Check out our Daily Gun Deals page for more savings!
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- With all the threats of “red flag” laws and criticisim about the NRA, maybe we need to take a look at what the bigger picture is showing. It is always easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees, but you sometimes have to take a step back – and a look at the big picture shows that Second Amendment supporters have been winning the arguments.
You’re wondering, “How could we be winning the arguments?” Well, my first response is to point at what some of the most visible anti-Second Amendment extremists have been doing. Does their behavior look like that of a person who is secure about the strength of their arguments?
For starters, let’s look at Andrew Cuomo. His track record of wrongfully blaming and trying to punish law-abiding gun owners is very extensive. He’s tried so many times to use back door approaches to get the types of policies he has wanted, whether through quarterbacking lawsuits against gun manufacturers or by his abuse of financial regulations to target the NRA.
Through the adoption of methods reminiscent of the strong-man tactics of the Maduro regime in Venezuela, the Erdogan regime in Turkey, or the Putin regime in Russia, Cuomo has made the tacit admission that he has really lost the arguments about the Second Amendment. The fact that he is not trying to persuade people to see things his way but instead choosing to try and bully his political opposition into silence speaks volumes. One does not do this if they are winning an argument on the merits.
In one sense, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lost the argument in a pair of Supreme Court cases decided before he even took office.
A decade before began his illegal and tyrannical abuse of financial regulations to target organizations that support the Second Amendment, the Heller decision of 2008 declared the Second Amendment as an individual right. The 2010 McDonald decision, issued before he even won the governorship, said that the Second Amendment was applicable to the states.
Now, while at times, some want to talk about reversing these landmark cases by packing the courts, that is a long shot, especially if President Trump is able to nominate the replacements for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer – making such a move an obvious power grab. Some are choosing another long shot, calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. In Hawaii, the state senate has issued just such a resolution. In Florida, there is a push to repeal that state’s right to keep and bear arms, instead declaring the National Guard and law enforcement agencies as the state’s militia.
But the repeal efforts, no matter how much John Paul Stevens or others might try to spin them, are a fundamental concession by anti-Second Amendment extremists. They know they are trying to take away freedoms that are rightfully ours. They know that we have every right to the firearms we feel can best protect us.
Backing this up in the case of semi-auto bans is the settlement that the Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed reached with the Justice Department last year. In that settlement, the Justice Department has admitted that modern multi-purpose semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 are not “weapons of war” as anti-Second Amendment extremists like Dianne Feinstein, Chris Murphy, and Chuck Schumer claim.
In essence, between the Heller and McDonald rulings, as well as the SAF/Defense Distributed settlement, Second Amendment supporters have won the big arguments and hold the legal high ground. The only way to blow it is with bad strategy and tactics or failing to think about how our support for the Second Amendment comes across.
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.
People need to research all the damage and crooked deals the Democrats have caused American people. It beats the he’ll out of me why the Black race still vote for them when they have voted against all bills to help their race in the last 40 years. The Democrats can’t come out and pass anything in view of American’s because most of us know how crooked they are.
Winning arguments is not the same as winning elections. Cuomo understands this. You don’t seem to.
a cu-homo will do anything, same as a big-gasio
And now, from New Zeland, a LEFTY communist went on a shooting spree against a group of people who believe they are the CHOSEN ones of alllah which is an IDOL of BLACK STONE lying in an exposed corner of a BLACK SHACK for all of its faithful to be able to be kissed.
Thus, the communist leaders of NZ have decided to BAN all semi-automatic weapons and STANDARD capacity magazines from ownership of LEGAL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS of NEW ZELAND. WHAT A HOOT!!!!!!!!!
Carry laws in most states are a shining example of the tireless efforts of our gun rights efforts. For too long too many have carried too heavy a burden. It is time that everyone grab the rope and start pulling the weight.
Thanks for your upbeat article, but all you are saying is we have some legal precedents going for us. But one thing I know as a lawyer of 30 years, faithless leftists appointed as judges will do as they please and ignore precedent. We cannot rely in the long term on the courts to protect our rights. We need to use this time when we have a favorable federal bench, to push back on other fronts, and always, always, fight for the hearts and minds of the average American. Unfortunately, the price of liberty truly is eternal vigilance.
