By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
OPINION: In an 800-word report about the possible re-election of former President Donald Trump to a second term in office, The Guardian revealed just how fearful gun control lobbying groups are that Joe Biden’s all-out war on gun owners and the Second Amendment would come to a screeching halt.
“With the former president set to speak at the NRA’s annual convention on Saturday,” writes Washington, DC-based Guardian reporter Joan E. Greve, “gun safety groups are bringing renewed attention to the potential consequences of a Trump victory in November. They fear that, if elected, Trump will follow through on his threat to roll back the firearm regulations enacted by Biden and expand gun rights at the expense of Americans’ safety.”
Second Amendment advocates and firearms experts would immediately challenge this statement on two specific grounds: 1) The groups to which Greve refers are not “safety” organizations but gun control, or even gun prohibition, efforts, and, 2) If Trump wins in November, he won’t “expand gun rights,” he will restore them by countermanding the restrictions enacted by Biden on constitutionally-enumerated and protected rights.
For an example of a genuine gun safety organization, the National Shooting Sports Foundation offers a program aimed at making communities safer.
The National Rifle Association has a network of tens of thousands of volunteer certified firearms instructors who offer courses on everything from basic home firearms safety to personal protection. Several recognized advanced “shooting schools” are located around the country, having provided training to armed private citizens and law enforcement and private security professionals, dignitaries and government officials.
Where is a roster of gun safety courses, led by certified firearms instructors, offered by Everytown for Gun Safety, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, or any of the other self-identified “gun safety” groups?
Throughout her report, The Guardian’s Greve refers to these “gun safety groups.”
Trump is scheduled to speak at the NRA convention in Dallas Saturday. The organization has had a rough five years, since a battle over leadership and allegations of irresponsible fiscal management first surfaced at the 2019 convention in Indianapolis. Longtime Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre came out the winner in that dispute, but earlier this year—as he was preparing for a courtroom battle in New York in a civil lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Letitia James—he announced his resignation, essentially his retirement. A small group of “reform” candidates for NRA Board positions was elected, and work will begin Monday on building new leadership when the new board meets Monday, following the three-day gathering.
The media treatment of the firearms issue—gun control versus gun rights—isn’t limited to The Guardian. As noted by TGM’s earlier report on a McLaughlin poll about media bias against guns, a majority of Americans is concerned about bias within news organizations including ABC, CBS and NBC.
STUNNING POLL: AMERICANS CONCERNED ABOUT ANTI-2A MEDIA BIAS
A report from WILX in Lansing, Mich., described gun control measures as “safety bills” promoted by a group called MSU Students Demand Action, an apparent offshoot of the national Moms Demand Action, a group backed by anti-gun billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And, no matter what gets passed into law, the story underscores the insatiable demand for more restrictions.
“Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a package of gun safety bills into law in 2023,” the report noted, in reaction to a shooting at Michigan State University. “Now, advocates say there’s still more to be done. And those same laws have the backing of many gun owners.”
Whether “many gun owners” back more restrictions may be debatable. WILX acknowledged it had “reached out to the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners and the Michigan Firearms Association for comment,” but didn’t hear back.
The media should hardly be surprised that the Second Amendment community supports Trump, considering who backs Biden in his bid for a second term. As noted last summer by PBS, “The nation’s most prominent gun safety groups are joining together to back President Joe Biden in 2024.” The roster read like a “Who’s Who” of gun control: Brady and its youth-led arm, Team Enough; Community Justice Action Fund; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action; and Giffords.
None of these groups treats the Second Amendment as protective of a fundamental right, but as a roadblock in the way of turning gun ownership into a regulated government privilege. The fact they are behind Biden automatically puts gun owners and rights activists on the opposite side. They see Biden and his gun prohibition policy as the problem, and Trump’s re-election as the solution.
