President Trump eagerly repaid his campaign debt to the National Rifle Association on Friday by appearing at its annual convention in Atlanta. Last year, candidate Trump benefited greatly from the N.R.A.’s endorsement and $30 million worth of campaign support; the N.R.A., in turn, relished Mr. Trump’s fear-inducing agenda, which led to greater arms sales among more and more ordinary Americans.

Interestingly, however, now that Mr. Trump’s in the White House, gun sales have been leveling off, gun company stocks are dropping and industry workers are being laid off. One reason is that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have departed the political scene, thereby depriving gun marketeers and the N.R.A. of the selling point that caused an eight-year binge of gun sales to buyers who feared tight new regulations.

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“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.

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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.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/29/opinion/even-as-president-donald-trump-panders-to-the-nra.html?