“Gun owners have to stick together in the fight for the 2nd Amendment.”
This is a quote I hear often in the gun community as we debate the various 2nd Amendment issues of our day. Is it true though? Do gun owners have to stick together?
The answer is that gun owners should stick together, BUT only on a no-compromise platform. It would seem like an obvious answer but there are many gun owners willing to compromise on the 2nd Amendment for a variety of reasons.
For instance, the recent bump stock ban has shown that many gun owners are okay with the compromise because they “don’t care” about bump stocks, or believe they are protecting other weapons by giving ground to the gun grabbers. They believe that compromising will bring about some sort of temporary reprieve from those who wish the destruction of the 2nd Amendment.
When these compromises are made by gun owners, and gun groups like the NRA, the people who aren’t willing to compromise call them out on it. That’s when calls for “unity” come screeching from those who gave the gun grabbers what they wanted.
They tell us that we have to unify and stick together “like the left does.” We have to stick together to stop “more important” things like bans on semi-automatic weapons and standard capacity magazines.
You see, the main problem with the “stick together and compromise” idea is that people who believe in the Constitution and freedom have principles they don’t believe any human being can infringe on. That’s the difference between us and the left. We don’t just go along to get along. We don’t just compromise on our values to stick together. We stand on our values, no matter the cost. The left is willing to compromise on their values in order to “stick together.” That’s what some gun owners want as well.
I agree that gun owners need to stick together but gun owners are going to have to decide which “together” we are going to stick with. Are we going to stick together and compromise, or are we going to stick together and not compromise?
As for me and my house, we will NOT be compromising on the 2nd Amendment. We will not give an inch to gun grabbers. We have been down that road for far too long.
The hard truth that many gun owners may not want to hear is that compromises have been made to the gun grabbing crowd for decades. In fact, the NRA has been behind most major gun control concessions for the last 80 years at both the Congressional and State level.
Just last year they supported additional regulations on bump stocks and helped push the expansion of the unconstitutional background check system. They have also been less than helpful in stopping Gun Confiscation Orders (Red Flag laws) from expanding and appear to be supportive of them in some forms. In Idaho, they were nowhere to be found as we fought a gun control bill (H.B 585) that was narrowly defeated last year by the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance. And these issues are all recent.
In years past the NRA helped pushed gun control in the form of the National Firearms Act (1934), Federal Firearms Act (1938), the Mullford Act (1967), the Gun Control Act (1968), and more. One of the NRA’s former Vice-Presidents, Franklin Orth, said of the Gun Control Act of 1968, “…the measure as a whole appears to be one that the sportsman of America can live with.”
Most gun owners are unaware of these concessions by the NRA. With over 80 years of giving ground to the gun grabbers, what exactly have we gained from it? You see, compromise usually means that both parties get something they want in return. What have gun owners gotten for these concessions other than more concessions?
Nothing! We’ve absolutely nothing from compromising.
The 2nd Amendment is clear that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Why then are gun owners okay with a little compromise here, and a little compromise there?
Thankfully there is a rapidly growing movement in the gun rights community of “no-compromise.” With groups like Gun Owners of America, and state groups like the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, Iowa Gun Owners, Georgia Gun Owners, and others, the tide is shifting.
Gun owners are starting to stick together on the “no-compromise” side of the aisle. This is where all gun owners must stand.
We agree that we should all stick together, so why not do it on the side that stands up for freedom and the 2nd Amendment? Why not do it with the side who is standing up to gun grabbers and telling them that not only are we not compromising, we are demanding the full restoration of the 2nd Amendment?
Stand together gun owners! Do NOT compromise anymore!
The right to self- defense and to the means of defending oneself is a basic natural right that grows out of the right to life !