The current coronavirus pandemic absolutely poses a threat to the health and well-being of millions of Americans, but the stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of broad swaths of the economy pose another threat to the liberty and freedom that we all enjoy in this country, as well as the livelihoods and health of all of us as well. We’re stuck in a spot without any great options at the moment, but unfortunately some in authority don’t seem nearly as concerned about protecting individual liberty as they do in putting ridiculous rules in place, including ordering gun stores closed in several states.

Of course gun control activists are thrilled to see any gun store shut down temporarily, and their hope is that those shuttered gun stores never re-open for business.

David Kopel, research director at the Independence Institute and a longtime Second Amendment scholar, attorney, and advocate, joins me on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co to talk about the history of the gun control movement, and why anti-gun activists are so terrified of the number of Americans exercising their right to keep and bear arms for the very first time.

Kopel has written a great piece detailing the history of the modern gun control movement dating back to the early 1970’s, and how the movement’s push for things like universal background checks, gun licensing, and registration inhibit the right to keep and bear arms in the best of circumstances.

Waiting periods that require two trips to a store to buy a single gun might not matter to someone who resides near the Cabela’s in Thornton, Colorado. But for the busy rancher or farmer who lives hours away from a gun store, the additional burden is high enough to make firearms acquisition impossible, especially during peak periods.

Alternatively, California’s badly-administered new laws for background checks on ammunition is making ammunition purchases impossible for many lawful buyers.

Maximizing harassment of law-abiding gun owners is a feature, not a bug, of gun control. The fewer gun owners, the easier to constrict the remnant of clingers.

Now that harassment of law-abiding gun owners has been ramped up even further, with anti-gun politicians and activists demanding that no American be allowed to purchase a firearm or ammunition to protect themselves or their family during the coronavirus pandemic. Clearly though, millions of Americans are rejecting the gun control mentality and purchasing firearms for the very first time, and Kopel says those new gun owners are likely to be a potent force in support of the Second Amendment in the months and years ahead.

Be sure to check out the entire interview with David Kopel above, and stick around for more news, like the Florida man freed from jail over coronavirus concerns who’s now accused of a murder committed just a day after his release, an armed citizen in Maine who’s getting praise from police after holding a burglar at gunpoint until officers could arrive, and a Massachusetts state trooper who ran into a burning home and helped save seven individuals inside.