Defending Second Amendment Ideals In A World That Is Not Ideal

United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- In an ideal world, we would not need to advocate for our Second Amendment rights. Everyone would accept that gun bans and other gun control measures largely don’t work. We’d have laws that might punish people more harshly for using firearms when committing a crime, but that, along with a few other restrictions – very limited restrictions – would be generally accepted by the population. Defending our rights wouldn’t be hard work, because the vast majority of people would accept them and shut down calls for gun bans.

Sadly, we do not exist in an ideal world. Take New York’s reaction to New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen – and California’s, to a lesser extent. In an ideal world, we’d have seen anti-Second Amendment extremists take the hint after NYSRPA v. Bruen. Heck, they’d have taken the hint after Heller. But they didn’t; therefore, we must defend our ideals.

So, how do we defend our ideals in a non-ideal world? One of the biggest things we can do is work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels this November and make similar preparations for 2024, 2026, and 2028. But there is more than just the elections; it will take a lot of hard work.

We are at the mercy of events sometimes. Mass shootings, particularly at schools, are often exploited by anti-Second Amendment extremists. Second Amendment supporters will need to be better at having some pre-planning for the inevitable media frenzies that come with the horrific events. Failing to plan is planning to fail, and good planning includes having backup plans and contingency plans for these events, with the understanding that those plans may not survive the first reports.

In an ideal world, that wouldn’t be necessary. In an ideal world, these shootings wouldn’t be happening in the first place. We’re clearly not in that ideal world – just look at Uvalde, Buffalo, and Highland Springs. That has to be addressed, and we need to insist upon the proper measures to prevent these shootings.

Remember how I said defending our ideals is hard work? That last case is just one example. Anti-Second Amendment extremists are already offering their solutions – some very extreme – to mass shootings. In many of these mass shootings, the warning signs were there, and nobody acted.

“Reg flag” laws have way too many problems on the due process front. They are rightfully opposed by every pro-Second Amendment group. But have we presented alternatives? Even with Caniglia v. Strom and Bruen, we need them. Because we are not in an ideal world, there is a need to address things like mental illness, particularly the type that manifests itself of culminates in a horrific act.

It’s not going to be easy, but when has the fight for our rights been easy in this far-from-ideal world? Second Amendment supporters simply have to accept that reality, and work to make it better.

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.