Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
There’s an old saying floating around the 2A world that doesn’t get enough airtime: the Second Amendment isn’t just about guns, it’s about everything else.
And if you think that sounds a little dramatic, take a look at what’s happening everywhere else.
According to Gun Owners of America (GOA), the First and Second Amendments aren’t just related; they’re basically roommates. One talks, the other makes sure nobody kicks the door in while it’s talking.
Let’s start across the pond.
In parts of Europe and the UK, people have been arrested for social media posts. Not threats. Not violence. Posts. The justification? “Hate speech,” “misinformation,” and other terms that seem to expand depending on who’s in charge that day.
Now sure, defenders will say those laws are about safety. And on paper, they are.
But in practice? When the government gets to decide what counts as “harmful speech,” that line starts moving real fast.
Meanwhile in the U.S., you can say things that make people uncomfortable. You can say things that make people mad. And yes, you can say things that are flat-out wrong.
That’s called freedom of speech.
And GOA makes a pretty blunt argument: the reason it stays that way is because of the Second Amendment.
Think of it like this. Free speech is the front door. The Second Amendment is the deadbolt.
Now before anyone gets carried away, we’re not talking about some Hollywood “storm the castle” fantasy. The reality is much simpler, and honestly, more boring.
It’s about accountability.
GOA points out that governments tend to behave differently when the citizenry isn’t completely dependent on them. There’s an underlying understanding in America: power ultimately rests with the people.
And that changes the math.
You saw a version of this during COVID. Even in the strictest U.S. states, restrictions didn’t go nearly as far as places like Australia, where people were being fined, arrested, or tracked for stepping outside the rules.
Same virus. Very different outcomes.
Now fast-forward to today, and the fight isn’t just about carrying firearms. It’s about whether certain ideas can even exist.
Take California’s latest push to go after 3D-printed gun files. Here’s where it gets interesting.
SEE ALSO: Breek Omni-Buster Review: The Suppressed AR Fix
GOA’s argument is simple: code is speech.
And if that’s true and courts have already leaned that way, then trying to ban digital firearm files isn’t just a gun control issue. It’s a First Amendment issue.
Because if the government can regulate code like it’s a weapon, what else can it regulate?
Books? Videos? Articles? (You might want to sit down before answering that one.)
There’s also a not-so-subtle point GOA keeps hammering: you don’t have to pick one right at a time.
You don’t lose your First Amendment rights just because you’re exercising your Second. You can speak, protest, and yes, legally carry all at once.
Crazy concept, right?
But that’s exactly what’s been challenged in places like California and New York, where laws have tried to separate those rights like they’re arguing over custody in a divorce.
GOA’s position is pretty clear, they’re not having it. At the end of the day, this isn’t really about one lawsuit or one state.
It’s about a bigger question:
Do rights exist because the government allows them… or because they’re inherent?
Because if it’s the first one, they can be taken. And if it’s the second? Well… that’s where things get a lot harder to control. And maybe that’s the point.
*** Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! ***
is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
Experience:
– Licensed Bowhunter, Hunter, and Trapper – Experienced in ethical hunting and wildlife conservation.
– Concealed Carry Permit Holder (NYS & AZ) – Trained and licensed to carry in multiple states.
– 2A Journalist – Covering firearms legislation, Second Amendment issues, and gun rights for over a decade.
– Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) – Certified to provide emergency medical care in the field.
– Field-Tested Gear Reviewer – Hands-on experience with firearms, optics, and hunting tech.
There is a move by Herr Drumpf and the Republican Jackboots to buy out MSNBC and turn it into another Far Right propaganda machine. Herr Drumpf has threatened free speech bad mouthing the press as “His enemy” just as Tricky Dick Nixon did. Herr Drumpf has went so far as to attack News Correspondents that covered the mass murder in Minneapolis by Jackbooted Ice Thugs.
Herr Drumpfs Ice Thugs have invaded homes with no legal warrants, gunned people down in pools of blood, beat people in the street and wore masks like the Police Thugs due in 3rd World Countries.
