Can AI Developers Be Trusted on 2A Rights?

One of the legitimate concerns surrounding the development and implementation of LLMs (Large Language Models) is not some Terminator 2 apocalyptic nuclear doomsday scenario where the robots end humanity in a matter of moments.

A more realistic concern is that AI developers and companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic can be trusted to create a neutral superintelligence, like that of a library, free from their own personal biases, political or personal or otherwise, which are then coded and built into the AI itself. On the issues of biological sex, climate alarmism, and immigration, there is already a political tilt, and now there is perhaps evidence that AI companies are caving to political pressure on constitutional gun rights.

Over at The Gun Writer on Substack, Lee Williams has a case that could show how AI is siding with anti-2A groups like Everytown. In an investigative piece titled “ChatGPT Launches new anti-gun AI policies one day after Everytown recommends new anti-gun AI policies,” he dives into the case of Gennifer and Phil Hesseling, two owners of a gun and smithing shop in Lima, Ohio. Gennifer has been using ChatGPT heavily, as more and more of us are doing so, as a sort of advertising assistant to help her maximize her workload and time, as it pertains to the advertising campaigns for her shop. That’s when things suddenly changed, according to Hesseling, per The Gun Writer:

"One ad campaign was designed to presell specific products before the gun shop actually got them in stock. It was tremendously successful.

Earlier this month, Gennifer wanted to create another ad campaign for gold-plated Desert Eagle pistols, which the shop was about to acquire.

Unfortunately, her AI said no.

'Until this month, we’ve never had an issue, but something changed. Our AI changed,' she said. 'We’ve never had a restriction from ChatGPT about selling guns or promoting gun sales. Basically, the AI said, ‘I know we’ve done this in the past, but I can’t help you now.’ I was not selling anything illegal. I was asking my chatbot to assist with sales of lawful products.'"

According to Lee Williams, these changes were implemented shortly after Gun Control Advocates at Everytown submitted their recommendations for AI companies. The piece then dives into prompted AI interviews on guns, gun laws, and education surrounding NRA and USCCA standards for the proper handling of firearms in defensive situations, and the vague, generalized answers the prompts were returning.

In the interest of transparency, I am a regular ChatGPT user, accessing it several times a day for personal and administrative needs and cataloging. I use it for everything from tax keeping and financial purposes to keeping my pets' records organized and in one place to recommending workouts.

I use it for professional research, almost like a robot slave secretary assistant I do not have to pay (beyond the monthly charge for pro level). I attempted several of the same similar questions with my ChatGPT agent and did not run into many of the same roadblocks. Recently, I’ve been in the market for a suppressor for my DDM4-A1 (Daniel Defense AR-15 style rifle). It’s the last thing to kit the rifle out. I asked ChatGPT to investigate the best-fit suppressor, taking cost and ratings into consideration. It returned several specs and recommendations without hesitation. I also used it to answer specifications on firearms transfer laws in my state, from one family member to another, and it was useful on that front as well.

So I personally have not run into the same roadblocks as the Hesselings, but I do not doubt their story or experience as firearms SSL and dealers, where Everytown targets. Everytown and now the anti-data center, anti-AI Left are using a lawsuit being pushed by Florida AG James Uthmeier to bolster their case. On June 1 of this year, Florida filed a civil lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging that the company helped facilitate a mass shooting while misleading users about the safety of the AI.

This has led to the central question of whether an AI and the engineers developing it can be held legally responsible if someone uses a Chatbot to commit a violent crime. It’s a slippery legal slope, and in an attempt to appease lawsuits and public relations, it’s certainly possible that OpenAI and other AI companies will simply overreact and implement controls into the AI to simply shut down any discussion, promotion, assistance, or, more importantly, education as it pertains to the legal usage and ownership of firearms. There is a difference between preventing AI companies from assisting in the planning and committing of crimes and that same AI from helping law-abiding citizens and gun owners navigate the purchasing and education of responsibly exercising their Second Amendment rights.

The problem is when the engineers are cowed and threatened by activist groups into implementing a political agenda into the AI, whose only job is to output information. The real danger isn’t that AI becomes too intelligent for humanity and destroys us all. The real danger is that the people controlling the AI decide to implement their own political agendas and decide which perfectly legal and constitutional rights become expendable to the AI.

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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