Opinion
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Politics suck. There’s no short way around it.
In this day and age of deep divisiveness not seen since the caning of Senator Sumner in the Old Senate Chamber back on May 22nd, 1856 –an act of political violence that foreshadowed the approaching war between the states – it’s a safe bet that today’s radical Democrat party is attempting to push America in a perilous direction.
An increasingly militant Democrat Party is openly embracing socialism as the party leaders conduct a brutal culture war, at the forefront of which is their open desire to disarm the populace.
No good can, or will, come from this ongoing battle the Democrats seem intent on waging.
Way back in 2015 and 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump took the fight for our right to bear arms directly to the streets. No doubt in my mind that his campaign was the most openly pro-gun campaign I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. In a brilliant maneuver, Trump understood the radical left was going to continue to push their gun control agenda, and in a (successful) attempt to beat them in their own backyards, Trump vociferously embraced the NRA and gun rights and won the votes of hard-working, gun-owning, blue-collar, America. Voters who may have otherwise supported a Democrat. The gun owner handed Trump the White House and thankfully saved, for now anyway, the Supreme Court from falling into the hands of the progressive socialists.
Fast forward a couple of years, and what have we –gun owners – gotten for our loyalty?
Two Supreme Court justices who are primarily expected to be pro-freedom when it comes to our right to bear arms? Yes, and I would argue from a position of strength, we’ve also added many lower court judges who will help us in our fight for freedom in the nation’s federal appellate courts as Trump shifts the balance of power in those circuits. While it’s not sexy and doesn’t get a ton of media play, it’s driving the lunatic, fringe, leftists, crazy as it should. But what else?
So far we’ve lost our bump stocks if we even owned one in the first place, and now we’re idly waiting to see if Trump follows through on his commitment to a gun-hating foreigner, Piers Morgan to consider banning so-called “silencers,” otherwise known as suppressors. In two disturbing incidents, President Trump disparaged “silencers” saying he doesn’t like them when asked a question before boarding Marine One prior to heading overseas, and the Morgan incident during an interview in Great Britain when he alluded to being open to possibly ban the devices.
Unfortunately, for Trump as he heads into what is shaping up to be one of the most vicious and hateful presidential campaigns of all time, he has no room to spare. Trump needs every single one of us – gun owners – to cast a vote for him to win. A loss by Trump in 2020 will usher in a wave of unAmerican gun controls that will likely see outright attempts to confiscate our property while red states dig in their heels as the progressive left grows bolder with a win in the White House.
Trump, or his advisors, must certainly know this, right?
Not necessarily. Trump believes that his open embrace of the NRA and his appointment of what we believe to be pro-rights justices and judges is what makes him pro-gun. We know better. We know that being pro-gun doesn’t mean sacrificing bump stocks is OK. We know that being pro-gun doesn’t mean telling foreign, gun-hating, journalists that considering banning “silencers” is acceptable. It’s not, and neither of those two gun-grabber-supported initiatives is earning him any gun owner votes, or more importantly, Democrat socialist voters. Like former Governor, now U.S. Senator, Scott in Florida before him, he would be foolish to believe that capitulating to the enemies of our freedoms will somehow magically endear them to his side.
I’m inclined to believe that Trump truly considers himself the most pro-gun president in history simply because he says he is. I think that Trump feels banning accessories isn’t the same as banning guns. He is wrong on both counts. At this stage of the game, with the House in the hands of a clown posse being led by an aging progressive, gun-hating whacko, Trump needs to step up to the plate and begin proving to Americans why he can be trusted when it comes to our right to bear arms.
In an upcoming column, I’ll pass along some ideas that Trump can implement right away to start winning back those voters who are now skeptical of his “pro-gun” claims in the wake of his anti-rights move on bump stocks and his recent comments about banning suppressors. If he fails to listen, he’ll see the very voters he needs to win re-election stay home, and a stay-at-home voter is a victory for socialism. If I have to tell you what a socialist win for the White House means for our future, you’re already dead from the neck up.
About Mark Walters
Mark Walters is the host of two nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with Mark Walters. He is the Second Amendment Foundations 2015 Gun Rights Defender of the Year award recipient and co-author of two books, Lessons from Armed America with Kathy Jackson (Whitefeather Press) and Lessons from UnArmed America with Rob Pincus (Whitefeather Press)