Opinion
#Kanye couldn’t have said it better: Illegal guns are the problem, and we have the right to bear arms. The #NRA’s nearly six million members are glad to see a celebrity who gets it, and who is willing to stand with the #2A. @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/RJffxucAM5
— NRA (@NRA) October 11, 2018
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Superstar rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West recently came out in support of the Second Amendment while in the Oval Office visiting President Trump, saying, “We have the right to bear arms.”
The National Rifle Association gleefully praised his remarks, noting in a tweet “The #NRA’s nearly six million members are glad to see a celebrity who gets it, and who is willing to stand with the #2A.”
West, naturally, took a lot of hits from others in Hollywood. But there is a big reason why he matters. West has undeniable star power, not only in his own right, but also by being married to Kim Kardashian. This has not been an asset the NRA has had in a long time – and Kanye is a particularly potent threat to those who seek to abridge our Second Amendment rights [as well as the entire Democrat leftist agenda].
One of the things that has hurt Second Amendment defenders in the past is the perception that it is widely a rural issue. This media distortion comes about as many in the media ignore one of our most basic rights: Self-defense. In that sense, the Second Amendment matters – and nowhere is the need for the right to self-defense more apparent than in some of America’s urban areas.
Chicago and Baltimore are two such urban areas with huge crime rates. They are also in states with very restrictive gun laws. Defenders of the Second Amendment have long noted how the latter has failed to address the former. Yet both cities help send plenty of anti-Second Amendment lawmakers to the state legislature and Congress. Both cities also tilt statewide races in favor of anti-Second Amendment candidates.
The harsh reality is that as effective as pro-Second Amendment leaders like Wayne LaPierre, Chris Cox, Charlton Heston, and others have been, they do not have the reach or cultural connections Kanye would in a place like Chicago or Baltimore. Furthermore, Kanye’s star power also reaches to younger voters, the target of anti-Second Amendment groups like March for Our Lives. If Kanye can reach those voters, and convince some of them to support pro-Second Amendment candidates and policies, it helps defend the Second Amendment for everyone.
These are areas that the NRA has not been entirely effective in getting its message out. Kanye may not be 100 percent down the line, but he is on the side of Second Amendment supporters far more often than he sides with Chuck Schumer, Michael Bloomberg, and others who seek to ban guns. He has opened the door for the pro-Second Amendment argument to be made.
The fact is, most Americans who hear both sides of the argument tend to support our Second Amendment rights when the facts are laid out logically. That is the good news. The bad news is that getting Americans to hear our side of the argument can be a challenge when the media and celebrities are overwhelmingly supporting those who seek gun bans. Worse, the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, when emotions run high, is when the anti-Second Amendment politicians try to strike, and the power of the media and celebrities are targeted squarely on us, and people are not as receptive to facts and logic – they are feeling emotionally driven to “do something” about whatever tragedy struck.
While Kanye West’s recent emergence as a defender of the right to keep and bear arms is not a guarantee – it is an opportunity. If this chance is seized on, there is a chance to deal a crippling blow to the coalition that the likes of Schumer and Bloomberg rely on.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
First of all, fuck the NRA, their traitor of a president who should have been court martialed, their drug addled ex-rocker spokesman and their Russian money. Same for any of their gun pervert members who think having an autoloader and unlimited mag capacity is critical to preserving my 2nd Amendment rights. You and your ilk are a greater danger to my common sense gun ownership that Nancy Pelosi. My rights are preserved by men and women in uniform and the leaders appointed over them, not by loud mouth, fat bellied civilians wearing cheap (Chinese made) Cabela’s camoflage. Proud Two War… Read more »
WR,
I am a veteran and have seen many commissioned officers in our military who are not for your freedom. They should be call communist officers. They are indoctrinated in college and then join the military when their gender studies degrees get them nowhere in the civilian world. They are the type who would lead a campaign of weapons confiscation from door to door if they could get the enlisted personnel to go along with it. You are either not a veteran or you are one of those indoctrinated as above. MAGA/Molina labe.
I think Kanye is trying to be a good guy. He has nothing to gain by alienating himself from others in the entertainment field and he isn’t enlisting more followers by his pro Trump and pro gun stance. Let’s not nail him as a anything since he is on our side.
I gotta say that video still has it wrong, it’s not illegal guns thats the problem, but people that do illegal things with guns thats the problem.
.don’t like guns, don’t own one
.don’t like white stuff, don’t use toilet paper
.don’t like constitutional america, GTFO & stay out
Bobbie the snowflake is melting
Guys a nut job. We shouldn’t be latching onto to him as a good thing.
Ditto to both Bobbi and Kanye.
@Matt in OK, Yep, but he and his spouse could be useful with the right handler.
Wild Bill, isn’t that what people say about pitbulls?
Why would any rational person lister to a gangster rapper for there opinions. I am sick n tired of the NRA trying to push guns down my throat. NRA did not start this way and the only reason is MONEY not guns. I have a right NOT to carry a gun or be surrounded by u stable people who want to carry then to stores zoos public parks. Keep your guns at home if dont want taken away and NO SANE PERSON needs an assault rifle. Don’t you realize some members children are shot in school shootings and MORE guns… Read more »
Bobbie, the NRA isn’t trying to cram guns down your throat, they are trying to keep people like you from cramming useless gun laws down our throats. Haven’t seen too much reporting on persons legally carrying weapons to public areas and shooting up the place other than in self defense so what are you afraid of? Guns in general obviously. And yes children are shot in schools, and no one wants that, but kids have a higher likelihood of crashing their cars while texting or being killed by a drunk driver. Stop drinking the liberal media Kool-aid and do some… Read more »
No one is trying to “cram guns down [your] throat” Bobbie. If you don’t want a gun that’s just fine with those of us who do. I’m amenable to lending a respectful ear to anyone who might have something useful to say. I don’t need to commit myself to agreeing to everything he says to be willing to occasionally listen to his point of view and remain open to occasional agreement. Do you know what an “assault rifle” is? It is, at present, what would make for what the founders characterized as requisite to a “well regulated militia” which they… Read more »
Bobbie, I find it difficult to pay heed to anyone who has such poor writing skills. I doubt that I am alone.
Bobbie….Gangster rapper?????? LMFAO. Kanye is NOT a gangster rapper. Please.
You are EVIDENTLY an idiot disconnected from reality. For you to come to that conclusion, knowing good and damn well you do not listen to all of his lyrics, only proves that you are a zealot for stereotypical bias.
First off, Kanye is not a “gangster rapper”. And no, you DON’T have the right to not be surrounded by legal gun owners carrying their guns at the locations you listed…However, you do have the right to be an unarmed ‘sitting duck’ at those locations for any mass-murdering psycho who decides to go on a rampage. That’s YOUR choice. Just stop demonizing those of us who care enough about our safety to be proactive and prepared with a firearm.
Hollywood weirdos, enjoy a little Dragon Energy. One of your own has stepped out of line, what are you going to do now?
Probably what they usually do when stressed….molest someone!