The government will wallow in fear of the people. The people should not fear the “governed ones”. Ban my mag, ban my pew pew. Your paper and words will never hurt me but stick around to see our stones. It’ll be a real sad cloudy day when others and myself stand and defend against those who took our rights, or private properties, and our dreams that we spent centuries building. Defending those who supported all these allogations for what. Their god? Their releif that disaster could be washed away… I may be gifted but I’ll fight for you who said… Read more »
Dorion , I’m totally with you. Well said sir , our rights shall not be infringed.
There is no argument. The other side isn’t listening and they don’t care what we or the people of this country think about our rights. Creating a worker’s paradise requires that there be no resistance and no God granted individual rights. If we don’t stop trying to win the argument and just win, they’ll trample us and the republic is lost.
Both positive and negative comments are appreciated and appropriate, however, gutter language has no place in the comments and degrades both the comments and the commenter.
Good article, except the last sentence needs fixing up.
Harold is a glass half full guy. He sets in the NRA ivory tower and can’t see what is going on under his nose because that is the environment he is accustomed to. You do have to give him credit for one thing, he provokes a lot of people and draws many comments and that is the name of the game for Ammoland.
“Does their behavior look like that of a person who is secure about the strength of their arguments?” Yes, it absolutely does. The left has learned that histrionics and emotional appeals prevail over logic and reason, nearly a universal truth. The general population, when they do get it right, it is because it “feels right”, not because it is factually correct. Your understanding of the opponent is lacking and your knowledge of the people we need to persuade is fatally flawed. We we do win a popular opinion issue, it is because of the Kate Steinle events and the rape,… Read more »
Exactly, logic and reason mean being able to use rational thought, which in most minds, takes a while to conclude. However, driving emotional responses results in impulse. Which then the mind literally makes up bullshit info to make it think that it’s correct.
The human mind can and will play tricked with even the most coherent of individuals. And Dems use this to their advantage. They are master manipulators.
Most have failed in keeping up with Supreme Court rulings. One example is the ruling on registration of firearms. The Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to force a private citizens to register any private property. That means in California their firearms registration mandates are void of law. Using the ignorance of the citizens they’ve gotten many to register their firearms. Now, what has the Supreme Court said about 2 private citizens engaged in selling or trading of private property? Are the states or federal government constitutionally eligible to interfere with such a transaction? These are things all citizens should… Read more »
Since they cannot attack the Second Amendment they are now attacking due process through so-called “red flag” laws.
For the left, there is always a workaround.
So much bull ! We are losing state after state! We will lose the nation one by one! Ca, wa. Gone ! Ore. Going in a big way! Nm, co, Mon, I’ll, on and on. There starting on id and az. You sound like the nra we’re fighting then big battle! And losing the nation state by state! You better reaccess you accessment! Losing is what you call winning?
Are you deaf? You havent saved ANY lives. Millions? You fucking idiot, 10k people a year die from gunfire in america. Did you dumbasses time travel back 100 plus years? What you are saying is that if you yell a lie loud enough and a large enough choir of fools joins the song it is somehow less a lie? Or that with a majority it doesnt matter because you and your friends dont care? This is why you will never take hicap mags. You can always find a big gang of dumbass criminals to come out and commit crimes with… Read more »
Just for information, there is a gun friendly site not like to Facebook. It’s called MEWE. Lots of gun chats, etc.
It sure doesn’t feel like we’re winning the argument in NY. I’ve had more rights stripped from me in the last 6 years than in the last 30. The Second Amendment has essentially been nullified in NY with no relief in sight.
