From The Editor

By now the reality that we have a new president who is indeed a change from the old is evident to anyone who doesn’t live under a rock. It seems as if folks are either 100 percent for Donald Trump or dead-set against him. Very few “middle ground” opinions are being expressed or heard. As usual in a political scenario, common sense remains at a premium.

In as far as constitutionalists (or more specifically Second Amendment supporters) go, almost all are of the opinion that nearly anyone would have been better for president than Hillary Clinton. That she would have ushered in even more restrictive laws affecting firearms and ammunition is unarguable. After eight years of the Obama regime, gun owners could look past a new candidate’s many flaws if he/she was only on the right side of the firearms debate. Hillary ignored the gun owners of America, and it came back to bite her . . . again. Of course, her stand on firearm ownership was only one of the many things that lost her the bid for president, but I don’t think that the American gun owner, and by extension the NRA, gets enough credit for defeating the candidate that many conservatives agree would have been a complete disaster. The new category of “deplorable” was used by Mrs. Clinton to describe those who didn’t agree with her vision of America, and it was those same “deplorables” who helped usher her out of the bid for the presidency.

We have said many times in this publication that the Left was making a serious mistake underestimating the power of a fully aroused Right. It is most interesting to watch them console one another over the Trump victory. It is also a bit shocking to see the depth of their ignorance about the real mainstream America. It has been a wake-up call for them in the strongest terms, but even this defeat is being ignored in their overwhelming and self-serving denial of the facts.

Donald Trump declared his allegiance to the Second Amendment many times during his campaign, and it remains to be seen if he will honor those pledges. At this point actions do speak louder than words, and he has certainly taken action on a number of other long-festering problems. As I write this, he has yet to address any significant issues within the gun world, but I am optimistic that he will – cautiously optimistic.

We have been misled before, and by Republican presidents who made similar campaign promises to secure the support of gun-owners. Mr. Trump is certainly cut from a different cloth than the average politician, and that stands in his favor. He would do well to recognize the often-underrated power that the gun lobby possesses. I believe the phrase is: “Ignore us at your peril.” Firearms owners are very often single-issue voters, and my personal opinion is that the Second Amendment is a litmus test for all other issues. If you don’t support the constitutional right to own a firearm, chances are there isn’t much else we will agree on.

There is also a feeling among some firearms enthusiasts that we have beat the wolf from the door and can now sit back to enjoy our victory. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to rid ourselves of ineffectual and harmful gun laws. We have been presented with the opportunity to correct some long-standing problems and guarantee that a change in administrations doesn’t resurrect them. It is time to reinforce the Second Amendment and by extension the Constitution so that it can stand solidly in the face of an unfriendly political environment. The Second Amendment is the cornerstone of the Constitution and must be unassailable; without it, the rest of the document is virtually useless. This moment in history has happened on our watch, and we cannot squander the opportunity to set things right. If we do not take the initiative, future generations of gun owners will look upon us as the ones who lost the Second Amendment and ultimately the Constitution itself.

I remain hopeful about the declared intentions of Donald Trump. However, I’m also remembering that old warrior’s adage about one’s enemies: “When the enemy is in sight, be careful. When he is not in sight, be doubly careful.” – Gut Ziel