Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Trading Freedom for Safety

Monday, November 18, 2019

Trading Freedom for Safety

“[N]othing is more important than ensuring that our fellow students feel safe,” explained the editors of The Daily Northwestern, the campus newspaper at Northwestern University. The statement was part of a lengthy apology published by the editors, after reporters had covered a public speech (and related disruptions and protests) by former Attorney General and current senatorial candidate, Jeff Sessions, at the university.

Referring to “a student body that can be very easily and directly hurt by the University,” the editors (apparently laboring in the trenches of woke-ness) acknowledged their reporting of the event “contributed to the harm students experienced” and failed to ensure that readers were “benefitting from our coverage rather than being actively harmed by it.” The photo coverage particularly was one way the newspaper had “harmed many students,” so the editors removed these “retraumatizing” photos.

The same kind of overriding need to shield the sensitivities of young adults from discomfort and fear, however occasioned or poorly justified, was behind a decision to abandon an established Veterans Day observance at another institution of higher learning. University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced that the traditional 21-gun salute used to honor veterans would be discontinued this year due to the “disruption to classes” and “concerns related to firing weapons on the Grounds in light of gun violence that has happened across our nation.”

The philosophy underlying these incidents is troubling on many levels. It suggests that it is acceptable (and necessary, even) to distort honest, accurate, fair and truthful journalism to insulate others from exposure to possibly disagreeable material. It implies that America’s youth are less able than ever before to cope with emotional discomfort or distress absent a “safe space.” It relegates honoring patriotism and our nation’s veterans to something between an inconvenient, noisy “disruption” and a potentially harmful “triggering” occurrence. Perhaps worst of all, it legitimizes the notion of an entitlement to a lifetime of freedom from fear, rather than a belief in the value of freedom itself. 

Small wonder that veterans, many of whom have a direct, personal understanding of the cost, in blood, of our fundamental freedoms, feel unwelcome on many college campuses. Rob Henderson, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, recently described the ideological contrast between those in the armed forces, who swear an oath to defend with their lives the U.S. Constitution, and affluent college activists who “regularly trash the First [Amendment] and seek to dismantle the Second” Amendment. “We keep our love for America to ourselves.”

America did not become the awesome country it is today by elevating “feeling safe” to the most important thing. As Benjamin Franklin observed long ago, “those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

TRENDING NOW
First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation—announced the filing of another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

The 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands is continuing to advance sweeping gun control measures through the legislative process.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control.

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the federal lifetime prohibition on ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

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.