Some Solid Suggestions For Moving Forward on Gun Rights

Donald Trump won and Republicans took back the Senate and maintained control of the House. All things considered, it looks like our gun rights are safe for a couple more years, at least.

It would be easy to sit back and just enjoy the fact that our rights are suddenly not about to be repealed if the powers that be got half a chance. But that doesn’t mean we should.

In fact, this means there’s more work to do. The question is, just what?

Ask a thousand gun rights supporters and you’ll likely get a couple thousand answers. But Dave Workman, writing at Guns Magazine, has some solid suggestions.

Here is a list of challenges for the coming year —

• Challenge: Resist 10-day waiting period bills with all of your energy. In states where such laws already exist, push back to repeal them. Consider legal action because such waiting periods are clearly unconstitutional under guidelines set down on the 2022 Supreme Court Bruen decision. The Court said “the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” There is no historical analogue showing a waiting period requirement existed at the time the Constitution was ratified.

• Challenge: Demand the Biden administration’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention be scrapped, and pressure Congress to make it happen. Likewise, demand Congress withhold all funding used to finance this office and make sure it never comes back.

• Challenge: Twenty-nine states now have permitless carry — so-called “constitutional carry” — laws. If your state isn’t on the list, you should approach friendly lawmakers and put forth legislation. Even if your bill goes nowhere, the mere fact it is being proposed will be enough to raise some eyebrows and divert the attention of anti-gunners away from other efforts.

• Challenge: Retired gun owners have time on their hands. Consider yourselves the “elder statesmen” of the firearms community. Make yourselves known. As you work through the legislative process, remember, “I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing this for my grandchildren. I have enjoyed this country’s liberty and I’m here to protect it for future generations.”

There’s more, including a list of threats that we should be on the lookout for at the state level. Just because federal gun control appears to be off the table for the next couple of years, that doesn’t mean gun control won’t be advancing all across the nation.

Anti-gunners aren’t about to rest, so gun rights supporters shouldn’t either.

And Workman’s list is a good, solid starting basis. I especially like his first one, the resisting 10-day waiting periods. Here in Georgia, a lawmaker has proposed such a waiting period for so-called assault weapons. There’s no basis for this, either in recent history or further back in time, but he’s trying to push it anyway.

It’s the law in some places and is being pushed for all firearms in others.

The truth is that some people don’t want you to own a gun. Intellectually, they may know that you’re not a threat and that bad people get guns illegally, but they’re still focused on you not having a firearm. It’s the only possible explanation for all of the efforts to make it harder to buy a gun lawfully.

Something Workman says above, though, is interesting, and that’s constitutional carry proposals, even if there’s no chance of them passing, as a way to distract anti-gunners. I say that’s a good idea, really. While I’m not big on grandstanding with legislation, what he’s suggesting is different. This is a delaying action. If they’re focused on shutting down constitutional carry, they’re not infringing further on people’s rights. That’s a very good thing and I hope to see it this coming year.