Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was a Democrat but she was never one on the extreme left. She wasn't great on guns, but she's evolved a bit on the issue, or so it seems.

Either way, she's not what most would call a good Democrat anymore, having left the party and identifying as an independent.

Is she a threat to anyone? Probably not. Most hadn't heard of her before she ran for president and while she's been vocal since leaving office, her talks haven't exactly been inciting anyone to do anything. 

And yet, we learned she's on a terrorist watch list.

The NSSF's Larry Keane argues that her inclusion on that should worry the snot out of every gun owner.

For America’s gun owners, including the 22.3 million new first-time gun owners since 2020, the latest shocking news about former U.S. Representative and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) being placed on the U.S. Government’s Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) Quiet Skies “list” should be gravely concerning.

The knowledge that former Congresswoman Gabbard was on the Quiet Skies “list” only came to light because of whistleblowers concerned of political retribution for her outspoken stances against the Biden-Harris administration. The track record of the federal government and watchlists is dismal. Federal agencies have abused these lists which are ripe for targeting political opposition – including Second Amendment supporters and gun owners.

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Show host Laura Ingraham pointed out the questionable timing of Rep. Gabbard’s placement on a government watchlist, saying, “So what exactly did Tulsi Gabbard do to get added to the terrorist watch list? It came the day after she criticized the Biden administration… How does this make you feel?”

The former congresswoman was blunt. “Laura, this is a pure act of political retaliation. There’s no other way to put it,” Rep. Gabbard said. “The very next day, after my conversation with you on the air warning the American people about how dangerous a Kamala Harris presidency could be, I was placed on this domestic terror watchlist, which is called the ‘Quiet Skies’ list under the Department of Homeland Security… To now have my own government now turn around and put me on a domestic terror watch list, it hits to the core and is the ultimate sense of betrayal.”

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New guns owners, which comprise a Florida-sized population surge since 2020, might be unfamiliar with how some in the federal government treat gun owners, their private information and financial transactions. It’s not limited to the federal government. States that are hostile to gun rights have their own track record of abusing “lists” of gun owners.

In 2022, California officials apologized after a trove of private personal information of concealed carry permit holders was “leaked.” The sensitive information included the names, dates of birth, gender, race, driver’s license numbers and addresses of permit holders. That data leak also included the type of permit issued, indicating if the permit holder was a member of law enforcement or a judge.

The truth of the matter is that gun owners are treated not just like second-class citizens in many ways, but are treated like potential enemies of the state. People wonder why we talk about maintaining our gun rights to defend against tyranny. It's partially because anyone who treats us like enemies is probably up to no good and we're just in the way.

With Gabbard, she's just as in the way, criticizing the Biden administration and the insane left in general. She's an impediment to tyranny because, as a once Democratic member of Congress for four terms from a very blue state, she speaks with a different kind of authority.

The fact that she's on a terrorist watchlist is troubling to an extreme. One can't help but wonder how many of us are on that same list despite having no intentions of doing anything violent.

Yet even if we're not, Keane correctly notes all the other ways in which we are treated as if we're the enemy, such as the California data leak that revealed personal information of people with concealed carry permits in a state known to be quite hostile toward gun ownership in general. 

The truth is that any database of guns in private hands has the potential to be weaponized, and after what we just saw happen to a former member of Congress, can you really believe that it won't be weaponized?

Yes, every gun owner should be concerned. Every American should be concerned.

Our government shouldn't inspire fear in the hearts of law-abiding citizens. It should be the other way around, and the fact that it's not is very troubling to me.