More and more businesses are wading into the gun-control debate day by day. Over the last several months, Americans have seen many businesses— including banks, social media magnates, sporting-goods stores, grocery shops, and a multitude of other commercial entities—seek to levy and advocate anti-gun policies, regulations and legislation against law-abiding Americans in attempts to control their Second Amendment rights.
People favoring this type of oppression call it “advocacy.”
Yet, it is the opposite of advocacy. Advocacy, by definition, is the support or recommendation of a certain idea or approach—it is not the systematic targeting of a particular group in order to enforce certain ideals or behavior. That is discrimination.
Who are the people behind these unjust business policies? They are predominantly people who live a vastly different lifestyle from those they choose to oppress with their anti-gun politics.
These business owners, leaders of banks, and large corporate entities do not have to worry about keeping their businesses open in the short-term. This is unlike small gun vendors, family-owned sporting-goods enterprises and ordinary law-abiding gun owners who can be financially hurt by the decrees of these corporate giants.
Wealthy and privileged business leaders who support anti-gun policies act as though they can enforce their ideas. Like their opinions about politics matter.
They are not elected leaders. Nobody voted them into public office.
Yet, they act as though they have the authority to force you to give up your Second Amendment rights. Who gave them such authority? American citizens did not.
Business leaders are stepping up to exert pressure on political issues because their paychecks and products give them a sense of power and entitlement. They want to use money and material to compel elected leaders and responsible gun owners to conform to their personal views and abstract ideals.
Is this American democracy? It is not by any stretch of the word. Instead, it is oligarchy.
America has reached a point in its history where business leaders are usurping the roles of elected officials and are attempting to govern. They are attempting to use business policies in place of laws. They seek to enforce these policies by depriving citizens of money and goods.
In some cases, law-abiding citizens are being denied access to places of commerce or being forced to leave premises—just because they are legal gun owners.
In recent months, business establishments have become so emboldened by their ideas of authority that they have even mistreated law-enforcement officers. Policemen, whose duty it is to uphold our laws, have been subjected to discrimination due to the firearms they carry to lawfully protect citizens. This era—in which even police officers are targeted by overreaching business policies—is unprecedented in our country’s history.
America is a great country because ordinary people—from all backgrounds and walks of life—are entitled to freedoms guaranteed to them by law. These freedoms—including our Second Amendment freedoms—were created to protect all citizens from being oppressed by wealthy and influential people.
America is not a country where rich business owners, social media magnates and corporate kingpins can use financial pressure to force citizens to comply with their wishes. That is why the U.S. Constitution, its Articles and Amendments were created—to construct balances of power in our society. America is a democracy—not an oligarchy.
What can be done in the face of corporate discrimination against legal gun owners?
Contrary to what they might think, business leaders are not all-powerful. Money does not fall into corporate bank accounts like manna from heaven nor is it harvested from trees—rather, businesses earn money because it is given to them freely by hardworking citizens. That means that citizens who disagree with discriminatory business policies are free to deny those businesses financial support. That logic also applies to investments. It is fortunate in America that we have many options in terms of those we choose to give money to or do business with.
In this age when popular social-media personalities and trendy business conglomerates dominate headlines and try to enforce their views, responsible gun owners wishing to uphold their Second Amendment rights must also let their voices be heard.
Law-abiding gun owners must not allow their freedoms to be carried away by corporations or business leaders trying to usurp the authority of elected officials.
In America, every citizen’s voice matters. We do not accept edicts from banks, business magnates, or corporations to lead us. We freely choose our leaders in elections with our individual votes.
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