The National Rifle Association, and the gun community in general, are in the midst of a war. It’s the fight of our lives as we struggle to beat back the radical anti-gun agenda being pushed by the media via their Parkland darlings. Because we’re in a war, it kind of makes sense that the NRA would choose a Marine as its president.

Oliver North probably doesn’t even have business cards with his new role as NRA president, but he’s already readying for battle according to an interview he conducted with The Washington Times.

Oliver North says 100 million Americans own guns and that more of them need to join the National Rifle Association.

Mr. North, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, talk show host and now the incoming president of the NRA, said his first goal will be to add 1 million people “as fast as we can” to the organization’s membership, which is already at a record, approaching 6 million.

In an exclusive interview with The Washington Times, Mr. North described a challenging legal landscape for gun owners after former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens suggested repealing the Second Amendment and amid growing anti-gun propaganda in the wake of the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“They can do all the cyberwar against us — they’re doing it. They can use the media against us — they are. They’ve gone after our bank accounts, our finances, our donors, and obviously individual members,” Mr. North said. “It’s got to stop. And that’s why the leadership invited me to become the next president of the NRA.”

The NRA announced Monday that Mr. North, already a board member, would take over as president, giving the organization one of the highest-profile leaders in its nearly 150-year history.

Observers said it couldn’t be a coincidence, coming just months after Parkland, which sparked renewed gun control efforts on Capitol Hill and in a number of state legislatures, and an increasingly nasty tone toward the NRA.

Mr. North said the NRA is now the victim of “civil terrorism” after vandals splashed fake blood on the Virginia home of a top NRA official and other opponents aimed personal “threats” at NRA leaders and members.

“They call them activists. That’s what they’re calling themselves. They’re not activists — this is civil terrorism. This is the kind of thing that’s never been seen against a civil rights organization in America,” he said.

North is digging in for a fight, which is good. That’s what we need right now, a fighter.

Nothing against anyone else in the NRA, mind you, but North has a reputation that will be hard to ignore. The anti-gunners have been put on notice; we’re not going to just roll over and die.

For the record, though, he’s right about calling the vandalism “civil terrorism.” This isn’t activism. This isn’t protesting. This is damaging private property with a political motivation. This is the kind of thing that should never be tolerated by anyone from either side. This isn’t a peaceful sit-in. This isn’t picketing outside the NRA headquarters. This is brutal and it’s personal.

His plan to counter this is pretty simple: keep growing the NRA. Continued growth would prove that the organization isn’t losing any of its influence and remind lawmakers that having the NRA as a friend is a good thing.

It’s a solid plan. Maybe not as proactive as I’d like, but then again, I’m not sure what proactive acts are even possible.

Still, it’s a good thing to have North in the president’s chair.