Same in Cali… however, we have won a couple of state law suits. In addition, many of the counties are rejecting the illegal gun controls. This is compounded by a major movement by citizens to follow the principles of “CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE” as our Founders followed in 1775. In fact, civil disobedience is alive and well in every state which has implemented these asinine gun controls. A low which is rejected by the majority of the people is not enforceable if the people do not voluntarily follow it. Sure, things look bleak, but look at New Zealand where gun owners just… Read more »
Im in OR, we arent losing shit other than four crap counties we dont really want. SAPOs are going up everywhere and if the State challenges them the fed will shit right down their necks. I about wanted to swallow my tongue about Kavenaugh, but here is the silver lining. DaveW: keep fighting the good fight! The scotus (Finally!) has your back, you are about to be either open carry, shall issue, or constitutional carry. The appeals courts are laying it down in a big way too. The sheeple pretend they have national majorities while doing everything they can to… Read more »
Just FYI before you post. Posts to the comments are not instant like Facebook. It takes a little while for posts to appear.
Once again my post is not posted. Who is running this TTAG site? Twitter? Zuckerberg?? Google??? AOC???? Justice Democrats?????,
Let’s see. If you buy a stock for $100 (representing God’s inalienable right to self defense, denoted by the 2A), and it falls in value by 50% to $50. You have a loss. Then it rises by an identical 50%…now it’s only back to $75. You haven’t gained anything. You are still in the hole down 25%. We have not gained anything since the 2A was written. There has been a perpetual loss. We had permitless carry from the very first founding of this country. Then we had the “50%” loss in several iterations…1934, 1968 and so forth….and have been… Read more »
Trump has altered the major problem we face, in that he has added conservative constitutionalist judges to SCOTUS. Even better, he has been replacing judges on the circuit courts in the same way.The most liberal of these is the 9th circuit which had 2 conservatives. When 3 judges met, our rights were upheld. However, on appeal before an en banc court the ruling would be reversed. Trump has chosen two conservative judges to the 9th Circuit which covers the whole west coast and Hawaii. Now we need a good case to go up the chain to SCOTUS where they can… Read more »
President Trump turned his back on 5 million legal gun owners and NO ONE IS FIXING the voter fraud, so tell me how is he going to win I really CAN NOT SEE IT. Vice President Pence asking Germany to invade Russian waters, Pence Asked Merkel to Provoke Russia by Sending Warships to Crimea, shows HOW BAD AMERICA IS FALLING. it is really sickening. Interesting that Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko allows NAZI symbolism on his military equipment. Of course NATO IS ON THIS SIDE. garbage, cause we are allowing the take over of the USA without a fight while our leaders… Read more »
Kudos and a TAH-DAH to ‘dava golino”. Bingo, we have a winner. Yes, you are over the intended Tarr Get. Much Kabalistic Magic and Tom Trickery with POTUS Trump, especially with his past and present buddies. I believe he had good and honorable intentions in the beginning of his run. Maybe, maybe not? However, back on March 18th, 2018, he did in fact utter those very words. But wait, all is well though. He donated his salary back to DHS. What kind of Magic is that? Odd is it not? It gets even better. How far did the apple fall… Read more »
Tyrants don’t care about arguments. All they care about is getting their way and are quite prepared to use deadly force to do so. The sooner we recognize the truth in Thomas Jefferson’s words the sooner we can begin to revitalize the tree of liberty. Reconstruction of those jurisdictions in rebellion to the constitution will again be necessary to insure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity and that reconstruction will probably require another civil war.
@Wallace Freeman, Imposition of “Reconstruction” on the states that are currently in rebellion from the U.S. Constitution. What a great idea! Transfer the NJ Nat. Guard to title 10 status and send them to CA. Hunt down and execute those that have betrayed their oath to the support and defend the Constitution, and impose martial law until CA is reconstructed. Do NJ next, then NY. It is “do-able”.
Winning the “argument”, is like winning the battle, but losing the war. Regardless of the fact they don’t have any logic, facts or reason, to back-up their assault on our rights, they *are* winning the war – every anti-rights bill that gets enacted gets them closer to their goal. We aren’t winning when ERPOs are passed; we aren’t winning when mag bans are passed; we aren’t winning when certain firearms are banned. Every firearm law that gets passed is unconstitutional and against our natural rights to self-preservation. Jefferson stated that even without the 2A, will still have that unalienable right… Read more »
Watch this and you will understand what we are facing. Pretty much a dedicated effort to sweep aside all but the left.
