United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- To call the 2022 midterm elections a near-disaster is like calling Sheila Jackson-Lee’s Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act a mild infringement on our Second Amendment rights. The “red wave” that wasn’t is bad news. Second Amendment supporters have a LOT of hard lessons to learn, and fast, because the 2024 election is truly for all the marbles.
Candidate Quality Matters
Bad candidates in Pennsylvania and Colorado cost Second Amendment supporters big-time. Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz both brought significant baggage (of different types), and while Oz campaigned hard, it wasn’t enough. Two House seats went to anti-Second Amendment extremists. Worse, the Pennsylvania state house flipped.
It wasn’t just in Pennsylvania. In Colorado, a lousy Senate candidate meant Second Amendment champion Lauren Boebert had a close call. Joe O’Dea managed to alienate a lot of Second Amendment supporters on a big non-Second Amendment issue.
Second Amendment supporters need to nominate strategically. Candidates who make stupid comments – whether on Second Amendment issues or non-Second Amendment issues – ought to be passed on. We can’t afford it.
Mail-In Ballots Matter
Mail-in ballots again overcame election day turnout. It’s time for Second Amendment supporters to get on the field in this area. Yeah, it’s not what should happen in an ideal world. Ideally, election campaigns should involve serious discussions about issues and convincing voters, not just collecting and banking ballots.
Well, we left an ideal world long ago, and now, it’s about preserving our rights. If it is possible to make these ballots secure, Second Amendment supporters should do so, but if not, they have to get in the game. They have a choice: Either we start to build a ballot-collection operation of our own, or someday, anti-Second Amendment extremists will collect our guns.
That’s the choice.
The Schools Matter
The youth vote is being touted as something that saved anti-Second Amendment extremists. The fact is that schools have become filled with indoctrination, and that includes anti-Second Amendment indoctrination. The Supreme Court’s MYSRPA v. Bruen decision is good news, but it will eventually fall unless we address the ongoing anti-Second Amendment indoctrination in schools.
You Can’t Beat Something With Nothing
Several mass shootings, notably those in Buffalo and Uvalde, have made it clear that Second Amendment supporters have to offer something proactive to address these events. In an ideal world, nobody would be coming after our rights after one of these events, but they are, and if we don’t offer active, positive, alternatives to address mass shootings, we will end up with an Australia-style gun ban.
Don’t Offend Voters
Kari Lake made a big mistake when she reportedly told McCain Republicans to “go to hell,” as did Charlie Crist when he told people who voted for DeSantis that their support wasn’t welcome. If you tell a voter to “go to hell,” they will gladly decide not to vote for you… and may well vote for the other side, and work to convince their friends and family to join them.
Look On The Bright Side
One thing that also will be essential is not succumbing to despair. Despite a downer result, more Americans voted pro-Second Amendment than anti-Second Amendment. The demographic time bomb is not happening. Pro-Second Amendment leadership will control the House of Representatives.
Second Amendment supporters have a lot to do to prepare for the immense task of defeating anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels in 2023 and 2024, and that preparation starts now.
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.
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