Republican Platform Betrays Gun Owners

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Republican Platform Betrays Gun Owners



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When Americans go to the polls in November, many will cast their ballots with the intention of defending, protecting, and expanding the Second Amendment to all. Naturally, these pro-gun voters are most likely to do so by voting Republican. After all, Republicans constantly campaign to claim to be pro-gun, and they are the only thing standing between the American people and the Democrats’ complete disarmament. Unfortunately for these braggarts, actions speak louder than words, and the 2024 platform that was just passed at the RNC is completely silent on gun rights. This week, when the party released its new platform, gun owners realized that the party had gutted one of the core principles that made Republicans, well, Republicans.

For eight years, the Republican Party has been laying out a comprehensive plan to restore and expand gun rights. That plan covers a wide range of Second Amendment issues. Previous platforms have talked about the importance of historic precedents like Heller and McDonald, and argued for the seriousness of appointing staunchly pro-Constitutional justices to the office. They have also highlighted how anti-gun courts willfully ignore court decisions and how they must be stopped. They have advocated for national reciprocity and the repeal of magazine and firearm bans, including those on the AR-15. Heck, it was even listed as a priority! They have condemned frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and harassment of gun dealers. They have even praised and promoted the passage of constitutional carry laws in several states.

In short, the previous platforms were clear and concise. They were not pages and pages of written material, but solid principles that told voters where the Republican Party stood on the Second Amendment. More importantly, these platforms set a national guideline for the parties at the state and county levels, and many took action. The platforms served as a tool that political activists could use to push back against weak Republicans at the local and state levels. Moreover, they helped gun owners across the country advance pro-gun legislation in their states. Consider the recent success of gun owners in Texas, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. These states finally used their Republican supermajorities to advance permit-free carry legislation, after years of delay and utter failure under previous Republican leadership.

Gun owners used the national party platform as a tool to politically intimidate those in power in those states. They insisted that if state legislators voted against or blocked pro-gun legislation, they were going against the very foundation of what the party was all about. That’s the importance of the RNC platform and the words it contains, and that’s why it’s so damning that this year’s platform almost entirely omitted this fundamental right. Gone is the clear, concise language. All that’s left is a little blurb:


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“LET US DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS”

To the politically illiterate, such a statement sounds good. But the truth is, it’s not. Many anti-gun Democrats have said the same thing. And a closer look at the content of the RNC’s new platform shows that the Republican Party is adopting the Democratic Party’s platform of the 1990s. Also, look at the language on government social programs and health care. Gone is the pressure to cut the Ponzi scheme that is Social Security or to repeal Obamacare. It sends a powerful message to voters that what defined Republicans for nearly a decade is now dead. When it comes to gun rights, the party’s leaders are probably stupid enough to expect blind loyalty from gun owners. They would do well to reconsider.

Gun owners need to send a strong message to the RNC.


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We must not be taken for granted.

Our votes are not automatically theirs.

This platform speaks volumes and we expect changes.

Again, the party’s current language and position is reminiscent of the Democrats of the 1990s. Democratic politicians claimed to be “pro-gun” by saying they were in favor of Americans owning a deer rifle or a duck hunting shotgun. But they were against AR-15s, silencers, or standard-capacity magazines. Plus, they always hated the idea of ​​people carrying guns. Democrats would say we have “the right to keep and bear arms”—if they weren’t disgusting guns and we weren’t using them to do things they don’t like.

There are many instances where Republicans have neutralized or completely blocked pro-gun legislation, and this platform gives them cover. Earlier this year, Wyoming’s Republican governor vetoed the repeal of several gun-free zones. Last year, Florida lawmakers passed a watered-down permit-free gun law and even blocked a pro-gun amendment that would have repealed a gun-free zone. Gun owners should be proud and tell the RNC, and the GOP as a whole, that we will not be taken advantage of. We will not accept political scraps in place of the juicy steak we deserve.


About the Author

Luis Valdes is national spokesperson and Florida State Director for Gun Owners of America.




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