I don’t know that we are winning, but as long as we keep our guns, we aren’t losing… We haven’t had our Gettysburg yet, the cause is not yet lost.
The struggle is just moving to a different arena. Next is ammo and parts, just look at what s happening in CA. Yes CA is stupid and arrogant and so is the 9th circuit. But we have to realize that they are a threat. My advice is add California Pistol and Rifle Assoc. to your give list. Fight them hear, tie them up. Use FPC to find out where the fights are happening, it s all about the Benjamins. I could drone on but you get the picture. Educate yourselves with facts from CDC or FBI, know what you are… Read more »
How we come across doesn’t really matter anymore. All proponents of the 2A are basically viewed as terrorists anyway. Meanwhile, on the left, IQ levels continue to drop. This is the issue, people like AOC, Tlaib, and Omar want their people to rock the boat in order to further their push for socialism. AOC even said as much by saying she would agree with a yellow vest movement, or similar, fighting for her green new deal. What they don’t tell you is they’re basically calling of people to riot, because that is what the yellow vests in France are doing.… Read more »
I could tell the article was bullshit from the start. Scrolled down and saw Harold wrote it. No surprise. Keep fighting for 2a rights gentleman.
Half the battle is won you have guns and ammo the second half of the battle is don’t give up your rights the Constitution Second Amendment says it cannot be infringed upon if they do they have a war the Democrats wolves don’t mean nothing to me I don’t work for them they work for us I go with the Constitution but they keep pushing they will have a fight on their hands and it won’t be pretty never give up your guns never
In the end, there are two major arguments about the “interpretation” of the 2A. 1) “It’s not an individual right, it’s a ‘community’ right.” 2) “It’s limited to service in the militia” Both arguments, in my opinion, are rediculous. In the first 8 amendments, there are no other “community” rights. Each of the first 8 applies to the rights of the individual. Why would the 2A be different? As for the 9A (my favorite amendment) and the 10A… each directly limits Federal powers, so neither “individual” nor “community” rights are addressed directly. As for the supposed “militia requirement”… LUDICROUS! Where… Read more »
Good argument… I can find no flaws in your logic.
Actually, and I agree with what you are saying for the most part, but the first 10 amendments apply to individual, and community. Hence the “militia” part of the 2nd. If a group of armed men wish to come together and train with their guns, it is permitted to do so under the second. But that’s all it means. The “militia” clause that Democrats wish to pursue doesn’t exist. That you must be in a militia to own weapons. No, that’s why the amendment specifically states the people’s right shall not me infringed. Technically speaking, the 2A as written, would… Read more »
Agreed, the whole collective right argument makes no sense, especially when you consider militias were expected to provide their own arms (which begets individual ownership of arms).
It makes no sense that the founders would have called a militia “well-regulated” then say their right to “keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” if “well-regulated” meant gun control. You cannot control something without infringing on it. If only we could get that through their heads, that well-regulated meant something totally different than they think it does now.
Many of my own views may be considered Leftist, but I am certainly well armed, and defend the 2A with my life. One need only consider the historical context of the writing of the 2A. The U.S. was founded on revolution, rebellion against the British Crown. The 2A was written expressly with the intent that the common people should be armed so as to allow another rebellion against the government should that government seize too much power and “no longer serve the needs of the People”. And I quote directly from the Preamble to the Constitution, “it shall be the… Read more »
Regulate means to adjust to a particular standard rate amount degree etc..thus well regulated is to be well armed
One thing I like about ammo land is how they believe so highly in the FIRST amendment. You know. FREE SPEECH. I am continually being censored on here, so much so that I’m taking myself off their mailing list because I’m sick of being treated like a first grader not being able to post my opinion. I mean SERIOUSLY? Why bother. Of course now I’ll be this will get posted. LOL. But I’ll be surprised to see if the one I posted that I’m complaining about is. So by guys…
Mark, sometimes it takes awhile for the post to appear. Your initial post is time stamped 9:07am, at 9:16 am you are complaining about being censored? I have had posts not appear for over a day or more. Ammoland does not censor, look at all the anti-right trolls that come here, if they were going to censor people, wouldn’t it be them?
