“You came through for me and I am going to come through for you,” Mr. Trump declared, as gun owners cheered. Exactly how he might do that remains to be seen, although the president pointed to his decision to ease federal restrictions against the use of lead bullets on federal hunting grounds. Lead ammunition remnants prove highly toxic in the animal food chain and had been restricted.
Beyond that, Mr. Trump did not touch on such N.R.A. priorities as the gun lobby’s push in Congress to expand its “concealed carry” campaign of gun ownership by requiring states to recognize different gun permits issued in other states. This is currently the gun industry’s main hope for a sales rebound — weakening permit laws to see more guns in more people’s pockets in more public places.
Gun safety research indicates concealed-carry gun owners are responsible for far more homicides and suicides than self-defense standoffs against criminals. But Mr. Trump, who used to favor strong gun controls, has endorsed the N.R.A.’s vigilante approach as a safety measure. “If I’m in that room and let’s say we have two or five or 40 people with guns,” he hypothesized as a candidate, “we’re going to do a lot better because there’s going to be a shootout.”
