Holy Crap. What Now AmmoLand?

By Mark Walters
Editors Note: AmmoLand News welcomes Mark Walters to our growing list of the best and brightest gun rights commentators, who are watching out for your RKBA.

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Holy Crap. What Now AmmoLand?
Mark Walters
Mark Walters

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- With each passing day, I’m beginning to feel fresh again, like a rotten stench washed from my clothing and a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

The reality of the 2016 campaign having ended is just now beginning to sink into my soul.

My sentence is over. I feel as though I had been in some time warp prison, staring out the cellblock windows, waiting for my eight-year stint to end. Suddenly my cell door opens, and I glance down at the hand-carved, primitive calendar I have etched into the walls with my fingernails. It’s really over. “You’re going home,” I’m told. I’m being escorted to a room to pick up my belongings.

After filling out some forms, I am shown the doors to the outside world.

Finally able, I leave the dark, dingy surroundings I’ve become accustomed to and step into the brightness of a warm, sunny day.

That’s when it hits me. What do I do now?

While I hated every minute of my time served, I had slowly accepted my fate and had become comfortable in my surroundings. The reality of suddenly being set free when everyone told me it would never happen is almost overwhelming. I had begun to prepare myself for another parole hearing and another denial that would force me once again, to languish another four years in this hellhole I had become accustomed to, abandoned again as my life slipped away from me, forced by a jury made up of half of my countrymen who unlike me, had fallen prey to the narrative and soaring rhetoric of a false prophet and now possibly, his spawn.

Yes, to be suddenly set free is almost overwhelming, for the rules have changed since my incarceration began eight long years ago.

Gone is the centuries-old structure of the ruling elite. There is a new status quo starting to take shape in molds not yet recognizable, yet I am slowly finding my comfort zone in this new arena. For years I have languished in my prison with no one to talk to but like-minded cellmates, themselves sentenced to the same long, stretch. Boy did I talk, and talk, and talk To whomever would listen. I spoke to as many prisoners as possible to an ever widening audience. An audience made up of those like me who had also been forced by their captors to spend the remainder of their sentences waiting for their next parole hearing.

With the false prophet and his protege vanquished, I am finding my comfort zone, once again. The air is fresh and as the old saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20.” As the fog of the past eight years begins to slowly lift, that rear view mirror is manifesting itself in 4K, high-definition vision. Disastrous, catastrophic, and thankfully over. Now comes the hard part. What do I do?

Putting soliloquy aside, the column title does reflect a legitimate concern. What now? It’s not going to be as easy as you might think. Yes, the chains of the Obama years are over, yes America will begin to breathe again as evidenced by the freshness of the air [and the stock market] since the election but how exactly are some of us going to handle this new found freedom. How do those of us who have written and talked about guns, rights and self-defense pivot away from what had become a daily heaping dose of defensive pie?

How do we handle our new found freedom in the activist, writer, pro-rights, talk radio, self-defense community after all of these years?

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How do we handle our new found freedom in the activist, writer, pro-rights, talk radio, self-defense community after all of these years?

I can’t tell anyone else what to do but I know where I’m going. Here comes the sports analogy again. Think of it as playing basketball, the same players on offense one moment, defense the next.

The winner played better on both sides of the ball. That’s what I’m doing. I’m taking control of my narrative. The election is over, dammit and I won.

Now they are going to react to what I want to talk about and should have been able to speak of for the last eight years. I’m going back to the basics, self-defense issues, fixing broken laws [removing bad laws, rules, red tape & ballot initiatives] , focusing on education, training, self-defense laws and making sure what happened over the last eight years never happens again. I will do so by staying on offense and controlling the narrative. We win because we are right.

Sadly, there will be those who simply can’t shake the defensive playbook of the last eight years and will martyr themselves upon the altar of our victory by publicly turning their criticism inward when something isn’t “pro-gun enough” for their liking. This victory will not be enough. Doing so will only feed the trolls and hand ammunition to those we are close to finishing off. I hope I am wrong, but I’m not. We will have disagreements amongst ourselves as we push forward with our hard fought freedom and I’m hopeful we can work together as a family to fix them when they arise. We do so by acting as a family, a husband, and wife who love each other but have the occasional battle; they do so in private not on the front lawn for all the neighbors to see.

Today is a great time, if not the greatest time in American history to be a gun owner, CCW permit holder and gun rights activist. If we lock arms now, tighter than we did to win back our freedom, we will never be defeated again.

Mark Walters

 

About Mark Walters

Mark Walters is the host of two nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with Mark Walters. He is the Second Amendment Foundations 2015 Gun Rights Defender of the Year award recipient and co-author of two books, Lessons from Armed America with Kathy Jackson (Whitefeather Press) and Lessons from UnArmed America with Rob Pincus (Whitefeather Press)

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Eric

Remove suppressors from the NFA and treat them as title I Start Jan 21 .

ManInBlack

“Gone is the centuries-old structure of the ruling elite.”

Hmmm… Don’t think so.

REW7890

** HALLELUAH!! *** PRAISE THE LORD!!! … … ???
AND Ive NEVER BEEN RELIGIOUS, EITHER!! HAH. …AM NOW!

I KNOW: WE ALLLLLLLL BEEN FEELING THE SAME, MARK!! ALL!

