I tend to try to avoid statements about what you have to do or cannot do as a general thing. I'm contrarian enough to want to do the opposite whenever anyone tries to do that.
And yet, I'm going to do it.
Why? Because when it comes to our gun rights, there actually is something you have to do if you care about them. You don't have to as a general thing, and I'm fine with a large swath of the population not doing it, but for those who value the Second Amendment, that's different. You need to do one thing.
And NSSF's Larry Keane pointed that one thing out in a recent piece.
Concerns over stolen elections, manipulated elections and a system that is arguably plagued with flaws and accusations aside, sheer numbers of supporters is the best chance we have of ensuring the candidate of our choice wins an election at every level.
A new report from a grassroots voter registration group demonstrates the tremendous importance of registering to vote and the heightened impact hunters, recreational shooting sports enthusiasts and other law-abiding American gun owners could have on federal, state and local elections if they were only to register to vote and do so on Nov. 5, 2024.
That includes making sure the more than 22.3 million new first-time gun owners since 2020 are registered and make the effort to get to the ballot box on election day.
NSSF’s #GUNVOTE initiative was created to do just that and according to the newly released data from Vote4America, the outcome of the presidential election could be determined by Second Amendment supporters in just over 100 days.
Go and read the whole thing, but let me tell you why I say that people need to vote if they want to claim to support the right to keep and bear arms.
Kamala Harris is poised to be the Democrat's nominee in the general election. There's no constitutional requirement for the parties to do anything about an election and she's got the inside track within the party. To a certain degree, she has the benefit of incumbency as well. While Trump has polled well, there's still a long time until November.
If Donald Trump wins, we can rest as easy as is possible that our gun rights will be preserved. Trump may have initially appeared willing to jump toward gun control a few times during his administration, but he never acted on those initial comments.
Let's compare that to Harris for a moment, who has done nothing to even suggest she values the Second Amendment. She's actually called not just for an assault weapon ban, but her 2016 plan included a mandatory buyback. In other words, you wouldn't even be allowed to keep what you already own.
It's imperative that every gun rights supporter turn out to have their voices heard in November.
If we don't, the best we can hope for is that our hopes are enough.
Anti-gun politicians need to be reminded that we're a powerful enough voice that they can't just ignore us in general elections. We need to destroy this idea that gun control is a winning issue for them. We need to against them in record numbers so that they drop this nonsense and start focusing on solutions that might actually make a difference and respect our rights. You know, just to shake things up.
Now, it's your right to decide to stay home. Your freedom of choice means you can just sit at home, complain, but do absolutely nothing about anything. Yes, there will probably be fraud. There's always fraud. Yet fraud cannot work if the other side turns out as it should. Enough real people's voices can drown out the fraud and make a statement.
And we need that statement now more than ever.
