Trump visits gun store in South Carolina, buys a Glock: campaign
Former President Trump visited a gun store in South Carolina during a trip to the Palmetto State and bought a Glock firearm, according to a spokesperson.
Trump is set to deliver remarks in Summerville, S.C., on Monday afternoon. Ahead of his visit, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the former president had purchased a Glock firearm.
Cheung also posted a video of Trump at the firearm store. In it, the former president points to a firearm and says, "I want to buy one." Cheung's video and a separate post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) showed Trump posing with the gun.
Among those with Trump at the store included Greene and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R), whose endorsement, along with 12 others, were touted by the Trump campaign earlier on Monday.
Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, immediately hit back at Trump's visit to the state and released an ad targeting the former president over his position on the Second Amendment and gun rights.
"Trump promised NRA members he'd have their back. But when Second Amendment rights came under attack, Trump abandoned us and stood with liberal Democrats," a narrator says in the ad from Never Back Down.
Trump's visit to the state comes as the former president looks to shore up support as the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP primary. His rivals, including DeSantis, have struggled to narrow the gap in polling against Trump.
In South Carolina, the former president has enjoyed the support from prominent Republicans in the state, including Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and three House Republicans, among others.
That support is notable given that two South Carolinians — former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — are also running for president but do not enjoy the kind of support from statewide elected officials in South Carolina that Trump has been able to galvanize.
Polling, too, shows the prominent South Carolinians trailing Trump in the state. A Monmouth University-Washington Post poll released earlier this month found Trump receiving 46 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State while Haley received 18 percent and Scott received 10 percent.