Over the last few broadcasts of Armed American Radio I have been discussing what I believe to be the top five most important stories of 2017 as they relate to our right to bear arms.
Deciding on that top five was anything but easy. Lists, by their nature, are subjective if not determined by actual statistics, such as the top five selling cars in the U.S. for example. Therefore, any one individual might agree or disagree with what I consider to be the top stories of 2017,
As a determining factor I tried to limit the top stories to those that I felt had national implications only. There were huge stories such as SCOTUS refusal to hear Kolbe v. Hogan, regarding Maryland “assault weapons” ban or the California Peruta case, requiring good cause to get a CCW. Yet while those cases had huge implications to those affected, they were regional in scope and therefore did not meet my requirement of national implications. Here are my top five:
The Las Vegas Shooting and Overturning of Obama Social Security gun ban (tie)
I tried to leave a “mass shooting” off of the list but simply could not avoid putting Vegas in the top five. Not so much for the fact that the number of questions the investigation has created and left unanswered as for the push for a national ban on bump stocks; an obscure product that none of those calling for the ban had ever even heard of before. Any call or agreement to ban any legal firearm or accessory is an infringement on our Second Amendment freedoms. Tied for number five is the Trump administration’s reversal of an Obama era executive action adding hundreds of thousands of names to the list of prohibited buyers of firearms.
Wrenn v. D.C.
The Wrenn v. D.C. case was a circuit court victory which eliminated the “good cause” requirement for exercise a fundamental right in Washington, DC. This pro-rights decision was so well written that a number of liberal blue state gun-grabbers pleaded with D.C. officials not to appeal to SCOTUS, knowing the case would be lost, thereby wiping out more of their unconstitutional gun controls.
H.R. 38-National Concealed Carry Reciprocity
This is no doubt the single best piece of pro-gun-rights legislation written in my lifetime. National reciprocity eliminates the patchwork of concealed carry laws which currently befuddles law-abiding Americans who want to be armed for self-defense as they travel this land. It passed in the House on December 6, and if passed out of the Senate and signed into law, will destroy scores of unconstitutional gun control laws in Democrat-controlled states.
Confirmation of Neil Gorsuch
Trump’s selection of Neil Gorsuch and his subsequent confirmation to SCOTUS has literally saved the right to bear arms for generations from what would have been certain destruction, had Hillary Clinton been elected. Lauded by gun-rights supporters and decried by gun-grabbers, Trump’s nomination of Gorsuch gave America a man whose judicial philosophy aligned closest with the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s originalist interpretation of the Constitution.
The Inauguration of Donald Trump
Trump’s presidential election victory was the single greatest victory for gun owners in decades. The Supreme Court would have been lost for generations leaving the Second Amendment obliterated by anti-gun liberal, lower court decisions. Just imagine the alternative had Clinton been inaugurated in January 2017.
Mark Walters if the host of Armed American Radio and a guest columnist for “Down Range with AWR Hawkins.”
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