The Supreme Court just handed down a resounding defeat for gun-grabbing liberals in New York. And Donald Trump made it happen.
President Trump molded the voice of the nation’s highest judicial body for a generation. His confirmations to the Supreme Court have protected the nation’s most sacred and fundamental rights from left-wing judicial activists and radical legislative bodies. One of those bodies seemingly hellbent on curbing the rights of Americans is the state of New York.
Your constitutional rights as an American should not end at your doorstep. They should not change based on your zip code or where in America you were born. New York state doesn’t believe that’s true. In fact, they think your rights are like a light switch, one they can turn on or off as it suits them.
If they could, they’d shut off the Second Amendment entirely, in a heartbeat. For them, it’s less like the Bill of Rights and more like the Bill of Options.
In April, a crazed maniac shot and wounded 10 people on a Manhattan-bound train in New York. He wanted to kill as many innocent and helpless people as he could.
He was charged with multiple criminal counts. Had any of the victims shot back in self-defense, they too would have likely been charged with a crime.
Why? Because the State of New York decided it was illegal to exercise your Second Amendment right anywhere other than your home or under enormous restrictions. To even be considered for a concealed carry permit in New York, you must prove that you “need” to have it. And in places where you could need it the most, that permit still may not allow you to defend yourself.
In fact, that’s what gave rise to the lawsuit decided yesterday, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. New York officials determined in their all-wise and all-knowing authority as government bureaucrats that two New York residents didn’t have a good reason to have a concealed carry permit and couldn’t prove that they “needed them.”
The Constitution is enough proof to demonstrate that you have a “need” to carry a firearm. Locality does not trump our natural rights as outlined in our founding documents. Beyond the explicit words of the Second Amendment to the Constitution clearly stating that Americans have a right to both keep and bear arms, just consider what led to our nation’s founding and this fundamental amendment being forged: a tyrannical government oppressing its citizens through brute force. Undoubtedly, King George III would have been a fanatic supporter of New York’s legislation. In fact, he ordered the confiscation of any imported firearms from the colonists in 1774 to suppress a rebellion (how’d that turn out?).
As long as there is evil in the world, there will be a need for firearms. That was affirmed by the Court’s decision yesterday to uphold New York citizens’ gun rights over the state’s tyrannical suppression of the Second Amendment. But beyond the victory of this case, consider how the Supreme Court would look today had Hillary Clinton been elected president in 2016. The court would be handing down radically left-wing decisions that would fundamentally transform the country for the worse. Your rights would come crashing down faster than a Joe Biden bike ride.
But thankfully that’s not what happened. Instead, President Trump installed justices to the Supreme Court who love America and our Constitution; justices who want to see them preserved, not radically transformed. The left wants to tear America down and fundamentally rewrite our constitution, overthrow our institutions, and, as one left-wing BLM activist so calmly put it, “burn down this system.”
It is no understatement to say that because of the individuals my father placed on the Supreme Court, the judicial compass of our nation remains intact.
This favorable decision will not, I hope, be the last victory for America this summer. As the Court continues to deliberate and subsequently hand down major decisions, I know my father’s fingerprints will be on them.
Our nation has seemingly descended into chaos under the Biden administration. But one institution holds firm, and clings to the Constitution as its foundation. And if my father knows one thing, it’s how to build strong institutions, with solid foundations, that last a lifetime.
Donald Trump, Jr. is executive vice president at The Trump Organization.