Donald Trump said the National Rifle Association is full of good people, which puts them in exclusive company because that’s the same thing he said about Nazis. Congrats, NRA.

If you watched just a few seconds of the speeches by NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and spokesgoon Dana Loesch, you’ll see why they might belong in the same company.

Wayne LaPierre said gun control advocates hate freedom. Loesch said the “legacy media” loves mass shootings and “crying white mothers” are ratings gold. Donald Trump said we should have a rating system for violent video games and movies, which we’ve had since 1968. Maybe the president should focus on issues occurring during this century.

Trump said the NRA is willing to work with gun advocates for gun safety. I watched some of the CPAC speeches and I didn’t detect any willingness on their part to work on actual gun safety. Instead, there was the repeated dumb solution of introducing more guns to combat the gun problem. Trump also repeated the NRA’s talking points.

The NRA tossed around a lot of blame for mass shootings. They blamed Obama, liberals, the Democratic Party, Salon, Slate, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, Chris Murphy, Nancy Pelosi, the Internal Revenue Service, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, the FBI, the socialist agenda, liberal college campuses, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Mexico, China, Europeans, elites, intellectuals, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, NFL players, Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton, and James Comey. It was like a game of hate bingo.

That is not a complete list, but do you see one item missing? Guns. Specifically, assault weapons. The NRA is not willing to work with anyone on gun safety if they can’t acknowledge the fact that assault weapons are the root cause of the problem.

When someone walks into a room with a gun, you don’t think “hey, an insane gun.” Your first thought is, “that guy has a gun.” It’s the guns, people. Sure, there are other contributors, but it starts with the guns.

The NRA only cares about the bottom line for gun sales. In fact, each time there’s a mass shooting, gun sales go up.

Assault weapons are not necessary for home protection. If you need an assault weapon to hit your target, you shouldn’t own a gun. But, I’m not proposing an outright ban on assault rifles. People should still be allowed to own them. They just shouldn’t be allowed to take them home. We need a law that requires assault weapons, such as the AR15, to remain at rifle ranges. That way you haven’t lost your right to own anything. You still own it. You can go to the range and bear that thing all day long, or up until closing time.

Banning bump stocks and raising the age to purchase an assault rifle to 21 is a good start, but it’s not enough. Nobody needs to shoot 30 rounds in a minute to protect their home. You still have regular rifles, shotguns, and pistols. If you’re really good with guns, you’ll only need one bullet.

The lives of children are more important than some warped interpretation of the Second Amendment. The lives of children are more important than the testosterone rush of holding a big gun.

You can still buy T-shirts that say “I have a big penis.”

Email Clay Jones at [email protected]