The Third Time Isn’t Always a Charm

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) took place this week, and, as expected, the nomination of former vice president Joe Biden (D) as the party’s nominee to challenge president Donald Trump (R) became official. After nearly half-a-century in the federal government, and more than three decades since he first campaigned to be president, his third run to be the Democrat candidate for president finally paid off. In 1988, during his first run, he would have been one of the youngest Democrat candidates to have sought the office. Now, in 2020, he is the oldest, from either major party, to be the nominee.

Persistence often does pay off.

The convention, which spanned four nights, was held virtually, as will be the Republican National Convention (RNC) this week. And while there were a number of subjects discussed, the main message seemed to be less praise of Biden, and more condemnation of President Trump.

Two subjects seemed to get little, if any, attention, especially from Joe Biden, his running mate, Kamala Harris (D), and most of the key speakers.

First, it seemed odd that, with the turmoil taking place in so many of our nation’s major cities, there wasn’t any condemnation of the widespread lawlessness and violence taking place, nor mention of a plan to quell it. Of course, the concern over violence in our country has driven the recent surge in the purchase of firearms for personal protection. Which brings us to the other topic barely mentioned.

Guns.

Harris, during her acceptance speech for nomination as vice president candidate, made a brief reference to Biden’s work on the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. In his coordinated remarks, Biden made an equally brief reference. But other than that, there really wasn’t much talk about guns.

Even billionaire Michael Bloomberg (D/R/I/?), whose short run for nomination cost him an estimated $1 billion, didn’t bring up guns during the small amount of time he was on the stage Thursday night. Considering he is personally bankrolling America’s largest anti-gun organization, and has made eviscerating the Second Amendment one of his primary goals for decades, one can only presume he was told to not bring up the subject.

Perhaps the Democrats have determined they already have the anti-gun vote locked up, which is likely. Every one of the more than two-dozen candidates who, at one time during the campaign for 2020 sought to be where Biden is today, tried to prove they would do more to target America’s law-abiding gun owners. And while the Biden-Harris ticket didn’t speak about their goals to eliminate the Second Amendment, there is ample evidence to show what they intend.

The national Democratic Party platform spells out its opposition to the right to keep and bear arms.

Kamala Harris, before she gave up on her bid to be president this time around, tried to make sure people understood how anti-gun she is.

And Biden has included his roadmap to diminishing the rights of gun owners on his campaign website.

Biden wants to ban and confiscate popular semi-automatic firearms, like the AR-15, as well as standard capacity magazines. He wants to destroy the American firearms industry with frivolous lawsuits brought by anti-gun organizations. He wants to impose arbitrary limitations on your rights protected under the Second Amendment, allowing you to buy only one firearm a month. He wants to criminalize the private transfer of firearms. He wants the federal government to promote firearms licensing schemes at the state level. He wants to impose one-size-fits-all mandatory storage laws, and promote fictional firearms he has convinced himself exist outside of Hollywood.

And that’s just some of what he wants to push. His screed against guns is nearly 3,500 words long. No wonder he didn’t delve into the subject during his acceptance speech; he would have been talking until midnight!

So, while the talk of guns was light during the DNC, we already know the threats we all face should the Biden-Harris ticket prevail.

This week the RNC has their turn. While the DNC tried to hide its disdain for the Second Amendment during the actual convention, we anticipate the RNC will present a stark contrast, as many speakers will likely be proud to proclaim their support. Because never has the contrast been more stark for gun owners in a race for the American presidency. President Trump is an unabashed supporter of the right to keep and arms, and Biden wants to destroy the Second Amendment.