Former President Donald J. Trump gave the keynote address at the recent NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas and had some important words for those in attendance. He urged attendees to get excited, go back home and spread the word, get active ahead of the upcoming national election and – most importantly – to vote.
Just before speaking to the crowd, the former president – the presumptive 2024 Republican party nominee for The White House – received the endorsement of the NRA.
While giving his remarks, former President Trump exclaimed, “You’ve got to get all your friends and all the gun owners they have to go in, they have to vote. If they vote, there’s nobody that can beat us!”
The firearm industry couldn’t agree more and it’s an effort that we’ve been focused on for many years with the #GUNVOTE voter registration, education and mobilization campaign.
Criticism and Warning
The former president had plenty to say about the Biden administration and its never-ceasing attack on the Second Amendment. After all, President Joe Biden deemed the firearm industry “the enemy” from the debate stage in 2019 and has done all he can to punish us ever since.
Former President Trump reiterated that the liberties and Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans are “under siege” and that those rights will be on the ballot in November. He warned convention-goers that the current president will “come for your guns – 100 percent,” if he wins a second term.
Contrasting his approach to that of President Biden’s, the former president declared, “I promise you this, with me at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, no one will lay a finger on your firearms — just as took place for four years when I was your president.”
On the other hand, former President Trump warned, “If President Joe Biden gets four more years they are coming for your guns, 100 percent certain.” He continued by reminding attendees that the president, “has a 40-year-record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.”
“We have to have a Second Amendment that is meaningful,” the former president wrapped up. “Gun owners must vote. We want a landslide. So, I think you’re a rebellious bunch, but let’s be rebellious and vote this time.”
Industry Walks the Walk
The firearm industry agrees with those sentiments. It’s why NSSF launched the #GUNVOTE initiative to ensure those casting ballots at the ballot box are informed of how to register to vote, and when and where to cast a ballot and to make the most impactful decisions to safeguard their rights and freedoms.
#GUNVOTE will help voters figure out when and where to cast their vote. Early voting and absentee voting differ from state to state, but #GUNVOTE conveniently lists out all U.S. states with links to their respective Secretary of State’s website where more details about the process can be found. For those who wait until election day to cast their ballot, #GUNVOTE will also tell voters of their polling place so that exercising the right to vote is as easy as possible.
Make a Difference
Voter education efforts around the Second Amendment and pro-industry issues are key before casting a ballot. Of course, self-defense issues and the very ability and right to purchase and possess firearms is an inalienable right endowed upon law-abiding Americans and engrained within the U.S. Constitution. Those issues – ensuring law-abiding Americans can protect themselves, their families and their property – are what’s most often thought about.
However, issues such as access to public lands and the ability to use those lands for hunting and recreational target shooting are important. Supporting those activities perpetuates the success and health of wildlife management and conservation efforts on hundreds of millions of acres of federal and state lands. The ability for hunters and recreational target shooters to choose the ammunition that works best for them matters too, as recent efforts by federal bureaucrats to prohibit those activities and the use of traditional ammunition have become common.
Further efforts by the Biden administration are crippling the very ability of Americans to own and operate a firearm-related business, risking the livelihoods of more than 380,000 hardworking Americans employed within the firearm industry.
Even still, attacks by the Biden administration on the ability of lawful businesses to produce and export firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition to countries abroad not only negatively impacts communities here at home across the country, but also places America at risk and restricts our national security efforts.
All of these issues are centered around the sacred Second Amendment and the protection of it from attacks by anti-gun, anti-industry activists. The Biden administration’s “whole-of-government” effort to cripple the industry and the rights it exists to protect are a clearcut sign of how important it is for informed Americans to vote at the ballot box.
The firearm industry has worked to further those goals – to protect the rights of Americans to lawfully purchase firearms, to practice and become educated, responsible gunowners and to pass those traditions on to the next generations.
The firearm industry agrees with former President Trump. Gun owners need to #GUNVOTE – so they don’t risk their rights.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
13 Responses
“I promise you this, with me at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, no one will lay a finger on your firearms — just as took place for four years when I was your president.”
Bump-stocks have entered the chat. 🙁
I’m still voting for him, just to piss off a certain family member…
But haven’t you heard? The smart people, who tell me what to do, told me he was worse than Hitler! Worse! Trump himself said he was going to be a dictator! He said drinking bleach would cure Covid! He said neo-Nazis were fine people! Putin got him elected to destroy America! Can you imagine what it would be like? 2019 was a living nightmare! It’s like everyone has forgotten how difficult life was back then. (I have ignorant and emotionally-invested family members too. I don’t understand it.)
I can say for the boomer generation of anti trump it is just the power of the TV. Even if they know not everything on TV is real they will still believe it as it is not wrong when every channel says the same thing. To catch some of the stragglers have a controlled opposition channel that will “resist” the message while doing nothing to oppose the real civil liberties infringements (focus on emotional hot buttons for meaningless battles/victories) all while being owned by the same people who own the other big channels. For those under 40 (and some a bit above) replace TV with college and social media for similar results. Nobody is immune to propaganda but most people are way more vulnerable than a vastly smaller number of others.
But Trump said it would be a bloodbath!!! I saw him say it! He hates black people and the gaes!
The TV people wouldn’t lead me astray. The debate moderators are fair journalists. Democrats are for acceptance and love. Uncle Joe just gave a positive and uplifting commencement speech to young black people because he wants to help them. Some clapped when he told them America hates them.
