An important segment of last weekend’s Conservative Action Political Conference, virtually overlooked by the media, featured U.S. Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), telling the audience that gun control is not about public safety, but about public control.
Mills, who was elected to office in 2022, came out swinging, referring to the text of the Second Amendment, which he said “cannot be clearer.”
“It doesn’t say ‘may.’ It says ‘shall not be infringed,’” Mills stressed.
He accused the administration of mounting a “multi-pronged attack” on our liberties. The administration is allowing open borders while at the same time pushing for more laws and regulations that will not be obeyed by criminals who are already violating existing laws. These restrictions prevent U.S. citizens from protecting themselves from criminal harm, he suggested.
A self-described constitutionalist, Mills—who served with the 82nd Airborne—told the audience, “This is not about policing, it’s about politics. They are trying to do everything they can to weaken the American people to make us dependent upon the administrative state.”
The 18-minute segment, headlined “Shooting from the Hip,” was moderated by Carl Higbie, host of Frontline, with Newsmax. Turning his attention to Gottlieb, who serves as executive vice president of SAF, Higbie inquired about legal actions challenging gun control laws in the wake of the 2022 Bruen ruling.
Right now, Gottlieb disclosed, SAF has a whopping 59 cases filed against gun control laws across the country, from one coast to the other. He pointed specifically to lawsuits against laws in Connecticut and New York, observing that some states have adopted gun laws as a means of “thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court.”
“I expected after Bruen they would pass laws that would be a little less restrictive…to see what they could get away with,” the veteran gun rights leader observed. “They didn’t do that. They doubled and tripled down and passed laws that are worse.”
He reminded the audience that days before the CPAC event, the Hawaii Supreme Court handed down a ruling in a gun case which said the “Aloha spirit” essentially outweighed the Second Amendment. The bizarre ruling is almost certain to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
SAF currently has two cases asking certiorari before the Supreme Court, in Maryland and Illinois. Both challenge bans on semi-auto rifles and so-called “high-capacity” magazines. The court has not announced yet whether it will take either case for review.
A few moments later, Gottlieb bristled as he commented about the left’s gun control crusade.
“It is so blatantly political, their agenda of socialism and controlling people’s lives,” he stated. “I mean, gun control isn’t about controlling guns; it’s about controlling people. That’s what their agenda really is. Facts, figures don’t matter to them. All they care about is taking away our rights.”
Higbie, who served as a Navy SEAL for nine years, had a solid grasp of the current political environment.
“You look at all of these mass shootings that are happening recently,” he noted. “Most of them happened in Joe Biden’s gun-free zones that he was the original architect of…The top ten most dangerous cities are Democratically-held cities, some in Republican states.”
Elsewhere during the discussion, Mills acknowledged he would like to abolish the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The remark drew applause from the audience.
All three men concurred that Democrat gun control efforts have resulted in more gun sales. Gottlieb noted how high-profile crimes, terrorist attacks, and other domestic factors invariably result in increased firearms sales.
Higbie observed, “Democrats are the greatest gun salesmen. Every time a Democrat comes into office, they actually help drive those numbers up.”
The discussion wrapped up with Mills and Gottlieb reminding the CPAC audience about media bias against reporting stories in which law-abiding citizens have used firearms, including semiautomatic rifles, in self-defense.
“They only report on mass shootings when it fits a certain narrative,” Mills said about the media, calling it “fake news.”
“What they want to do is to not vilify the actual criminal who is committing an act which is obviously illegal,” he said, “they want to criminalize our ability to hold arms.”
“It’s such a one-sided debate with the national media, which carries the agenda for the gun ban movement it’s actually disgusting,” Gottlieb said.
“This is about them controlling the message,” Mills added, “and we can’t allow that. We have to be louder. Utilize your platforms…We have to control the narrative. We have to control our ability to hold our own rights.”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
It’s time for our churches to join in and start pushing the constitution as much as they are anti CRT and LGBTQ, sex changes and abortion. If your church is making excuses for or not addressing the gorilla in the room, you need to speak up and get your church on board, if they refuse then you should leave and find a church that supports God’s word and laws in the bible. I stated months ago before I heard it said by anyone else, we are in a Holy War. Now there are songs about it, people besides me and… Read more »
The only time when media report (and not too often) of gun owners thwarting criminal activity is when the wielder of the gun is an off-duty policeman, corrections officer or a some other authorized person. The mainstream media like this too, because it reinforces the narrative, only authorized persons by the state can be trusted with arms.
It’s no secret and definitely no surprise that Democrats push gun control. These discussions would be more effective if the participants called out the people on the right, some of which were speakers at CPAC, who enable and advocate for gun control. If we held those politicians accountable, all of the Democrats efforts would be in vain. Not a single arms law we have has been enacted without bipartisan support.
The liberal media lies to us every day in the “omission” of actual news that does not support their worthless narrative. There will come a time when WaPo, NYT and others are bankrupt because no one believes their BS any longer. We need to push freedom on the various websites where more and more younger voters get their news. Buy and/or develop ads that appeal to them and their psychology even if it makes us puke to do so. Hearts and minds!!!!
The anti-2A, anti-America Leftists will continue to flaunt their position in the faces of SCOTUS and We The Little Peeps. They have no personal costs, responsibility, accountability, repercussions. Death by a thousand cuts…..They know pro-2A, pro-Americans will fund both sides of the issue….pro via donations, anti via taxes. WE’RE SUCH BIG CHUMPS!!! Hey, Dave Workman. As I stated in our recent phone conversation, I really enjoy, appreciate your writings. That said, I’m still waiting for your response from that conversation regarding Second Amendment Foundation/Gottlieb & Co. decision to hold Sept 2024 Gun Rights Policy Conference behind enemy lines in San… Read more »