What Second Amendment activists have been warning American gun owners will be the “most important election in your lifetime” is bringing a reported record early turnout, with more than 10.5 million ballots cast as of Tuesday, according to Fox News.
Wednesday morning that number grew larger, according to the U.S. Elections Project, which put the voter turnout so far at more than 13.3 million. People have been standing in line in Georgia and Texas, according to published reports.
This turnout cold spell bad or good news for President Donald Trump. According to The Economist, it now appears Joe Biden will “best” Trump in the important states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona. North Carolina is too close to call, as is Ohio.
Hunters and gun owners are historically lethargic about voting. However, perhaps they learned a valuable, albeit painful lesson last year in Virginia, where only about 40 percent of the voters turned out. As a result, an anti-gun Democrat majority emerged in the legislature, and they swiftly adopted several gun control measures despite a huge turnout of gun owners at a protest outside the Capitol in Richmond. Democrats passed the laws anyway, despite a crowd estimated to be upwards of 22,000.
The real lesson of Virginia is not only that people need to vote, they need to remember Democrats will ignore their activism and pass gun control laws, anyway, the moment they control the legislature.
Now that dilemma is on the national level.
Over the past nearly four years Trump has been in office, he has fulfilled one of his most important campaign pledges, which was to bring balance back to the federal courts. The seriousness of that has been playing out in recent days with the nomination and confirmation hearings on Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Senate Democrats, all who have supported gun restrictions, have expressed fears of her confirmation while Republicans appear to have the votes to place her on the court.
On the campaign trail, Trump habitually reminds rally crowds of his defense of the Second Amendment, and also that he has filled more than 200 federal court vacancies with conservative—and presumably pro-rights—judges and two high court justices. At the mention of gun rights, crowds typically roar their approval, so the challenge is actually getting them to vote.
Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) have both professed support for restrictive gun control measures and Biden’s so-called “plan to end our gun violence epidemic” that stretches some 4,000 words. It includes bans on so-called “assault weapons” and original capacity magazines, one-gun-a-month restrictions, remove protections for gun manufacturers from junk lawsuits, “universal background checks,” promote state-level licensing requirements in order just to purchase a firearm, and other provisions.
If gun owners are going to protect their rights, according to Second Amendment advocates, they need to be registered to vote at their current address and then vote.