LOL yeah about what I hear from my dad and most of his friends. My mom is starting to connect some dots but it is a hard thing to admit you were fooled for decades.
After they announced the 10,000 indictments against Trump, my dad asked how people could support him now. I said you know they’re persecuting him because he’s a political opponent, right? He looked confused. It’s crazy because he’s a retired judge and lawyer, and still can’t see beyond the partisan lens. As best I can tell, he made a decision in law school that the Democrats were the “good guys” because they were “pro-labor” while the Republicans were the bad guys for the big, evil corporations. He even wanted to be a labor lawyer right after school. Dems will still pretend to be for the “little guy” to hang onto support from people like my dad.
If open borders were a good thing, then why aren’t they bragging about it? Why do they play dumb, and say things like the border is secure? They play these games to hang onto people like my dad. It’s sad, but true. During the 2020 madness, I said you know this is a cultural revolution, right? He nodded yes. He understands on some level, but he can’t bring himself to support anyone other than Democrats since he spent his pre-judge days being very politically involved. You’re not supposed to be overtly political when you’re a judge because that scares people, but the dirty little secret is that judges are the most political. That’s how they became judges (political connections).
Voting for Trump is a no-brainer.
Any gun buff who doesn’t vote for him has no brains!
baffling to me that dems don’t understand this. if dems would drop this silly gun control issue as a central platform they would capture millions of voters and dominate in politics.
They’d also have to go back to sane border control and abortion that is “safe, legal, and rare.” Oh and stop acting like it’s a grand idea to chop little girls’ breasts off, and transitioning 5 year old boys “into” girls. But they will never do those things because that’s everything to them.
More people are catching on to their schemes which is why they’re desperate to replace the population with people that have a track record of electing so-shall-list tyrants.
those other issues are less important to most people. (over half have guns while very few are hermaphrodites or personally need an abortion.) we overlook a ridiculous amount of trump nonsense too.
tons of labor folks quietly voted trump in the past and they would do so again in a heartbeat if biden would drop this gun control nonsense.
can you imagine what a huge boost it would be to biden if he came out tomorrow and said something like “i’m here to bring the country together and admit my party has been wrong about guns. the supreme court has spoken and we all have an individual god given right to keep and bear arms. it’s necessary for a free republic. i’m here to bring us together and stop bickering about this issue. the government will stop infringing on the right to bear arms and my party will no longer pursue this issue as a political matter. join with me today and celebrate the bill of rights and the freedoms fundamental to our security and prosperity.”
i guarantee he’d yank back at least 40 percent of independent voters and reps if he did this.
I seriously doubt there are that many single issue independent voters. 95% of serious gun people will be voting R from here on out. The few serious gun people that vote for Dems are hardcore communists. The rest are Fudds. No offense, but Dems giving up on gun control is a pipe dream with no grounding in reality. They will NEVER go back to the pre-Clinton era guns aren’t a left-right issue. They’ve had decades to do so, and the rhetoric and wannabe tyrant policies have gone hard left just like every other topic has.
I know that most people don’t want to tranz their children. However, normal/informed people are horrified to discover how important that is to modern Democrats (and it is very important to them). The only people left voting for Democrats are: hardcore leftists, ignorant people that don’t pay attention, people who stand to profit from welfare (incl. white collar welfare student loan payoffs, climate scam trillions, etc.), and the people who long ago picked a partisan side, and can’t dream of voting for the other team.
You seem like a reasonable guy. You’re obviously rooting for Democrats. If you don’t mind me asking: 1) Why do you still want to support them? and 2) What’s keeping you from supporting Republicans. Full disclosure: I’m a former Democrat-leaning independent, so I probably understand this topic better than most. I might be busy today, but I’ll check back late or tomorrow.
thanks dude. i appreciate the dose of cold water. maybe you’re right it’s just a fantasy.
it’s just that i’m seeing that gun control has not been a winning issue for the dems. so i’m not understanding why they keep trying.
maybe the dems know they already have dem gun owner votes so why bother changing the rhetoric? maybe they think no reps will ever turn and go back? (would you consider it, even slightly, if they fully embraced gun rights?)
i’m suggesting there are gun owners out there who would switch back to voting for dems if dems simply drop the gun control issue.
i assume most pols act based on polling data. (but as we saw with trump winning sometimes the polls are wrong.) and when it comes to guns people are not honest in polls because of privacy issues.
at the end of the day what would dems lose by giving up on the gun issue? what would the dem voters do if the dem pols did? the dem voters would not turn and vote trump in response. so dems would only stand to pick up extra people. i must be missing something.
“at the end of the day what would dems lose by giving up on the gun issue?”
First I think gun control means too much for them now to give up on it. I think they’re working toward a controllable populace which is why they’re laser focused on replacing American values and traditions with something very different. If they did an about-face, it would infuriate and confuse their base. I don’t think it would bring many gun voters because people wouldn’t trust Dems to be pro-2A after their trashing of the Constitution for years.
Personally speaking as a former independent, I’ve never been a one issue voter. I think the lines are clearly drawn for one issue voters. When I came to the conclusion that Trump was the logical choice for 2016, I had not fully given up on Democrats. When they began pushing the Russia nonsense, I was highly skeptical of them. Then when Democrats went all in on ruining Kavanaugh (they never even proved that he met that liar), I decided I was officially done with them. It’s not that Republicans are good. It’s that Democrats are horrible. They can’t be trusted. They’re now openly highly immoral. They hate the Constitution and American traditions. That’s why they’ll never be pro-2A.