United States – -(AmmoLand.com)-Â Earlier, I noted that Second Amendment supporters were winning the big arguments surrounding our freedoms. The winning arguments have always been there for Second Amendment supporters, and the landmark Heller and McDonald cases have shifted the terrain. But with these victories have come adjustments from anti-Second Amendment extremists over the last few years.
Unable to refute arguments in support of our Second Amendment rights, anti-Second Amendment extremists have taken to trying to suppress the ability of Second Amendment supporters to make their case to the American people in earnest. Back when McCain-Feingold was being debated, Michael Barnes, then the President of the Brady Campaign (formerly HCI), explained his support for the legislation because it would muzzle the NRA, while giving the Brady Campaign’s supporters in the media free reign.
Lately, though, it has taken on a new intensity. Part of this has been the shift we have seen since the Heller and McDonald rulings. What gave it the impetus was the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Realizing that the admissions of Barney Frank and Dick Gephardt in 1999 after the NRA beat back an effort to destroy gun shows had made Second Amendment supporters seem human to supporters of gun control, not to mention those on the fence, they switched to a smear campaign strategy.
We’ve seen it take place over the years… spurring an effort to stigmatize support for the Second Amendment, and effort to get companies to coerce FFLs and firearms manufacturers into complying with the wish lists of anti-Second Amendment extremists, and more pushes for legislative measures, like HR 1, intended to make the stigmatization easier, and the National Popular Vote Compact.
When the facts are out and people can consider them rationally, Second Amendment supporters can win the debate quite easily. For instance, one look at Justice Department stats blows the arguments for banning modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms out of the water. Few Americans realize that rifles of all types were used to kill about a fourth as many people as knives – and if that were to become common knowledge, the push by Feinstein to replicate what was done in New Zealand would be the laughingstock it should be.
So, what do we get? Well, Hollywood stars and other cultural influencers have turned up their efforts. Just to give you a sense of that pull, Ellen Pompeo, star of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, has about twice as many followers on Twitter as the NRA. She’s just one anti-Second Amendment actress among many. That star power is pushed behind the narrative that support for the Second Amendment is complicity in mass killings.
That jumbo-sized lie has been a lot more effective, especially after the Parkland shooting. Now, it is not unusual to see boycotts leveled at media figures who are supportive of the Second Amendment. Protestors show up at homes. Speaking out in support of the Second Amendment can even cost some professional opportunities Silicon Valley is silencing pro-Second Amendment voices. Andrew Cuomo has started down the road to the thuggish tactics of the Maduro regime in Venezuela and the Erdogan regime in Turkey.
In many ways, Second Amendment supporters have winning arguments and facts. In fact, these days, the biggest fight may be to preserve our ability to make those arguments and present those facts. This fight may be the biggest one of all.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
I believe that the best argument against anti-2A sentiment is to take that person to the range and give them a chance to shoot, and see for themselves what they’re dismissing. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it” is a euphemism I heard often as a child, and something we need to tell antigun activists, people who hate guns because they know nothing about guns. I sincerely hope that more and more Americans, especially political moderates, libertarians and independents, will all embrace gun ownership. An armed society is a polite society, but more important, once someone becomes a part of… Read more »
The argument is very simple; it’s the pro-liberty crowd (that’s us) vs. the pro-tyranny crowd (them). They have switched to smear tactics because they know they can’t beat us in a fair and open debate. At first they ignore you, then they attack you, then you win. The anti-liberty side is willing to assault ALL your rights, because deep down it’s not your guns they fear, they fear YOU. So when they try to silence and censor you, when they try to take away your ability to buy and sell (Mark of the Beast, anyone?), when they move to deprive… Read more »
It’s appearant that to argue with anyone anti-Constitution is a effort in futility. If the law of the land means nothing, than any subsequent laws are useless as well. As for Hollywood’s hipocracy on make believe, it appears that Guns are the real stars because without them their industry would be as hollow as the actors who use them but spout off their disdain of them.
We need to separate fantasy from reality, people who pretend for a living are not reliable sources of anything. Only the weak minded are so easily duped.
Over the government has passed laws like driving without a driver’s license a felony for example, who would vote for a law like that? I don’t know anybody who voted for that law that can take a marine corps vet who has walked the jungles of South America. Bad Nabourhood, no walls and no guns I just don’t get it
There are enough gun laws that are hindering legal owners . We need laws that criminals will obey
Nothing the grabbers can say or do will change the base reality.. that the God who made us gives us the right to breathe, move about, say and think what we will, worship what/how we please, to be secure in our persons, homes, stuff, and that justice be meted out when we are suspected/accused of wrongdoing. These rights predate and are not dependent upon any government or government operative. There are those who would play God, but are not. They who seek to deny us those rights are attempting to do this. In the end they will not prosper their… Read more »