United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- The presidential election next year is going to be very important in determining the future of our rights. It will not be the only big story – there is the pending Supreme Court case involving gun regulations in New York City which will see a ruling issued in 2020. Second Amendment supporters need to plan for the aftermath of both of these – not just if the results are bad news, but also if they have successful outcomes.
Planning for bad news is important – if you fail to plan, you are essentially planning to fail, and that is one area of strategic incompetence that Second Amendment supporters should not tolerate. Plan for contingencies, whether it is a landslide loss of a national election, a mass shooting in your locale, if a local business prohibits lawful carrying of firearms, or if an anti-Second Amendment extremist in office decides to emulate Andrew Cuomo’s abuses.
But there also has to be a plan to follow up on a successful outcome. The Supreme Court is likely to issue a ruling on the merits of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. City of New York, New York. That ruling will, in all likelihood, strike the regulations in question down on Second Amendment grounds – the only question is the rationale they will use to do so. In this case, a successful outcome will involve the court invoking strict scrutiny with regards to Second Amendment claims.
What did not get much attention was a brief filed by five United States Senators, led by Sheldon Whitehouse, all of whom have horrible records on your Second Amendment rights. For all intents and purposes, the brief threatened court-packing if New York City lost the case. One of those Senators signing the brief was Richard Durbin, the Senate Minority Whip. Let that sink in: The number two Democrat in the United States Senate was on board with threatening to pack the Supreme Court if it upholds the Second Amendment.
While that ruling would be a great victory that will shift the political landscape on Second Amendment issues, that brief should tell any Second Amendment supporter that the ruling will not be the end of the fight. There will still need to be challenges to the onerous laws in states like California and New York. Those will have good chances of ultimate success, but even after we strike down bans on modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms, the various licensing schemes, and a host of other infringements, the battle will not be over.
In fact, the important battle will be taking place as these court cases go on. It will be to persuade our fellow Americans to let these rulings stand. This battle will be crucial, as a ruling invoking strict scrutiny for laws challenged on Second Amendment grounds will be widely denounced in the media. They will be targeting your fellow Americans with a campaign to stoke fear and hatred of anyone who stands up for the Second Amendment. Combine that with pushes for corporate gun control, Silicon Valley censorship, and financial blacklisting, and you can see why the fight would just be starting.
In essence, to defend the favorable ruling, Second Amendment supporters will need to ensure that the White House and Senate remain in the hands of pro-Second Amendment officials.
The key, though, is to find which of our fellow Americans can be persuaded to oppose the efforts to overturn a failed ruling. The successful arguments will differ with each of them: Some will be persuaded to oppose court-packing. Others will be swayed by the facts. Still others will see the manifest injustice of wrongly punishing millions of Americans who did not carry out horrific deeds through the infringement of their liberties. The right approach and techniques will differ with each American you are trying to persuade.
Planning beyond 2020 also extends to after the election next year. Under the 22nd Amendment, President Trump, should he win re-election, will be unable to run for re-election. Second Amendment supporters will have a big role in figuring out who to support as his successor – and to keep an anti-Second Amendment extremist from threatening the progress that we have made to date. The way to do that is to successfully persuade our fellow Americans to not view the defense of our God-given rights as a deal-breaker, or they will use their God-given First Amendment rights to wipe out the Second Amendment.
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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