An Open Letter To New Gun Owners

Dear Fellow American,

You don’t have to explain it to me.

I understand 100% why you were part of the record-setting wave of Americans who purchased their first firearm during these last four years.

You saw firsthand the disastrous impact of the “defund the police” movement.  You saw what happened when prosecutors refused to put violent criminals behind bars and simply released them back onto our streets.

You saw the lawless and wide-open border where drug cartels, murderers, and terrorists were able to brazenly walk into our country.  You saw the riots.  The burning cities.  The out-of-control violence.  The murder and mayhem.

And one day it just hit you – you came to a realization in the depths of your soul that the only way you could truly protect and defend yourself and your loved ones was by exercising your God-given right to self-defense and purchasing a firearm.

As the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association, I congratulate you on taking this life-changing step and becoming a part of America’s patriotic gun-owning community. 

I strongly encourage you, if you haven’t already, to make sure you get proper NRA-certified training for the safe and responsible use of your firearm. 

And if I may, I’d like to ask you to take a couple of minutes to consider the powerful implications of something you may not have even realized:

This November, for the first time in your life, you’ll be casting your vote for President not just as an American, but as a gun-owning American. 

The difference may be more than you realize.

Just think about it.

You have exercised a fundamental human right promised to you by our Constitution.  But there are politicians who DO NOT BELIEVE in that promise – who do not believe in YOUR right to keep and bear arms.

In fact, Kamala Harris is on record in a legal filing before the Supreme Court stating her belief that the Second Amendment does not guarantee your individual right to own a firearm.

She is on record wanting to ban tens of millions of guns, and any magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds.  She has said she would order the forced confiscation of firearms owned by law-abiding citizens like you.

Her allies in the U.S. Senate have already written a bill that would ban virtually every semi-automatic handgun in America – including popular self-defense pistols (maybe like the one you purchased) chambered in .380 or 9 mm.

And back when Kamala Harris was running for president in the 2020 primaries, she said if she couldn’t get her gun-ban policies passed through Congress in her first 100 days, she would take Executive Action to impose her anti-freedom views on the American people by fiat.

Make no mistake.  These are not the policies of someone who believes in your right to self-defense.  These are not the views of someone who thinks you should be able to own the gun you purchased to defend your life.

These are not the actions of someone who will protect your firearm freedoms over the next four years.  And that’s why you need to think about what it means to “vote like firearm freedom depends on it” in this election – an election that’s going to be decided by the slimmest of margins.

In fact, given the numbers, America’s first-time gun owners (more than 22 million!) like you have the power to tip this election in favor of freedom – and away from Kamala Harris and her anti-gun, anti-freedom agenda.  You are America’s largest voting bloc in 2024.

At NRA, we’ve been at the forefront of election battles like this for many years.  We’ve led the fight to preserve America’s Second Amendment freedoms – to ensure that law-abiding citizens like YOU have the right to purchase a firearm to defend your life.

We cut through the lies and spin and show gun owners which candidates will protect their rights…and who will trample them.  Over the years, we have endorsed a wide array of Second Amendment champions from all walks of life. 

We are not party driven.  We are issue driven.  And our issue is defending YOUR right to keep and bear arms. 

Please join our proud association by visiting NRA.org, where you can also find an NRA Certified instructor in your local area.

If we work together this November, we can save our freedom…keep our guns…and preserve our most essential right to defend our lives and the lives of those we love.

Thank you and God bless.

Yours in Freedom,

Doug Hamlin
Executive Vice President & CEO
National Rifle Association of America