FREEDOM. FEELS INCREDIBLE – DONT IT?!!

Janek

To ponder the question “What Now”, just remember the enemies of the U.S. Constitution and any Rights that emanate from it or God are still the target of the opposition Party and their minions. Stay Vigilant!

Fellow Inmate

AMEN.

Wild Bill

What we do now is push for repeals and abolishment! We push for repeal of the National Firearms Act, and the Gun Control Act. Neither of which have ever prevented or solved a crime. These two acts only affect already law abiding people. Ninety nine percent of criminals get their firearms by theft or the black market. We push for the abolishment of the BATFE, who has a history of creating evidence to get convictions, and a history of causing gun running to Mexico for the purpose of destroying our Second Amendment Civil Rights. And we push for Constitutional Carry… Read more »

Bad Cyborg

Call me a skeptic; call me a cynic; but if you truly believe that the RINOs in congress will actually DO any of what you wrote, then I have some choice bottom land for you. Cash only, please, and in small unmarked bills.

Wild Bill

@ skeptical cynic, First, thank you for the invite. Second, I wrote push for it all, and push now. I did not guarantee a result, but the RINOs will reveal themselves as traitors to the cause of freedom. Mid term elections are coming up and 75 percent of the at risk seats are Democrats. That opens up a lot of possibilities, if we are not successful in our push with this new administration and Congress.

William R. Meyers

I’ve commented on other fora that the only politicians I trust are the ones who I have my fingers wrapped firmly around their throat. I’ve only got two hands. It’s going to take a bunch of us to do this. Especially with all the gun grabbers trying to pry our fingers loose.

Luis

In the 5th Circuit Court case, Mance v. Holder, a judge essentially gutted the 1968 Federal Gun Control Act of 1968, ruling it failed both intermediate AND strict scrutiny. I was hoping, and still do, that this case makes it to SCOTUS. As far as eliminating BATFE, I agree 100%. But you’ll run into opposition because it’ll throw thousands of people out of work, BATFE’s backers will say. THAT’s why a relic from FDR’s first term – Tennessee Valley Authority – is still around. Even though TVA has supplied power to that region for decades now – thereby fulfilling its… Read more »

Clark Kent

Term limits are already enshrined in our Constitution; they are called ‘elections’ and occur on a regular basis.

Diamondback

It’s NOT over!

Dasraa

Time to repeal all “gun control” laws and start to control criminal violence

William R. Meyers

If you think you’re free, you better re-think that! Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty!
At least one of the advisors and appointees Mr. Trump is considering is a champion of Gun Control. For which read “gun confiscation.” Not to mention as guilty of compromising classified information as Clinton. General Betrayus, uh, Petraeus isn’t anyone any 2nd Amendment supporter wants involved in government..

William R. Meyers, MSgt., USAF(Ret.)

Wild Bill

@MSgt Meyers, Thank you for your service, and welcome to this site! I think that a “No Second Amendment, No Second Term” campaign will keep them in line. Every administration wants a second term. And now is the time to push for what we want, while Trump and Co. remember that they owe us!

W. A. Rogers
LTC, JAGC, AUS (ret.)

William R. Meyers

Thank you also for your service. I really like the “No Second Amendment, No Second Term” idea. I’m going to mention it on some of the other fora I frequent. Maybe we can make it happen. Can’t win if you don’t try.

Dave in Fairfax

The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
I’ll believe it when I see who takes the oath.

Bad Cyborg

The full quote is:
“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

Big Lou

Here’s a start for you,save your fellow inmates in California. They haven’t made it out yet. They need help. ASAP. Welcome home.

John Dunlap

As a born and bred Californian, I want to thank you. Everyone needs to remember something that got lost among all the fruit and nut jokes. Californians are not ‘out of step’ with the rest of the nation; after Reagan, we didn’t suddenly turn into an extension of the E.U.; we have been occupied by enemies of the United States, through deceit and criminal fraud. What the Leftists have been trying to do to the entire nation, they’ve succeeded in doing here. Considering the level of vote fraud here (I’ve witnessed enough personally), I can say with conviction that if… Read more »

Clark Kent

Actually, California IS out of step with the rest of the nation. It is far, far too late to do anything to better the Golden State. The lemmings have taken over. Either move out or surrender to your fate. I assume your feet are not nailed to the floor.

John Dunlap

“We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Need I remind you of who said that? Can you not see how appropriate it is to our situation today? According to the California Secretary of State’s website, 4,483,810 Californians ‘officially’ voted for Trump. The actual number was probably higher. That’s over four and a half million people fighting for their freedom, on your side. I’ve been out of work since 2010, but I still managed to scrape up a few bucks for Jan Brewer and Joe Arpaio. What have you been doing? Arpaio was just… Read more »

Clark Kent

Way, way too late to do anything positive about the Golden State except for fleeing same. The lemmings there have taken over. I am sure your feet are not nailed to the floor. Why wait to leave?

John Dunlap

I see you’ve chosen. Your words and attitude demonstrate that your absence in this fight will be no detriment to the rest of us. Quite the contrary, it would seem. Good luck to you.