Winning In 2022 And 2024 Requires A Coalition

If there is one lesson that we should take from some recent events, it is that removing anti-Second Amendment extremism from the levers of power at the federal, state, and local level is going to require a lot of work. Part of that work will involve building bridges, often to those who are most affected by the failures we have seen anti-Second Amendment extremists use their calls to attack our rights to distract their ill-served constituents.

Can anyone look at the state of affairs in cities like Chicago and Baltimore, and say that the onerous restrictions on Second Amendment rights passed by Illinois and Maryland have done anything positive for the citizens of those cities? The track records of failures are obvious – and are something that should be the focal point of many campaigns by Second Amendment supporters.

While the same anti-Second Amendment extremists push bills like the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act, they are often allowing violent crime to run rampant, while refusing to enforce laws already on the books that would make a massive difference. For all the complaints some raised about Project Exile, it served Second Amendment supporters well on two fronts: It not only blunted the push for new gun laws, more importantly, it made people safer by taking bad guys off the streets.

As things stand in America right now, there is the chance for Second Amendment supporters to build a short-term coalition based around anti-anti-Second Amendment extremism. This is not a typo. What this means is that Second Amendment supporters should work to get a large number of Americans who either don’t have strong positions on Second Amendment issues, or who have let other issues override their support for the Second Amendment on board with opposition to the excesses of Eric Swalwell, Sheila Jackson Lee, and other anti-Second Amendment extremists.

By simply highlighting the failure to enforce laws of the books centering on the misuse of firearms in violent crime, or for drug trafficking, or even “gun-running,” Second Amendment supporters have the opportunity to gain enough non-opposition in the suburbs and in urban areas to carry statewide elections. One of the biggest reasons is that anti-Second Amendment extremists are all caught up in the latest fads from academia, and not in the real common-sense solutions.

Passing legislation like the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act and the Restoring The Armed Career Criminal Act at the state level – and pushing for passage at the federal level – would be the first steps to securing improvements like the Freedom Financing Act, the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act, the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act, and the FOPA improvements Senator Daines introduced at the state and federal levels.

This will take a lot of work, but it may be worth doing.