Until we are FREE to carry our firearms, state to state without infringement of any type, we have won nothing. I shouldn’t have to be concerned if the firearm I carry is the wrong length, wrong caliber, has a magazine too big, wrong type of ammo, if I have too much ammo with me, too many firearms with me, or whether or not my carry conceal or open carry handgun is loaded or unloaded. When we can Freely do this, then we have Won something.
I agree. Good decent non criminal minded free person should carry and travel anywhere in the United States. Tired of infringement
Trail test
Amen!! A lot of the anti-argument is the Second Amendment was for home use. Nowhere in the constitution does it say The right to bear arms is confined to home protection only. It says paraphrasing, The right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Which means, I should be able to have a gun on my person, at any time, for my own protection. But in liberal states like NY. I can own a pistol, but I have to jump through hoops to get it. I can’t carry it, so what’s the point. Even if I could carry, NY laws… Read more »
et’s see. If you buy a stock for $100 (representing God’s inalienable right to self defense, denoted by the 2A), and it falls in value by 50% to $50. You have a loss. Then it rises by an identical 50%…now it’s only back to $75. You haven’t gained anything. You are still in the hole down 25%. We have not gained anything since the 2A was written. There has been a perpetual loss. We had permitless carry from the very first founding of this country. Then we had the “50%” loss in several iterations…1934, 1968 and so forth….and have been… Read more »
Personally I feel the weapon that I need to best protect me is equal or better then those in the government have so, sorry “They know that we have every right to the firearms we feel can best protect us.” is just not true. After all, if THEY can have machine guns, why can’t we? (And I don’t mean after we jump through poodle hoops and get on our knees and beg them, “Massa, can I have a machine gun massa? I’ll pay your tax stamp and do anything you say Massa, as long as you’ll let me have one!… Read more »
We’re never winning because you ain’t won till the fight is over; and the fight is NEVER over!!
Yet more delusional thinking, Harold, or are you trying to instill false hope and pacify readers at Ammoland?? I for one will NEVER relax and assume that the other side knowing they’re on the wrong side of the Constitution means they’re losing.
No matter what you think about the NRA. IF they take it down, ALL IS LOST.
So Gun Owners of America, you know, the group that doesn’t COMPROMISE and is actually challenging the “bump stock” ban won’t gain lots of members? And WOW, I’m shocked, BOTH of my posts actually were posted.
Come to the Florida Panhandle. 2nd amendment flourishes here. Great leaders great governor. No anti talk here at all. The country as it should be. Don’t forget these anti gun nuts were voted in by people just like them. Lots of states are still free and getting a Lot less restrictions. Always gonna b states like Wash and Mass and opressed Calif .vote the liars out. They swore an oath to uphold. Haha
What is this guy smoking who wrote this, we are losing and fast. I dont see any peaceful way to win.
The arguments don’t really matter in though, as long as these bills keep on passing, and they ignore the facts, then we might as well not be fighting for our rights at all. Because we keep on losing, did you forget the Bump Stock ban that now classifys Bump stocks, and Bump Stock divices as a ATF item, and shall be banned, and did you hear there’s a new bill being introduced that would limit how much ammo a person can have at once, and even the type of ammo, we are far from safe, sure I’d like to pretend… Read more »
There’s some positives in may of the “fly over” states, and a lot of negatives on both coasts. Hard to tell who is actually winning in a multi-front war of ideology. However, there are two primary takeaways. First, the war is not lost on either side. Good news for 2A supporters. Bad news for antis. Second, because the war is not over and there have been some incremental gains and losses on both sides, we need to keep up the fight.
Do not be confused as to what is going on. We won as a matter of existing law in Heller and associated cases. We have more justices on the Supreme Court now who should be friendly to the Second Amendment. The Trump administration and Senate have been very busy appointing good judges who respect the existing law and Constitution. This will have a lasting effect for decades. And the Left knows it. So the Left is trying to change the existing law. One thing they know how to do very well is manipulate opinion and use their remaining friendly judges… Read more »
Hold The Line And Stand Your Ground Patriots!…..this battle of a much greater war, will not be over in this life time!…..”Honor, Integrity, Family, Country”
It funny that nearly everyone (even the left) thinks that the 1st amendment applies to the states counties and municipalities but not the 2nd.
