Opinion: Bernie Sanders got it right at the debate. Trump is scared of the NRA

Earlier this week there were murmurings of meetings between President Trump and members of Congress interested in some limited gun reforms, with a whisper that there might be an announcement Thursday. Still nada on gun reforms, despite overwhelming popular support for universal background checks and so-called “red flag” laws allowing relatives to ask a court to remove firearms from someone they fear poses a danger to themselves or the others. And nada despite Trump’s comments last month, in the wake of mass killings in Texas and Ohio, that he would consider “meaningful background checks,” whatever that might be, and that he and Congress were working on a package of measures to address the problem. Watching the Democratic presidential debate Thursday night, it struck me that Sen. Bernie Sanders got the situation right: Trump is intimidated by the NRA. I hope we don’t do that.” So rather than joining with the vast majority of Americans to combat gun violence and a culture too ready to use combat-style weapons to exact revenge, pursue sick fame or advance white supremacist views, Trump, Cruz and others in Congress join the NRA in trying to blame the problem on criminals and the mentally ill.