The NRA endorsed Donald J. Trump (R) three times for the presidency. He was on the cover of every NRA member magazine for this past election. The choice could not have been clearer. The Second Amendment, our very freedom, was on the ballot and NRA members stepped up and delivered a victory for freedom.
Now, after four years of the Biden-Harris administration, we will no longer have a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives being used to war against our neighborhood gun stores and the manufacturers who make our firearms. We will not have a Federal Bureau of Investigation playing politics with crime data. We won’t have a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services attempting to use health mandates to try to reduce our freedoms amid a pandemic. And we won’t have an administration that pretends law-abiding gun owners are somehow behind rises in crime rates.
American government agencies are not supposed to be weaponized against lawfully armed citizens. Government is supposed to respect each citizen’s rights as it uses the limited power we give it to serve and protect us.
Stopping this misuse of power is part of the return to normalcy President Trump promised us.
As is the case in each election cycle, getting back here required your active participation in the political process. This is how it must be. An active citizenry has always been a needed catalyst for American renewal. Note I am not referring to people who behave as activists for the simple excitement of rebelling. Nor am I referring to people who want change for change’s sake. Rather, I am referring to responsible citizens who understand what must be refurbished, not burned to ashes. Making sure the United States of America continues to be the light of the world requires an awake and educated citizenry. It takes people with homes and families and bills to pay who comprehend all of the responsibility that freedom brings. It takes a strong NRA.
This is why, during one of Trump’s many speeches to NRA members, he looked out at the tens of thousands of freedom-cherishing citizens in attendance at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits and said, “These are good people.” Indeed, we are the people who help our neighbors, protect our loved ones, understand our hard-won freedom and vote accordingly.
And it is why, as this election neared, I heard from so many NRA members saying they were praying for Donald Trump’s safety and his success, as he carries with him the promise, as he did before, that he’ll preserve and protect our individual rights.
So, as we look back for a moment, if some elections feel bigger, as if all the chips are on the table, it is because some are. In this case, calling the 2024 election one of the most-important ever was not hyperbole. Nations do fail; throughout time, all the greatest have. But, as the saying goes, Rome didn’t fall in a day. It takes a rot deep in its core principles to bring a nation down. In this election, the American electorate—with NRA members being a key factor—voted to stop the destruction of our core principles, especially our First and Second Amendment rights.
As a result, this month, because of, in part, a strategy planned and executed by NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch and his staff, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a politician who detests our freedom, is being fired as U.S. Senate Majority Leader and a solid pro-Second Amendment majority is being sworn into the U.S. Senate.
By stopping the Biden-Harris-Walz radical anti-gun agenda, anti-Second Amendment justices are now unlikely to be seated on the U.S. Supreme Court in the next four years and the federal government will not be weaponized against law-abiding gun owners. Through his U.S. Supreme Court nominations, Trump strengthened a court that recognized, in the NRA-backed case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), that the Second Amendment applies inside and outside our homes, and we can now expect more constitutional rulings.
Still, there is a lot of work to do. Refurbishing the American system of freedom and justice means staying engaged. Being an active member of this association is one critical step, as the more of us there are standing together for our freedom, the more politicians must listen to us. I also encourage you to join one or more of the thousands of NRA-affiliated clubs and associations. You can find them at explore.nra.org/programs/clubs.
As we move forward into 2025 and beyond, you’ll be hearing a lot more from me and from others here at the NRA. For now, though, celebrate. As Ecclesiastes 3 says, there is a time for everything, and this is certainly the time to appreciate what we can do when we stand together and, as Trump said, “fight, fight, fight” for our liberty.
We congratulate our 45th—and now our 47th—President of the United States and NRA Life member, Donald J. Trump.
