Democrats are doing their utmost to keep the Second Amendment-related hot takes from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, and even President Donald Trump in the news cycle. They see the assertions that no one peaceably carries a gun to a protest and contentions that having two magazines is a sign of evil intent as a wedge they can drive between Second Amendment supporters and Republicans during the midterms.
That might end up happening, but as I’ve previously stated, it’s not going to result in gun owners turning out in droves to support Democrats… even if they start pushing the utterly nutty notion that Donald Trump has abolished the Second Amendment.
This is the about-face of Donald Trump, the cronies he has placed in office and a large portion of the Republican base on the issue of firearms and the sanctity of Second Amendment rights. By now, everyone knows about the unprovoked killing of demonstrator Alex Pretti by federal agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez, and the horrified reaction of the president (“you can’t have guns”) and his flaks that Pretti had a pistol (which he did not draw or threaten the officers with).
Whatever happened to Republicans’ reverence not only for firearms ownership, but legal carry, either concealed or open, as well as their ingrained suspicion of federal law enforcement agencies? This abrupt change for a party that only recently was enamored of “Second Amendment solutions” and the public brandishing of AR-15s can be found in the post-World War II history of conservatives and guns.
For all his claims that Trump’s comments have led to Republicans abandoning their support for the Second Amendment, Salon columnist Mike Lofgren can’t point to a single example beyond the administration officials I mentioned above.
More importantly, Lofgren never mentions the pushback that those comments have received from folks on the right; not just Second Amendment organizations, but Republican members of Congress like Reps. Chip Roy, Greg Steube, and Sen. Ted Budd, among others.
Lofgren claims that the comments from Trump administration officials (and the president himself) are an indication of hypocrisy on the right; a modern Mulford Act playing out on social media.
In the 60s, Lofgren writes, “conservatives were not about to concede gun rights to the Black Panthers then, nor to their political opponents now.”
The problem with that argument is that no Republican has introduced any gun control legislation in response to Alex Pretti’s death. Yes, I’ve seen some X accounts argue that “liberal commies” should be disarmed before they have the chance to disarm the rest of us, but a) who knows if those accounts are run by humans or bots and b) that position has absolutely zero support among conservatives at large and Second Amendment advocates in particular.
A right of the people is just that; a right for all of us. It doesn’t matter where we are on the political spectrum, our views on hot-button cultural issues, the religion we practice, or the color of our skin. And despite Lofgren’s desperate fantasy, I see no sign that any of the comments by Noem, Bessent, and Pirro have caused Republicans writ large to renounce the Second Amendment and embrace gun control… even if it’s limited to their political opponents.
Anti-gun politicians can argue all they want that the the Second Amendment protects the right to carry at a protest (a position that I wholeheartedly agree with), but when they continue to push for bans on carrying in a variety of places, prohibiting the sale and possession of commonly-owned arms, and raising taxes and fees on those of us who are exercising our 2A rights, they’re not going to persuade any Second Amendment supporter to vote for them in the midterms.
The real danger for Republicans is that Second Amendment supporters stay home this election cycle, and I think that is a legitimate concern. Yes, the DOJ Civil Rights Division is doing historic work defending the Second Amendment against state and local governmental infringement, but the DOJ continues to defend the vast majority of federal gun statutes. The prospect of getting a pro-2A bill to Trump’s desk appears dim, and it’s unclear whether there’s even a simple majority willing to vote for national right to carry reciprocity in the House, much less a cloture-proof majority in the Senate.
I’ve suggested that President Trump take bold action where he can act, including telling Pirro to recognize and respect valid concealed carry licenses from every state in the Union instead of vowing to prosecute peaceable gun owners who mistakenly believe that their carry permits from their home state allow them to carry in D.C.
🚨2A NEWS🚨
A vote in the House of Representatives is expected this week on H.R. 2189, a bill to exempt certain “less-than-lethal projectile device[s]” from the unconstitutional National Firearms Act, the Gun Control Act, and the Pittman-Robertson Act’s firearm excise tax. pic.twitter.com/JMWsvmQzcX
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 9, 2026
This is good, but in all honestly it’s not going to do much to juice gun owner enthusiasm for the midterms. The best way to do that is for the president to take high profile actions that will immediately benefit gun owners and Second Amendment supporters. Donald Trump hasn’t come close to abolishing the Second Amendment as Lpfgren claims, but his administration still needs to find a way to deliver some significant 2A victories between now and November to shore up the support of 2A advocates and activists.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment.
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