Donald Trump has just released his plan on guns and gun ownership in America. Because he's Trump and the news reports everything about Trump, the release of his gun plan is getting a lot of attention and praise from gun owners across the nation. Also, furious hatred from the left. But that's not news. Some points of the plan are spot on. Other points of the plan are a bit vague and empty, like the hot brass littering the floor of the gun range after you've just smoked that silhouette. Nice shooting.

In Trump's opening, we have this:

The Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all law-abiding Americans. The Constitution doesn’t create that right – it ensures that the government can’t take it away. Our Founding Fathers knew, and our Supreme Court has upheld, that the Second Amendment’s purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. This is about self-defense, plain and simple.

All I can say is: Yes, yes, yes. Practically perfect in every way, Mary Donald Tumpkins. Okay? Okay. Now onto the specifics of the plan. Still with us, Trump-supporters? Take a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down.

Several years ago there was a tremendous program in Richmond, Virginia called Project Exile. It said that if a violent felon uses a gun to commit a crime, you will be prosecuted in federal court and go to prison for five years – no parole or early release. Obama’s former Attorney General, Eric Holder, called that a “cookie cutter” program. That’s ridiculous. I call that program a success. Murders committed with guns in Richmond decreased by over 60% when Project Exile was in place – in the first two years of the program alone, 350 armed felons were taken off the street.

No arguments that Eric Holder and Obama have been soft on prosecuting criminals when it comes to guns, but eager to strip guns from law abiding citizens. Both of those men are to use Trump's favorite term, "losers" when it comes to common sense about gun laws. Of course we all know that common sense isn't a part of any discussion when it comes to the left and guns. No matter what, they just think guns are icky, but let's stay focused on Trump....

Fix Our Broken Mental Health System

Let’s be clear about this. Our mental health system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Too many politicians have ignored this problem for too long.

All of the tragic mass murders that occurred in the past several years have something in common – there were red flags that were ignored. We can’t allow that to continue. We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems aren’t violent, they just need help. But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities. This is just common sense...

....We need real solutions to address real problems. Not grandstanding or political agendas.

Hmmm... Here's the first problem I've stumbled upon in this plan. Trump says we need to fix our broken mental health system, and ends with "We need real solutions to address real problems. Not grandstanding or political agendas," yet he provided neither real solutions nor did he define the real problem. See "mental health problems" is an ambiguous term, and that's what needs to be addressed. How are we defining "mental health problems"? Someone who's been, at one point or another, diagnosed with depression? A person with paranoia about lizard people and the illuminati? Feminists who need trigger warnings? Before gun rights are limited to sane people only, we first must define what "sane" is and what "mental health problems" are. We're not arguing that Trump is completely wrong, okay? Okay. What we are saying is this statement isn't saying anything new. He's merely repeating a talking point without advancing it.

GUN AND MAGAZINE BANS. Gun and magazine bans are a total failure. That’s been proven every time it’s been tried. Opponents of gun rights try to come up with scary sounding phrases like “assault weapons”, “military-style weapons” and “high capacity magazines” to confuse people....

Trump is right on target here. PULL!!!

BACKGROUND CHECKS. There has been a national background check system in place since 1998. Every time a person buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer – which is the overwhelming majority of all gun purchases – they go through a federal background check. Study after study has shown that very few criminals are stupid enough to try and pass a background check – they get their guns from friends/family members or by stealing them. So the overwhelming majority of people who go through background checks are law-abiding gun owners. When the system was created, gun owners were promised that it would be instant, accurate and fair. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case today. Too many states are failing to put criminal and mental health records into the system – and it should go without saying that a system’s only going to be as effective as the records that are put into it. What we need to do is fix the system we have and make it work as intended. What we don’t need to do is expand a broken system.

Oh boy, this point is blurry. Like if you're a cross-dominant shooter. It can be a bit...tricky. The statement starts great, pointing out a truth: criminals do not abide by the law. Amen, right on sir Trump. Then it kind of falls apart. Mental health records into a federal system. What constitutes "mental health" again? He doesn't say. A prescription for Prozac? Getting fired from a job for an unruly outburst and having to see a psychiatrist? A paranoid schizophrenic? Your mother-in-law at Christmas? Do we really want these kinds of records in a federal system? Don't get mad, I'm asking. It seems a bit intrusive to me...but I'm just a racist.

Lastly but not leastly, here's what has the nation up in arms and applause:

NATIONAL RIGHT TO CARRY. The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.

Carrying a gun into any state makes sense, because criminals don't stop at a state border. Sounds great. States who prohibit conceal carry permits are violating their citizens second amendment rights, which Trump also addresses. Where this gets fuzzy is making a permit valid in all fifty states, because now we're getting into state rights vs. federal law. So while it's sure to garner support among the people who love guns (and at the same time, freak out the leftists who hate them), the technical implementation of a national right to carry need's to be laid out. Rhetoric is one thing, but I'd like to hear how Trump plans on making national carry happen.

Finally, this point:

MILITARY BASES AND RECRUITING CENTERS. Banning our military from carrying firearms on bases and at recruiting centers is ridiculous. We train our military how to safely and responsibly use firearms, but our current policies leave them defenseless. To make America great again, we need a strong military. To have a strong military, we need to allow them to defend themselves.

No arguments here. It's right on.

Trump's gun plan will earn him lots of gold stars from his supporters, and parts of the plan are on point. But those same sections that will earn him back-slaps are just echoes of sentiments gun owners across the nation already believe and know and have been screaming for decades. The plan is a decent start, but it mostly hits the outer rings, failing to make a decent head or chest shot. Yeah, that last sentence was for you gun-haters. You're welcome.

By Courtney Kirchoff