The Far Right want the right to threaten people on line and promote racist ideology which leads to violence and murder and attacks on American minorities like the Jewish people or the American Muslim people and Black people. This has already happened with the Far Right when Dillon Roof gunned down people in a Black Church. He had Nazi propaganda in his home. And in Pennsylvania another Far Right Goon gunned down Jewish people much to the cheers and delight of the Far Right Racists.
quote———–You saw a version of this during COVID. Even in the strictest U.S. states, restrictions didn’t go nearly as far as places like Australia, where people were being fined, arrested, or tracked for stepping outside the rules.—————–quote
In the U.S. no one’s right to protest the policies of the Government during the Covid crisis happened at all. It is not even relevant to this discussion.
Those are the same authority’s that grandstand against “hate” and then they implement “positive discrimination laws” to keep White male heterosexuals from becoming LE et cetera.
The liberals have been trying to do that since the days of Obama… this is not called news, it’s called olds. If you didn’t vote for Obama or you didn’t think he was qualified to be president, you were a racist. After that came hate crimes, it wasn’t a white guy and a black guy getting into a fight it was a white guy committing a hate crime. Funny thing is… It didn’t work the other way. Then came hate speech and a little bit of that lingers today still. If I want to use the N-word I’m gonna use the N-word or any derogatory term towards the alphabet people. I’m not screaming first amendment rights I’m just screaming. As long as it’s not causing a panic like screaming fire in a movie house, shut the feck up and keep on keeping on.
In regarding the BRITs… Why are we even friends with those people? We sailed across an entire ocean not knowing where we were going just to get away from those wankers. Then they showed up at our doorstep and wanting us to pay them taxes. Then we lost how many of our own people trying to kick their asses out. And they make stupid rules like they’re going to arrest someone because they don’t agree with their speech? So my question… why do we give a crap what Britain does?
Amen! As they descend into a Muslim caliphate they can contemplate their rights under Sharia law.
Sorry Tip but we “real” Americans will never let Jackboots like you turn the U.S. into a Christian Caliphate either.
What are you going to do, Che? Wear your pink puzzy hat and No Kings shirt and protest. LOL.
Herr Hauptmann GM1 your screaming the right to use racist comments shout to the world you are no different than Hitler’s Jackboots who used racist diatribes against the Jews and Gypsies and all other minorities in Germany in the 1930’s and this led to the use of gas chambers. You obviously either flunked History Classes or you want a repeat of the Holocaust. And once you start persecuting one group of people you then end up with a Totalitarian State which people like you lust for.
The Far Right (like you GM1) want the right to threaten people on line and promote racist ideology which leads to violence and murder and attacks on American minorities like the Jewish people or the American Muslim people and Black people. This has already happened with the Far Right when Dylann Roof gunned down people in a Black Church (much to the delight of people like you GM1, you fool no one). Roof had Far Right Nazi propaganda in his home. And in Pennsylvania another Far Right Goon gunned down Jewish people much to the cheers and delight of the Far Right Racists again like you GM1.
quote————-In regarding the BRITs… Why are we even friends with those people? We sailed across an entire ocean not knowing where we were going just to get away from those wankers. Then they showed up at our doorstep and wanting us to pay them taxes. Then we lost how many of our own people trying to kick their asses out. And they make stupid rules like they’re going to arrest someone because they don’t agree with their speech? So my question… why do we give a crap what Britain does?———–quote
Again you flunked History Classes. Unlike Canada which achieved its autonomy through peaceful means and gained true democracy and a Parliamentary Government with multiple political parties and the right to instantly throw out bad leaders rather than wait 4 years in agony and damage to the Country the U.S. lost all that with an ill conceived Revolution (supported by only 1/3 of the population) that established an Oligarchy of the Rich and a country only for the Rich and powerful. The working people have suffered ever since.
Try again GM1 you failed and your Jackboots are showing.
free speech is just that, not physical actions. before the trolls startup, protesting is speech right up until the violence starts. now 3d printing guns and so called ghost guns or parts should be fully allowed under the 2A without exception, not as speech.
Another way to put your bit about protesters and violence, is the old saying, “your rights end at the tip of my nose”.
Stay Frosty, Paul.
