With Rights At Stake,
Get Involved!
Every vote counts. Even if you’re in an anti-gun county or state, encourage your
employees, customers and vendors to exercise their right and make their voice heard.
I’ve never been one for politics. Politics were largely a mystery in how they worked and were (frankly) too dramatic. Plus, with all the negativity, why would anyone want to be part of it?
Generally speaking, we’re taught from a young age to avoid politics. The topic alone starts arguments at family gatherings, causes offense among friends and is deliberately divisive in how the media portrays the issues. Avoiding politics has led us to where we are today, though. Politicians pass laws that violate the Constitution and do not reflect the true will of their constituents because we’re not involved. We’ve become disconnected from the process.
Our Founding Fathers intended for We the People to participate directly, not only by serving in office but most importantly, by directly communicating with our elected representatives to ensure they follow the will of the people in every decision they make.
Impetus For Change
Before recent events, I, too, followed this misguided tactic of avoiding politics until politicians in my home state of Colorado started to push their extreme anti-gun policies, which only affected the rights of law-abiding citizens.
As more gun laws passed, crime continued to increase. The real aim of these bills is to drive my family’s gun store out of business and attempt to take away my constitutionally protected right to defend myself. They made it personal, and I got active and educated very quickly.
As I sat in the Capitol this past legislative session, waiting for my name to be called to testify against one of the 10 anti-gun bills introduced in Colorado, I realized I wouldn’t have to be here every few weeks fighting for my rights if Colorado Democrats didn’t hold a supermajority in the first place.
If we could flip some of these seats — which is easier to do than most people think — we wouldn’t have to keep playing defense. Progressive politicians recognize this and have been successfully targeting swing districts. Bloomberg, Soros and other radical left-wing billionaires have spent a fortune in nearly every state to get politicians elected to local and state governments that support their radical agendas. These states have passed the bulk of anti-gun legislation in the last few years.
Ultimately what they’re paying for is marketing to influence your vote. The more votes they can influence, the more they can move the needle and change local politics. We’ve seen far too many states fall victim to radical gun bans the past few years due to this strategy.
Every Vote Matters
When egregious gun laws are passed, many people blame their governor, but these laws wouldn’t even be put on the governor’s desk if we stopped them in the state legislature.
How do we do it? This is done through political action — by making sure we elect pro-gun individuals at the state house and state senate level. It means we must vote and encourage others to vote. Apathetic voters, especially the millions of gun owners and hunters who aren’t even voting, must be encouraged to step up and vote for our rights.
Many Americans have, unfortunately, given up on voting because they believe it’s rigged or they don’t like either side. Truthfully, I can’t write this article without wearing a tinfoil hat, but I have to ask, is it easier to turn a blind eye on your state and country than to take a few minutes out of your day and vote?
Do not surrender what many countries do not have. Imagine if your vote was the deciding factor. In many cases, it’s incredible how close some of these races really are and the power a single vote has. Just a few voters can change the makeup of state legislatures.
A great example recently took place during the Colorado Republican Primary Election earlier this year, which determines the Republican candidates who will be on the November ballot. In Colorado House District 58, which encompasses the Durango area, Larry Suckla won by just three votes. If only four more people had voted, it could have fundamentally changed the outcome of this election.
In 2022, in House District 50, Democrat Mary Young defeated Republican Ryan Gonzalez by only 330 votes.
These are just two examples, but there are many swing districts nationwide capable of easily flipping one way or another. Swing districts hold the key to the future of our rights, especially our gun rights — depending on who wins.
Complacency Has Consequences
Just as local and state politicians have the biggest impact on our lives, these local elections are where we, the voter, can have just as big of an impact. We must be willing to do our part and get involved. It’s also important to note if you don’t live in a swing district, it’s still imperative to vote. As gun owners, we know complacency has consequences.
Voting is a big responsibility, one that can often feel overwhelming, especially if you don’t have time to research everything. Something many voters aren’t aware of is they don’t have to vote for everything on the ballot. A common misconception when voting is if you leave anything blank, your ballot will be disqualified. This is simply not true. You can leave races or questions blank if you feel you cannot cast your vote in good conscience, but do make sure you vote where you can.
Make sure you vote for ballot initiatives that will have an impact locally and are often very important. In Colorado this November, a ballot initiative will ask citizens to approve a new 6% excise tax on firearms, firearm parts and ammo. It sounds like a no-brainer to vote No, but the proceeds from this tax are going to victims of domestic violence and it will be phrased in a way that makes it sound inexcusable to vote no.
There will also be another misleading ballot question to prohibit “trophy hunting,” which isn’t about trophy hunting at all and will adversely affect the ecosystem as predators won’t be kept in balance as a result.
Unfortunately, unless voters do outside research, they aren’t given all of the information to make an intelligent decision. It’s worth taking the time to understand the initiative to determine what impact it will have on your life.
Make An Impact
As November approaches, we need to take a play out of the gun grabbers’ playbook and start extracting these local politicians with a scalpel. But we can’t do it without everyone’s help. We need people to put their skepticism aside and vote. Then, I’d like you to take it a step further. Take one person who you know never votes to the polls with you. If we all take a friend or two, we can make a larger impact. Let’s flip some seats!
If you or your employees aren’t registered to vote, a great resource is vote4america.org.
