle Association’s decision to endorse Donald Trump came as a shock to many second amendment advocates. The group doesn't usually announce endorsements so early in a campaign season, and they broke tradition for a man with a decidedly shaky record of supporting their positions.

Trump has been ramping up his pro-gun rhetoric in recent months, promising to shut down gun-free zones, even in schools, so good guys with guns can shoot the bad guys with guns. He’s even called for arming teachers. As for the assault weapons bans he used to support? His policy paper on guns calls them “a total failure” and says even the use of the term “assault weapon” is an attempt to scare and confuse people.

But he can’t conceal his past support of limitations. In his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” Trump wrote, “I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.” He also criticized “Republicans [that] walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions.”

After the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, Trump stood behind President Obama’s calls for gun control.

In recent days, Trump has gotten in hot water because many of his properties, including his signature Mar-a-Lago resort, don’t allow firearms on the premises.

SNL joked over the weekend that the NRA "didn’t do a background check" on Trump.

Gun Owners of America endorsed Ted Cruz back in September and it’s no wonder. Cruz was the gun toter’s dream candidate. The man cooked bacon with a machine gun. (Seriously, watch for yourself.)

Before his election to the Senate, Cruz received a Freedom Fund award from the NRA in recognition of all his work for gun rights but especially his support for a 2008 Supreme Court case that expanded the second amendment. And in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, when the Senate moved to consider a gun reform bill, he threatened one of his famous Ted Cruz filibusters.

A Cruz-Clinton matchup would have been an NRA dream come true. But now the gun lobby is left with an anybody-but-Hillary scenario that doesn’t inspire enthusiasm among its members -- to say the least.

One tweet from @NationalGunDay (which supports something called National Take Your Gun to Work Day) called the NRA endorsement a “horsesh**” move and another one declared, “Trump and Hillary are both gun-control advocates. NRA's endorsement is a sell out of #2a rights.”

@NationalGunDay isn’t alone.

Other NRA members have been quoted as saying, they “don’t feel safe with Trump” because “Trump will say whatever he needs to say to win,” and the even blunter, “Will I vote for Trump? Hell no.” Writing on RedState, NRA member Susan Wright called Trump a “desperation candidate” and – even worse – a “Manhattan liberal.”

We left messages for several other gun rights groups to get comment for this article and will expand the story if we learn whether the National Association for Gun Rights, the Gun Owners of America, and other groups plan to endorse Trump as well.