Paul you must live on a different planet. What you advocate is sheer lunacy. I have previously posted an entire page of mass murders committed by maniacs who got guns by making themselves ghost guns. Civilized countries vet every gun purchase to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them and their success with these gun control measures have proven their systems work far better than our complete lack of control of guns because they have far fewer homicides and mass murders.
Try again Paul you flunked History classes.
i don’t take much stock in what an everytown AI has to say!!!
Thanks for the complement Paul but I am not A.I and if I was my statement does not change the truth about ghost guns one bit.
And A.I. or not A.I. the following are easily verified news reports. It was broadcast on a secret device Paul you either never heard of or never watch. It’s called a TV set.
Of course like most Right Wing Lunatics you will simply either lie your way out of it or ignore the truth with the simple “wave of the hand” and say “Do not confuse me with the truth I would rather remain ignorant”.
Try again Paul you never cease to make a complete fool of yourself.
A PARTIAL LIST OF LUNATICS AND CRIMINALS WHO BUILT GHOST GUNS AND USED THEM IN CRIME OR MASS MURDERS.
Are ghost guns frequently used in violent crime?????????????????????????
Yes, ghost guns are increasing being used in shootings across the country.
In July 2020, an individual who was prohibited from possessing guns allegedly murdered two people in Pennsylvania using a homemade 9mm handgun.9
In November 2019, a 16-year-old shot five of his classmates at Saugus High School in California—two of them fatally—using a homemade handgun, before fatally shooting himself.10
In August 2019, a shooter used a homemade gun kit to build a .223-caliber firearm that he later used to fire 41 shots in 32 seconds in a bar in Dayton, Ohio, shooting 26 people and killing nine.11
In 2017, in Northern California, a man prohibited from possessing firearms ordered kits to build AR-15-style rifles. On November 13, he initiated a series of shootings that began with fatally shooting his wife at home, followed by a rampage the next day during which he fired at multiple people in several different locations, including an elementary school, killing five people and injuring dozens more.12
In 2013, a shooter opened fire in Santa Monica, California, shooting 100 rounds, killing five people, and injuring several others at a community college using a homemade AR-15 rifle. Reporting indicates the shooter had previously tried to purchase a firearm from a licensed gun dealer and failed a background check, potentially indicating why he opted to order parts to build a gun instead.13
Law enforcement officials around the country are sounding the alarm about the dramatic increase in the recovery of ghost guns at crime scenes in their communities. ATF reported that approximately 10,000 ghost guns were recovered across the country in 2019.14 Ghost guns have also been illegally trafficked to Mexico.15 In addition:
In 2019, Washington, D.C., police recovered 115 ghost guns, a 360 percent increase from 2018, when they recovered 25 ghost guns, and a 3,733 percent increase from 2017, when only three such firearms were recovered.16
In 2019, ATF reported recovering 117 ghost guns in Maryland with almost 25 percent recovered from Baltimore alone. Ghost gun recoveries in the state then tripled in 2020.17
According to law enforcement in Philadelphia, ghost gun recoveries in that city rose 152 percent from 2019 to 2020.18
The special agent in charge of the ATF Los Angeles Field Division reported in January 2021 that 41 percent of the division’s cases involve ghost guns, and a May 2019 statewide analysis in California found that 30 percent of all guns recovered in connection with a crime in the state did not have serial numbers.19
In addition, an investigation by The Trace found that ghost guns are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for violent white supremacists and anti-government extremists.20
In conclusion the ATF is a law unto itself and as in the past it rules at 8:00 AM and it is then a new “regulation” (disingenuous term for new law) is now the law of the land at 5:00 PM.
No Judge Conservative or Liberal will declare the ATF ruling illegal or Unconstitutional because ghost guns are a danger to the people of the country and even the much ballyhooed Scalia decision with the usual double talk and smoke and mirrors declared “The Courts had the right to regulate firearms” (slick disingenuous term for ban or restrict firearms).
In conclusion your right to own a weapon rests with the rulings of the courts, not the Constitution, and history has proven this reality like it or not.
No sane person would want ghost guns legal and no other civilized nation tolerates them.
pink ammo goes in purple guns, purple ammo doesn’t go in pink guns!