Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News Second Amendment

The Fight To Restore Our Freedom Is An Uphill Battle, But One We Must Win

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The Fight To Restore Our Freedom Is An Uphill Battle, But One We Must Win

This feature appears in the April ‘17 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.  

I recently had the honor of participating in a wide-ranging strategy session at the White House. At a small table, I was seated next to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. At that moment, I realized—and perhaps President Trump understood—that each and every member of the NRA was sitting next to him. Each of you deserves that place at the table. In all the years of my working for the cause at the NRA, I have never seen our association given such recognition, such honor by a president.

I came away from that meeting feeling very much as you do, that with the presidency and majorities in both houses of Congress we will be working in a much less hostile political world.

It is not to be.

As Trump has begun the arduous task of rebuilding the nation, the good citizens who voted for his vision of a rebirth of American exceptionalism and restoration of individual freedom find ourselves faced with an unprecedented threat. Never before have we seen a change in administration that has been met with such widespread organized hatred. That hatred is amplified by a national media that has thrown out the rules of journalism and has become a part of the mob.

In fact, with a seismic change in which the far left’s tactics and goals are mainstreamed, the threat to American values will become even more treacherous. Our job of taking back lost liberty and restoring the American culture we cherish through the peaceful transition of government is increasingly being poisoned by well-organized political guerilla forces using “resistance” tactics on a massive scale.

The job of making America great again will be a fight for every inch of freedom. And as NRA members, we must be at the center of the coming battles to oppose a kind of political sabotage never before seen in our nation’s history. We are being jolted into a new reality.

We are up against a destructive, corrosive movement built around the dangerous lie that “Trump is an illegitimate president.” This is something not seen before in our nation—something straight out of a banana republic failed state. 

At the heart of this revolutionary “resistance” are a series of far-left organs—some new, some old, but all united by the election and all bent on taking down Trump, and with him his agenda to restore individual liberty.

The most troubling aspect of this transformation of orderly democracy into mobocracy is led by ex-President Barack Obama’s private political squad, Organizing for Action (OFA). OFA, created out of Obama’s 2012 election campaign organization, converted voter lists and campaign funds into a shadow White House lobby agitating for Obama’s agenda—including his multiple attempts to bring about gun control based on his embrace of the Australian gun-ban model.

Soon after leaving the White House, Obama told the nation he would remain prominent on the national stage declaring, “Now is the time for some organizing.” Immediately after Trump’s election to the presidency, Obama told supporters, “We’re going to be in a position where we can start cooking up all kinds of great stuff.”

Great stuff? You can read that as subverting the national will, deep-sixing our system of government.

Until now, never in the history of the nation has a former president reinvented himself as an activistic shadow “community organizer.”

But now, with citizen Obama, OFA has morphed into something entirely new to America—the private political army of a former president, designed to destroy the presidency—no, the success—of his successor.

Like OFA, Obama himself has transformed, going from commander in chief to organizer in chief.

Don’t take my word for it. Check out a Feb. 11, 2017, analysis published by the New York Post:

“When former President Barack Obama said he was ‘heartened’ by anti-Trump protests, he was sending a message of approval to his troops. Troops? Yes, Obama has an army of agitators—numbering more than 30,000—who will fight his Republican successor at every turn of his historic presidency.  And Obama will command them from a bunker less than two miles from the White House.”

NBC News headlined its matter-of-fact coverage: “Obama-aligned Organizing for Action relaunches for Trump era,” saying in that report that the organization was originally conceived as an adjunct to the White House “to raise a grassroots army it could command at will to push Obama’s agenda through Congress.”

OFA is seen as a fulcrum to creating angry coalitions to organize against Trump’s very presidency. In its coverage of the new and improved OFA, Canadafreepress.com warned that, “Obama is coming out of exile—with a vengeance—said to be supported by a stealth army of some 30,000 foot soldiers, and that’s not even counting the thousands of White House and government insiders waiting to join his army.

“Protests to date will pale by comparison to Obama’s new Protest Era called ‘Getting Even!’”

