A little over a year ago, thousands of American patriots descended on Washington D.C. and rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol building in support of our Second Amendemnt rights. I had the great honor of addressing the crowd that day and opened my remarks by saying, “We are a diverse group of patriots who care deeply about our Republic and about the rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution. One of the most fundamental rights is that of self-preservation and as Americans our right to self-preservation is expressed through the Second Amendment. It’s important for our government to remember how important that right is and to reaffirm it.”
Today, in the aftermath of the November elections and ahead of two critical runoff elections for U.S. Senate in my home state of Georgia, that message is more important than ever. Although the race for president may not ultimately end how many of us had hoped, and many questions still need to be addressed, the stakes could not be higher for January 5th.
Two anti-gun Democrats are challenging two pro-gun U.S. Senators and control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance in the state that I was born and raised, and where I have lived my whole life. As stated recently by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who hopes to be Majority Leader if the Democrats win, “Now we take Georgia, then we change America.”
There should be no question that for Schumer and many of his socialist counterparts like Bernie Sanders, “changing America” means stripping Americans of their Second Amendment right to self-preservation.
Under a potential Biden administration, the Washington Free Beacon recently outlined how American gun owners could be facing more than $34 billion in new taxes under a proposed Biden gun tax. At least 20 million rifles and 150 million ammunition magazines would be caught up in the sales ban and registration scheme Biden touted on the campaign trail, according to a National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) report.
But this assault on our liberties would go well beyond just taxes. Biden plans to expand the National Firearms Act, which would give federal agencies the authority to enter your home without a warrant to “check” on the storage and security of your firearm, seize your firearm for months on end, and leave you and your family completely defenseless.
That’s another reason why control of the U.S. Senate is so critical. Republican Senators cannot only block some of the most egregious anti-gun proposals but as the majority party, they would have direct oversight authority over government agencies like the ATF. If Schumer and the Democrats are in control though, they will allow the ATF and other government agencies to run rampant over our Second Amendment rights.
That’s why I’m encouraging my fellow patriots in Georgia to make sure to vote on January 5th and for Second Amendment supporters around the country to lend their support to this effort. The Democratic candidates in this race have endorsed gun bans, gun confiscations and turning law-abiding gun owners into convicted felons. We cannot allow that to happen.
Eric Blandford is a Georgia native, an Iraq War Veteran and co-host of the popular YouTube channel, Iraqveteran8888, which has over 2.25 million subscribers and over 500 million views.