I've argued in the past that the Second Amendment was our Founding Fathers' insurance policy for the rest of the Constitution. While the system in the main body of the Constitution outlines how the government should function, and thus is arguably less endangered than other parts, the Bill of Rights is under constant threat.
Yes, the Second Amendment in particular.
But as we've seen in other countries, when the gun rights are gone, it's only a matter of time before someone finds some justification for curtailing literally every other right, even as they might acknowledge the right exists.
Sure, most countries refuse to recognize the right ot keep and bear arms as a right, they almost all will pay lip service to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, and so on.
Only for doors to get kicked in because of memes.
Yet over at America's 1st Freedom, NRA President Doug Hamlin brings up a pretty good point about defending our gun rights.
Indeed, these freedoms are alive and strong because we continue to exercise them. As a bulwark and testament to this continued struggle, this association of millions of freedom-loving Americans is committed to protecting the 27 words in the Second Amendment.
We are the Second Amendment’s strength, as it is the physical use of this right that keeps it resilient. Gun-control groups know this, which is why they continue to try to make gun ownership and carry as difficult as possible.
Incredibly, as the NRA has shown in recent years, protecting this particular freedom extends to our other rights. The NRA, for example, won unanimously on First Amendment grounds at the U.S. Supreme Court in NRA v. Vullo (2024) after the state of New York abused its authority by attempting to destroy this association by threatening financial institutions that dared to work for or with us.
To stop this outright attack on our rights, we sued and kept pushing Vullo until it reached its unanimous conclusion in our nation’s highest court.
Going to court to fight for our freedom from the deep pockets of government is expensive. As resources are finite and because we are in these struggles to win, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is bold and smart but discerning about when and where to file court challenges.
Yes, NRA v. Vullo was a free speech case that only touched on Second Amendment issues. It was about the defense of the Second Amendment more than the amendment itself. It should never have come to that, but it did.
250 years ago, as I write this, our Founding Fathers were engaged in a fight for their lives. While many still hoped to find a peaceful solution to the colonies' issues with King George, it was starting to look more and more like there would be no other choice. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were in the rearview mirror. The British government had declared the colonies in rebellion, and that meant war was inevitable unless something could be done.
We now know that there was nothing possible but war.
Our Founding Fathers had that fresh in their memories when they wrote the Bill of Rights and ratified it. The Second Amendment was a key part of that, but all of our constitutionally protected rights matter. Just like our Founding Fathers fought their battles for our rights, we must as well, and defending one right can often spill into defending another.
There is no curtailment of rights without someone throwing some other matter into the mix involving rights. "Of course, we can restrict guns. You can't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater, after all," is a common refrain, one based on a gross understanding of the issue in that particular case as well as the later decisions that overturned much of that one.
But they use that attempt at curtailment to justify the next, then the next, and so on.
The NRA defended the First Amendment so they could defend the Second, but they still had to defend the First Amendment, which everyone in this country should be thrilled with.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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