Doxxing donations and why the Second Amendment should not be partisan

AP Photo/ Rick Bowmer

Something happened the other day that really irked me. An individual decided to try and stir up some controversy in the New Jersey Second Amendment community. As many of you know, I’m a Garden Stater and am very entrenched in everything 2A related in the land of 1000 diners. New Jersey is ripe for reporting because it’s so awful when it comes to civil liberties, in particular firearm related topics. Sorry, not sorry, but New Jersey gets a lot of attention. One so-called advocate took it upon themself to share with me where a high profile figure’s political donations were given. Perhaps the person was trying to shock and awe me because the individual donated funds, brace yourself, to some Democrats.

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Unfortunately the Second Amendment has become the bastard child of civil liberties, with the GOP stepping in, generally speaking, to take guardianship of it. If the GOP was a foster parent, they don’t always earn their stipend though. Of course we have plenty of Second Amendment supporters who are left of center, but yes things tend to fall on party lines.

Personally speaking, I do work towards keeping my politics out of the pages of Bearing Arms, as far as identity and full ideology. Just keep it to the guns and gun stuff. Very simple actually. If anyone had to take a stab at it, and they’d be right, I’m usually voting for candidates that are right leaning. That’s not to say that the libertarian in me does not embrace certain things that staunch conservatives would scoff at, but I’m mostly voting red. In today’s day in age, our freedom depends on it.

There are exceptions. Once during a local election the GOP from my jurisdiction at the time called me up and asked me if I were going to be supporting column 1, that is all the Republican candidates. I said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but for those seats, I’m voting down the line Democrat.” The positions that were up for reelection were filled with Democrats that were doing a good job, and at that time the GOP members in the area were quite embarrassing.

My admission shocked the person on the phone, and I went on to explain the who, what, and why to my intended vote. The Democrats did take that election and I do believe the GOP learned something from that race. The Republicans have since cleaned up their act in that area, so the message from all the other voters must have been well received. If this makes me a bad person, then so be it.

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When the internet troll who poses as a big time Second Amendment supporter approached me about a colleague’s political donations, I was rather nonplussed to hear of his financial support for several Democrats in office. The person that was being targeted has several businesses in New Jersey, and why would it be a shock to find out he’s supported local politicians that have supported him through the years. The nature of this individual’s businesses would have put him on the radar, for sure. So, when it was his turn to support politicians that were in support of his businesses, his business model, and in turn the Second Amendment, he showed his appreciation by opening up his wallet.

Some might say that’s blasphemous. Well, go on and be shocked by the nationally known Second Amendment advocate doeling out a few thousand dollars over the course of a decade to some Democrats. Besides being a business rubric that makes sense in hostile New Jersey, the advocate said to me about this drama “Politics is local and we have to support those who support us.”

Besides being in New Jersey and not being able to throw a rock in any direction without hitting at least four Democrats, we do need to remember there are still plenty on the side of liberty that have a “D” next to their name. To be fair, in many circumstances it’s beneficial to identify as a Democrat. The Garden State is a state that has a lot of blue, and people who subscribed to the “Blue no matter who ideology”. Further advantage can be leveraged for those occupying seats where partisanship is not likely to surface through day to day business. A Democrat dog catcher running for office? So what. As long as they’re pro 2A.

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I don’t know if the individual who reached out to me was hoping I’d do some sort of a deep dive into the man he doxed and his political donations, but I’m not going to take the bait. If his intentions were to get me to write about the topic, I suppose he succeeded, but only because it’s so infuriating dealing with backstabbers in the rights preservation community.

There’s a delicate balance to all of the politics that we’re dealing with, and no, we cannot just point fingers all the time at one party or the other. There are times when the Democrat is the right pick, just like the recent Sheriff’s race in San Diego, California.

What there is no room for (but an abundance of) in this community is the in-fighting and back stabbing. By the time this runs, I’m sure the troll will have reached out to hundreds of people. While I did not go out of my way to tell him to eff off, I think my silence in return should have delivered my message. Something an advocate said to me years ago when I wrote a piece that did not necessarily do anyone any favors on “our side” stuck with me all these years. He said to look at the situation and determine “what is in the best interests of freedom and the Second Amendment?”

Well sir, I don’t know if I’m doing us any favors today by speaking out. However, we all know the little weasels that try to backstab their way through the community surely are not keeping the best interest of freedom and the Second Amendment in mind. The moral of the story here is don’t be a weasel. I’ll take a hit on this one at the cost of seeming base in order to remind people to support those who support you…grifters need not apply.

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