The fight to restore the Second Amendment will not be easy, even with Republicans in control of the presidency and the Congress.
President Donald Trump’s recent executive order instructing the federal government to review unconstitutional actions taken against the Second Amendment under former President Joe Biden’s watch is a welcome development. The order calls for a thorough review of enforcement measures, executive actions, and regulations the Biden regime imposed on gun owners and the broader firearms industry.
It’s high time that Washington responds positively to the rights of gun owners. For years, agencies like the ATF have functioned as a rogue government agency by persecuting gun owners and firearms businesses with arbitrary regulations and enforcement actions.
While the spirit of this executive order is laudable, seasoned political operatives are all-too familiar with empty promises coming from political leaders. Similarly, with Congress in session, it’s dawning on the Second Amendment community that passing solid pro-gun legislation at the federal level won’t be such an easy task.
As it stands right now, there are 218 Republicans, 215 Democrats, and two vacancies in the U.S. House. In the Senate, the margins are more favorable for Republicans, where they hold 53 seats to the Democrats 47, which includes two independent Senators who caucus with Democrats. In contrast, during Trump‘s first two years in office, Republicans had a 241 to 194 advantage in the House and 51 to 47 in the Senate. The numbers were more favorable to Republicans then, but no meaningful pro-gun reforms were even implemented at the time.
We also have to remember that there are several Republican members of the House such as Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Maria Salazar (FL), and Carlos Gimenez (FL) are known to be sell-outs and can easily kill any pro-gun bill by teaming up with House Democrats, who can be counted on to monolithically oppose pro-gun bills.
The numbers in the halls of Congress should serve as a wake-up call to pro-gun activists on the need for long-term electoral strategies. We have to remember the US is not a dictatorship. It still has a republican form of government where a certain degree of alignment must take place among the separate branches of government — the executive and legislative branches in this case — for legislation to ultimately be passed. These branches have to be in synergy for legislation to become a policy reality.
Let’s face it, the executive branch is not omnipotent. It cannot unilaterally repeal gun control measures such as the National Firearms Act and the Brady Act, which were passed through legislation that was eventually signed by the president. In effect, it’s going to take hard work in both chambers of Congress to realize these goals. This fight will not be a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination.
Presidents and congressmen come and go. But if a solid block of congressmen, who can survive primary and general election challenges, is built, there is a much stronger chance for pro-gun legislation to be passed in the long-term. To achieve such a favorable partisan alignment, gun owners must not just solely focus on presidential elections.
The approach gun owners should take is multi-pronged in nature and consists of legislative operations that seek to get as many pro-gun representatives elected both chambers of Congress, while also ensuring that the White House is occupied by a pro-gun champion. In this strategy, there’s still room for litigation against unconstitutional gun control measures passed at the state and municipal levels. On top of that, gun owners will continue doing yeoman’s work at the state level and opening new fronts through nullification and other measures that challenge unconstitutional gun grabs coming from DC.
One thing is clear: putting all our eggs in the presidential basket is not going to cut it.
