This feature appears in the December ‘16 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.
Shortly after the Orlando, Fla., nightclub massacre, under the phony pretense of “fighting terrorism,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) led a 15-hour filibuster in the U.S. Senate, attempting to steamroll a package of anti-gun, anti-freedom bills into law. A few days later, Murphy’s anti-gun allies in the House of Representatives staged an unprecedented 14-hour sit-in, a political stunt that held the U.S. House floor hostage in defiance of House rules.
Their goal was to use a horrible tragedy as a springboard to demolish the Second Amendment.
In Murphy’s own words, “You cannot accept the premise that there is any waiting period after a tragedy to start engaging in political action. … I’m talking about legislative action within an hour of a shooting.”
Murphy’s statement is a straightforward admission of what you and I have known all along—to gun control fanatics, the ends justify the means and the truth be damned. Murphy’s declaration is an open admission that the gun-ban crowd already has planned their response to the next heinous crime or terror attack on American soil. Not to buttress our defenses against criminal madmen or potential jihadists, but to blame freedom first and come after the Constitution with a vengeance.
Murphy’s statement is also a warning shot across our bow. We face a gun-ban army that’s fired up by the media’s incendiary attacks on our freedoms, a year-long election process filled with hateful anti-gun rhetoric, and millions of dollars’ worth of deceitful election-year ads paid for by Michael Bloomberg’s dishonest billionaire network.Now, as we face new threats, I’m asking you to make a commitment to make sure that this generation will not be the last to taste freedom’s blessings.
But in 25 years of leading the NRA, I’ve learned one thing: When push comes to shove—there’s nothing more powerful than a committed American with an NRA membership card in his or her pocket.
Think about it. Eight years ago, when Barack Obama was first elected president, gun-banners were 100 percent convinced that they’d gained the upper hand and would soon be able to turn more than 200 years of freedom into rubble.
Obama’s media cheerleaders were claiming that he had a national mandate to impose draconian new gun control measures on the American people that would render the Second Amendment all but meaningless.
But they couldn’t have been more wrong. Together, you and the nra achieved the impossible—not only preserving our gun rights, but making them stronger.
Despite relentless, non-stop attacks from the Oval Office—even while every other American freedom has been in retreat—we still have our guns and our Second Amendment-protected freedoms. More states than ever now recognize the right to carry. More states than ever now recognize your Castle Doctrine right to defend your home and family. More states than ever have passed workplace protection laws for firearm owners and have outlawed government gun confiscations during times of emergency.
A few weeks from now, Obama will leave office, without having signed a single major anti-gun bill into law. That’s an enormous achievement that you and I can be proud of for the rest of our lives.
In this season of gift-giving, let’s make a commitment to one another to ensure that future generations will receive the same gift of freedom that was handed down to us.But as committed freedom fighters and NRA members, we also know that we’re headed for some tough, ugly fights in Congress next year. Whether it’s universal gun registration, semi-automatic bans, repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) or a host of other attacks on our rights, we now face a gun-ban army that’s more dangerous than ever—in a country that the national elections have revealed as more divided than ever.
We’re now facing a hard-core army of gun haters—led by Sens. Murphy, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)—who are eagerly waiting to use the next madman or terrorist to slaughter innocent Americans as an excuse to take our guns.
We’ll soon be facing hundreds and hundreds of newly elected congressional representatives and state legislators who don’t know the difference between a machine gun and a semi-automatic hunting rifle, but whose votes will decide freedom’s future.
We’ll soon be facing a thousand legislative and regulatory attacks at the federal, state and local levels all across the country—attacks that will be designed to spread NRA’s resources so thin that we won’t have the strength to fight back.
The gun-ban army is armed with unlimited dollars, ready to bury the Second Amendment under an avalanche of dishonesty and lies. But you and I have a priceless insurance policy for the Second Amendment that our enemies can never match—and that is the confidence that we can count on each other, every single day of the year, to stand together and fight.
As NRA members, you and I are part of an unbroken line of patriots who have answered freedom’s call, generation after generation and without fail. Our liberties were first won by ordinary but brave men and women who left their families and farms to risk their lives against the greatest military power the world had ever known. Since then, when ordinary Americans have been called upon to face extraordinary threats, they’ve risen to the challenge every single time.
And you’ve written your name in freedom’s history books as well. No one—and I mean no one—thought we could win battle after battle against Obama. But we did. We did it together, standing shoulder to shoulder, each one of us a vital link in our great NRA chain.
Now, as we face new threats that will test our strength to the limit, I’m asking you to make a new commitment in your heart, to make sure that this generation will not be the last to taste freedom’s blessings—especially our Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms. I’m asking you to make a commitment to continue your support in the coming year, to help take the truth to America, and to enlist more patriots to fortify our battle lines.
The challenges ahead will be historic and some of the toughest we’ve ever faced. Freedom’s future is indeed in our hands. But I know that we can and will keep our freedoms, because I’ve seen how freedom flows in your veins. And I know you’ll never give an inch of freedom’s sacred ground during the historic challenges we now face.
In this season of gift-giving, let’s make a commitment to one another to ensure that future generations will receive the same gift of freedom that was handed down to us. On behalf of everyone here at the National Rifle Association of America, please accept our sincere thanks for your hard work this past year, and our best wishes—to you and your loved ones—for the holidays ahead and the year to come.
