Weekly Spotlight 8/8/24 – 8/15/24
2024 Election Shaping Up To Be Critical Fight To Protect 2A Rights
With less than 90 days until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have shored up the Democratic nomination and has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. As the presidential race takes shape, along with others down the ballot, it is important to pay close attention to the process through the lens of the Second Amendment.
When considering policy proposals at face value, the Harris-Walz ticket represents a continuation of the extreme anti-gun agenda that has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration. Since taking office in 2021, the Biden Administration has repeatedly called for lawmakers to pass so-called “assault weapons” bans, universal background checks, and so-called “red flag” laws that undermine due process.
Governor Walz’s tenure as Governor of Minnesota has followed suit. As a recent article by AWR Hawkins highlights, Governor Walz has made many of the same policy prescriptions as the Biden Administration. In 2018, then a candidate for governor, Walz pushed an “assault weapons” ban on the campaign trail, and in his 2023 State of the State address, classified self-defense firearms as “weapons of war.” His actions backed his words – in 2023 Walz signed universal background check and red flag legislation into law in Minnesota. Yet conversely, Tim Walz is a gun owner who grew up hunting and spent over 20 years in the Army National Guard. When he served in Congress, he represented a rural district and was seen as a champion of gun rights and hunting.
To protect the progress that has been made to safeguard the Second Amendment in recent years, Americans should reject any anti-gun ticket. While steps have been taken in states nationwide to ensure law-abiding Americans can defend themselves, it can all be lost if individuals do not make their voices heard in this election.
Federal action to install legislation at the state level that Governor Walz has enacted, and Vice President Harris has called for, would be a blatant infringement on the Second Amendment rights of Americans and would threaten the right to self-defense for future generations. This election and races down the ballot for state legislatures and Congress underscore the need for Americans to register to vote and to cast their pro-2A ballot this November.
For more information on the USCCA’s training and educational resources, click here.
Join us in advocating for sensible legislative solutions that
protect our freedoms and help save lives!
OTHER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Daily Caller: Tim Walz Once Received ‘A’ Grade From NRA — Then He Shot Left
Wallace White
Walz signed a controversial “red flag law” in 2023 that gives the state the right to confiscate weapons of people with a “high risk of injuring themselves or others with a firearm,” according to a governor’s office press release. Pro-Second Amendment groups like the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and the NRA argue the laws strip due process rights from firearms owners, with people often not informed of the confiscation order, and criminal charges not being necessary for their guns to be at risk.
Newsmax: NSSF: Gun Background Checks Top 1M For 60th Straight Month
Nick Koutsobinas
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) announced Monday that July 2024 marked the 60th consecutive month for more than one million background checks of gun sales at retail locations. According to the NSSF, the number of National Instant Criminal Background Checks conducted for gun sales in July was 1,060,790. “The last time monthly background checks associated with the sale of a firearm at retail were below 1 million was July 2019, when 830,579 background checks for firearm sales were recorded,” the NSSF noted.
Associated Press (Maryland): Federal Appeals Court Upholds Maryland’s Ban On Assault-Style Weapons
Michael Kunzelman and Lea Skene
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s decade-old ban on military-style firearms commonly referred to as assault weapons. A majority of 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges rejected gun rights groups’ arguments that Maryland’s 2013 law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review this case in May, when the full 4th Circuit was still considering it. Maryland officials argued the Supreme Court should defer to the lower court before taking any action, but the plaintiffs said the appeals court was taking too long to rule.
The Truth About Guns: Federal Lawmakers File Bill To Stop State Gun Tax Schemes
Mark Chesnut
With more and more states attempting to place “sin taxes” on the purchase of firearms and ammunition to fund other unconstitutional gun control initiatives, a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Representative have teamed up in an attempt to put an end to the travesty. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, introduced the “Freedom from Unfair Gun Taxes Act,” a measure that would prohibit states from implementing excise taxes on firearms and ammunition to fund gun control programs.
###