The Canada Free Press ominously warned, “Obama’s return is a coup d’etat in itself, made possible by a myriad of propaganda and public distractions.”

In the race for primacy among now-mainstreamed far-left organs, an outfit called Indivisible, which NBC touted as “a buzzy newcomer to the progressive movement,” has emerged on the national scene. Credited with remarkable grassroots organizing prowess—including internet distribution of a protesters’ how-to manual—Indivisible has been at the epicenter of mass “protests” that have been highlighted by shouting mobs shutting down civility at traditional Republican town halls.

Jason Chaffetz—the popular congressional representative from Utah and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, a man who won reelection with 73 percent of his electorate—was mobbed for 80 minutes by “resistance movement” agitators, brought in by OFA. The mob, carrying signs blaring the word “resist” shouted down the congressman and silenced local constituents. The resisters demanded to know why Chaffetz—who helped expose the Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation that resulted in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Bryan Terry—had not investigated Trump’s first two weeks in office.

It’s insane. And it is just a taste of this crowd of sore losers, who would destroy our country in a heartbeat.

The determination of these self-declared revolutionaries is the very reason that the NRA must stand stronger than ever.

Wayne LaPierre

BY Wayne LaPierre

Executive Vice President, NRA

Since 1991, Wayne LaPierre has led the NRA through a period of unprecedented membership growth and political clout in defense of our Second Amendment rights. And that strength has been put to the good benefit of NRA members and gun owners. In large part because of Wayne's leadership, Right-to-Carry is now the law in 41 states. All 50 states have enacted laws to protect shooting ranges, and all 50 passed legislation to protect hunters from harassment.

TRENDING NOW
Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

News  

Monday, May 5, 2025

Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

On April 30, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban of 2025.” Picking up where his predecessor Dianne Feinstein left off, Schiff’s legislation would ban commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms, such as the AR-15.

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

Last year, we wrote about how several previous enforcement schemes for Canada’s Liberal government’s 2020 gun ban and confiscation appeared to have fizzled out. 

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

News  

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

Early this morning, The House Committee on Ways & Means, led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO-08) finished a markup of their section of the Reconciliation Bill. Included in this legislation was a provision which would ...

Bite This: “Scientists” Uncover Link Between “Gun Violence” and Oral Hygiene

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Bite This: “Scientists” Uncover Link Between “Gun Violence” and Oral Hygiene

Some of us remember our days as kids, when the adults in our lives would tell us before bedtime, “Brush your teeth, and say your prayers.”

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

As the Colorado legislative session closes, its 2025 edition will long be remembered and lamented as a historic assault on the Second Amendment.

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

News  

Friday, March 21, 2025

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule entitled, Withdrawing the Attorney General’s Delegation of Authority. That bland title belies the historic nature of the measure, which is aimed at reviving ...

Rhode Island: Semi-Auto Ban Being Pushed in Both Chambers

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Rhode Island: Semi-Auto Ban Being Pushed in Both Chambers

On Wednesday, May 14th, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a lengthy hearing on S.359, a sweeping semi-auto ban falsely dubbed an “assault weapons ban.” If passed, this legislation would ban scores of commonly owned rifles, ...

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Friday, May 16, 2025

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Despite strong support from the Arizona Legislature, Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed Senate Bills 1014, 1020, and 1143, each of which sought to protect and enhance the rights of law-abiding gun owners in the Grand Canyon ...

NRA Takes Fight to Defend the Constitutional Rights of Young Adults to the U.S. Supreme Court

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, May 16, 2025

NRA Takes Fight to Defend the Constitutional Rights of Young Adults to the U.S. Supreme Court

Today, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) filed a Petition for Certiorari in NRA v. Glass, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge to Florida’s prohibition on firearm purchases by adults under ...

Texas: House Passes Legislation Prohibiting Gun Buybacks!

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Texas: House Passes Legislation Prohibiting Gun Buybacks!

Yesterday, the Texas House passed House Bill 3053, legislation that prohibits local governments from organizing or participating in gun buyback programs. The bill now heads to the Texas Senate for consideration. Please use the Take ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.