It’s nice to know that the truncated version of the Second Amendent that the NRA promotes is such a success. Now we can walk our streets secure in the knowledge that one untrained or one deranged idiot constitutes a militia. And that they are succeeding in their misinformation campaign about Dems wanting to take all guns away. And their historical revisionism? Classic. Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. Now tell me again how the one-man militias are going to protect us from a despot taking over our country? (Hint: our current imPOTUS.) Keep making excuses and… Read more »
As is very common, you “truncated” your own argument. First, ANY individual exercising ANY of his rights is responsible for the results of their actions. As with the “yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater” scenario, all rights have a limit. However, those individuals against the “individual” right to arms seem to see the arms themselves as the infraction, rather than the use of those arms. Listing “allowed” and ” disallowed” arms is akin to allowing or disallowing reading books, based on subject. Maybe you want to read a book about anarchy. You should have every right to read that book.… Read more »
Amen Brother!
@sam, I don’t know where you got “… one untrained or one deranged idiot constitutes a militia.” One person is not an entire militia. One person is one member of “the militia” or more properly “the unorganized militia”. Your belief, about your fellow Americans level of training or rationality, is no reason for my Constitutional Civil Rights to be infringed.
And just what training do you believe should be mandatory for all Americans?
Winning haha holding our ground on the defensive is not winning . Winning is uninfringing the 2a not preventing more infringements successfully. until we remove laws such as the Nfa and fire arm owners protection act we are merely buying time.
This is not reason to relax, quite the opposite. Would be authoritarians and tyrants ALWAYS loses the debate, history illustrates this. It also illustrates that they also always resort to trying to burn down the auditorium with their opponents inside, when they tire of trying to convince us to agree to their dystopian vision peacefully. We’re reaching that point here now.
I believe that our country is one election away from civil war. We hold back right now because we see hope in our president. If the communist win in 2020, well, all bets are off. We will then have to decide, fight or surrender. To me, surrender is not an option.
Until the federal government decides to take the states foot off of our throats, the dirty tactics will contunue. It’s going to come down to a race between states enforcement anf federal intervention. The first of us to die defending our 2nd amendment, will be the spark to touch off this powderkeg. I don’t want to be the martyr, but that is how the cuomos of this country will go about it.
I sure hope you’re right about the 2nd Amendment!!! I am an American Patriot, and I will fight for our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR THE LONG-TERM!!! Not just for me, but for MY CHILDREN, AND FOR MY AMERICAN CITIZENS.
Don’t forget about Caetano vs Mass, SCOTUS unanimously affirmed Heller and McDonald, and ruled the 2A protections extend to arms that were not in existence at the time of the founding. Caetano is important because it wasn’t a split decision. The whole court unanimously acknowledged stare decisis.
We are losing the fight no matter what spin you want to throw on the subject.
you clearly havent been paying attention to state gun laws
Perhaps you feel you are losing, We, have just begun to fight.
I personally have over 40 years into this fight, I started at age 9, to study firearms issues, having read a book by stackpole publications called; “Gun control” it is an early history of gun control and was written in the 60’s…
Now is not the time to adopt defeatist notions, now is the time to stick together and tell Anti Gun advocates to read the constitution and take grammar lessons if need be.
Yeah. We’re only “winning” when we see more rights recognized by the state that removed by the state. And other than concealed carry, not a single right have we reclaimed besides the sunset of the Assault Weapons Ban.
I DISAGREE Whole Heartedly those regimes succeeded using those tactics. This is why they are adopting them. This article is very concerning to me and I view it as an attempt to relinquish the fight. A disarming article that surely has a dropped guard effect if you belive it. I do not, and if we dont apply everything we have we will be like those impacted by the regimes mentioned. Helpless to change our circumstances without serious consequences and sacrifices. The Black market will always thrive in the absence of legitimate trade. This means we will still have the ability… Read more »
There is no argument. Notice the period.
Those regimes didn’t have the 2nd Amendment.