I get a great deal of email from angry young rightist knuckleheads demanding to know what it is that conservatives have conserved. The Second Amendment is one of those things. That did not happen by accident. We did not get lucky. The very conservative institution-building that Donald Trump and other right-wing populists sneer at is what gave us such instruments as the Federalist Society, which has trained up a generation of constitutionalist judges.
This is partially true. The Second Amendment is probably the only thing at issue in the culture wars that has been conserved.
But that is not because of the Never Trump crew at institutions like National Review, which can reasonably be counted on to make The Conservative Case for Gun Confiscation at some point soon. See, for instance, last year’s National Review proclamation that “A Universal-Background-Check Law Would Not Violate the Second Amendment
.” (Would National Review ever argue that “a universal background check law for abortions would not violate the Constitution?” Of course not.)
The current partial conservation of gun rights is because of the hard work of grassroots activists (who hang out on places like AR15.com, not nationalreview.com), litigation by mostly non-NRA groups, and state-level political work like what happened in Virginia in January. It is not because of National Review or George. “I’ll renew the Assault Weapons Ban” Bush or even the Federalist Society. It’s thanks to normal Americans.
Excerpt:
This is partially true. The Second Amendment is probably the only thing at issue in the culture wars that has been conserved.
But that is not because of the Never Trump crew at institutions like National Review, which can reasonably be counted on to make The Conservative Case for Gun Confiscation at some point soon. See, for instance, last year’s National Review proclamation that “A Universal-Background-Check Law Would Not Violate the Second Amendment .” (Would National Review ever argue that “a universal background check law for abortions would not violate the Constitution?” Of course not.)
The current partial conservation of gun rights is because of the hard work of grassroots activists (who hang out on places like AR15.com, not nationalreview.com), litigation by mostly non-NRA groups, and state-level political work like what happened in Virginia in January. It is not because of National Review or George. “I’ll renew the Assault Weapons Ban” Bush or even the Federalist Society. It’s thanks to normal Americans.