U.S.A. – -(AmmoLand.com)- In the wake of the midterms, it is time to take a sober assessment of what the major threats to our Second Amendment rights will be. Legislative threats at the federal level are off the table through 2020, and quite possibly through 2022. But that doesn’t mean the Second Amendment is out of the woods.
The fact is, the threat to the Second Amendment has become more and more multi-faceted over the last 25 years. Recently, the threats are multiplying. Here’s a rundown.
State Legislation
In deep blue states, more anti-Second Amendment legislation is coming. You can bet on it. Exact details will be determined and may shift depending on events. But this is a threat faced before and it is one that is non-existential.
Initiatives
These have been used – most recently with I-1639 in Washington State – to enact legislation that was defeated in the legislature by the grass-roots advocacy of Second Amendment supporters. This threat holds the potential to negate the usual grass-roots advocacy – and this type of battle is tailor-made for Bloomberg’s billions to blanket the airwaves with the usual lies.
Silicon Valley Censorship
Legislation and initiatives (as well as court rulings) can be devastating, but they are not existential threats to the Second Amendment. Silicon Valley’s increasing thumbs on the scale, though double standards in enforcing terms of service, as well as their juggling of search results, and the potential to carry out de-platforming against Second Amendment supporters (just wait – that will be a demand soon) could knock us off the field.
When Second Amendment supporters make their arguments and can spread facts and logic to counter mis-reporting by the media, they generally win these fights. Mobilizing voters and volunteer support for candidates also gets done online. If Silicon Valley can shut that off, Second Amendment supporters will be in a huge bind.
Cutting off Financial Services
Another existential threat is taking place in the boardrooms of big banks and payment processors. When anti-Second Amendment legislation has been defeated (or pro-Second Amendment legislative leaders don’t even bring it up for a vote), some banks and payment processors have begun to decline financial services to gun companies who don’t accept the Bloomberg agenda.
While at the present time, it is only some banks, and limited to manufacturers, the threat could very well be expanded. Indeed, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who won re-election this Tuesday, has been waging a campaign to get banks and insurance companies to drop the NRA. The goal: To bankrupt the largest organization defending our right to keep and bear arms.
Boycotts and Stigmatization
This is a slow-burning threat that could become existential. Companies have, in the past, offered affinity discounts to the NRA (and many other groups). Most people who join the NRA don’t do it for those, but for their commitment. Those became news as many companies ended them in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
Eric Holder once famously declared that they needed to brainwash people against guns. That’s not exactly true. What they are doing is brainwashing people to falsely equate the NRA with domestic terrorists and as child killers. An outed NRA member working at a company could soon find himself ostracized – or terminated. References would dry up. Sadly, only California, D.C., and New York state forbid discrimination on the basis of political viewpoint. Passage of these laws across the country may be necessary.
These threats will not go away just by wishing, it will take a long, sustained effort. The battle for our Second Amendment rights is ongoing – so get ready to pitch in. Join the NRA, support NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF, and show your fellow Americans who we as Second Amendment supporters really are.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.