Probably the biggest story in 2024 was the political comeback of pro-Second Amendment President Donald J. Trump, who overcame what many believe were politically-motivated criminal prosecutions, efforts to keep his name off the ballot in a few states and two attempted assassination attempts, one of which nearly took his life.
Gun rights voters played a significant role in Trump’s return to the White House, turning out in huge numbers to bring an end to the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris gun control regime.
Trump’s triumphant campaign overshadowed the resignation and retirement of Wayne LaPierre as executive vice president of the National Rifle Association in January, just as a civil trial over alleged misuse of members’ money to support a lavish lifestyle was about to begin in New York. State Attorney General Letitia James secured a court victory in February, which resulted in a judgment requiring LaPierre and former NRA Chief Financial Officer Wilson “Woody” Phillips to repay millions of dollars to the organization, according to James’ office earlier this month.
NRA Board elections brought a handful of “reform” candidates to the 76-member body, but in the eyes of many, the association may take years to recover.
Meanwhile, Trump takes office for the second time on Jan. 20, 2025, dislodging what has possibly been the most anti-tun administration in U.S. history, and derailing a Democrat gun control agenda which many activists believe was determined to turn the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms into a government-regulated privilege.
A major part of Joe Biden’s downfall midway through 2024 was his administration’s inability to conceal his cognitive decline following his disastrous debate with Trump early in the summer. Now, in a televised admission, CBS reporter Jan Crawford, appearing on Face the Nation, said the “most under-reported story this year was President Biden’s mental decline.” It took the establishment media more than a year to acknowledge what many Americans already knew, and are now waiting for a further acknowledgement that the media is at least partly to blame for the subterfuge. The establishment media was just as determined as entrenched Democrats to keep Trump from winning.
Substituting Vice President Kamala Harris for Biden proved disastrous for Democrats, as her campaign—despite spending more than $1 billion—simply did not resonate with a majority of voters.
Another big story was the nation’s advancement in the field of permitless “Constitutional” carry. As of July, with Louisiana coming on board, there are now 29 states with permitless carry, a fact which infuriates the gun prohibition lobby and their Democrat allies in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. With Trump returning to office, it could get worse if the Republican majority ignores the media and adopts a national concealed carry reciprocity statute, which Trump has vowed to sign. Anti-gunners have only promised to double down in their opposition.
Earlier this month, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) released its 2024 Concealed Carry report, showing another decline in the number of active concealed carry licenses and permits in the U.S. It’s the second year in a row showing a drop, and CPRC suggests the decline is at least partially due to the expansion of constitutional carry.
“The figure now stands at 21.46 million – a 1.8% drop since last year,” the CPRC report states. “A major cause of the continuous decline is that 29 states now have Constitutional Carry laws after Louisiana allowing permitless carry, effective July 4, 2024. In other words, 46.8% of Americans (157.6 million) now live in Constitutional Carry States, with 67.7% of the land in the country (2.57 million square miles).”
States continuing to resist permitless carry are all controlled by Democrats.
According to the CPRC, Indiana has the highest percentage of permit holders at 23.1 percent followed by Alabama at 20.5 percent and Colorado at 17.7 percent. The data also shows five states now have over 1 million permit holders: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Court activities have also been big news in the firearms community.
One important case, Garland v. VanDerStok, has already been argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the challenge of the “final Rule” published by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which redefined the regulatory term “firearm.”
Other cases are continuing into 2025, including a challenge of Washington State’s ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines,” a challenge of gun show restrictions in California, another challenge against a “sensitive places” law in Maryland, a Texas case challenging the ban on carry in post offices, and other laws in New York, Illinois and elsewhere.
The conviction of Hunter Biden in federal court in Delaware of federal firearms violations—and his subsequent pardon by departing dad, Joe—which the president had earlier vowed he would not do—reinforced the belief among many Americans that a two-tiered system of justice exists in this country, one which applies to average citizens and the other which applies to people with political connections and/or a “D” next to their names. It was so egregious the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms called the pardon “a despicable exercise of the political double standard.”
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb was especially caustic, stating, “Joe Biden’s exercise of his pardon power is an outrage. He will leave office with his reputation in tatters, and his only lasting legacy will be one of deceit. His history of dishonesty is well established, so not even his most faithful allies will be able to gloss this over in the months and years ahead.
“The man who declared in his pardon message that he has followed a simple principle throughout his career to ‘just tell the American people the truth,’ has shown he’s nothing more than a pathological liar,” Gottlieb added. “Hunter Biden’s unconditional pardon is an insult to millions of American gun owners who have endeavored to follow increasingly restrictive gun laws which Joe Biden championed while his son violated them.”
An October Gallup Poll showed continued support for stronger gun control laws, with 56 percent supporting continued restrictions on the sale of firearms.
On the other hand, a December McLaughlin poll showed a majority of American voters believe incoming President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress will better protect Second Amendment rights than Democrats.
In July, a Pew Research report, citing earlier surveys, said about four in 10 adults live in a household with guns, including 32 percent who said they personally own a gun. The same survey revealed 61 percent still believe it is too easy to legally obtain a firearm in this country. Personal protection tops the list of reasons for gun ownership. By no surprise, 45 percent of Republicans and “GOP-leaning” conservatives own guns while only 20 percent of Democrats and “Democrat-leaners” own guns.
The school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin provided another opportunity for the gun ban lobby to exploit a tragedy for political purposes. President Biden aroused political ire for using the shooting to push his personal agenda calling for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “universal background checks.” However, the shooter was a 15-year-old girl, who could not have legally purchased a gun under any circumstances, so a background check was a moot point. Also irrelevant would be a semi-auto rifle ban because the killer used a pistol.
In a USA Today report, the newspaper quoted data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) which claimed there have been at least 488 mass shootings in the U.S. this year.
The same story, however, noted USA Today’s own database which said there have been 37 “incidents of mass killings with 160 victims in the United States in 2024 so far” this year. USA Today shares the database with Northeastern University and the Associated Press.
Once again, Chicago appears to be the national slaughterhouse for homicides as the year draws to a close. According to the popular website Heyjackass.com, there have been 608 murders in the Windy City so far this year, including 537 involving firearms. Last year in Chicago, the website said, the city logged 650 slayings.
