Which Presidential Candidate Has the Longest Record Fighting for Gun Rights?

It’s easy to forget the cold, dark days of winter, 2013.

The horrific tragedy of Newtown had touched the hearts of the nation, and every news outlet — every one — was blaming the Second Amendment community for what happened there.

GOA was receiving death threats — not only against us, but against our children. Even Fox News was opining that the battle against Bloomberg’s gun control was hopeless, as every news outlet spent every hour of the day predicting that our organization — and the “gun manufacturers’ lobby” [sic] in general — would be absolutely and totally destroyed.

It was in this context that Senator Ted Cruz agreed to lead a team of senators to defeat every word — EVERY WORD — of Bloomberg/Obama gun control.

Working with us, Cruz implemented a brilliant strategy which used the complex rules of parliamentary procedure to send Barack Obama and Harry Reid running with their tails between their legs.

And the Cruz/GOA victory emboldened gun owners to take the Senate away from the anti-gun crazies in 2014 and return it to pro-Second Amendment principles.

Make no mistake: Had Ted Cruz not done what he did, the gun rights community would have been completely demoralized and defeated.

We would have been unable to achieve the electoral victories that we won in 2014, and instead, we would have been fighting desperately to fend off the succession of follow-up gun control measures that Bloomberg and Obama promised.

But that’s not the way history unfolded.

Because of Cruz, the efforts to enact gun registration and gun and magazine bans were stopped in the Senate.

And with Gun Owners of America supporting Cruz’ strategy, the liberal media blasted GOA for helping him defeat gun control in the Senate:

“Democrats Blame ‘Gun Owners of America’ for Gun Control Setback.” — TPM, April 8, 2013

“The group [GOA] has already been successful in both freezing senators, particularly Republicans, who have appeared to be on the fence about supporting bills to expand background checks.” — New York Times, April 3, 2013

“When Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, backed away from bipartisan talks to expand background checks earlier this year, he did so after Gun Owners of America and its members flooded the senator’s office with e-mails and phone calls.” –Slate, April 4, 2013

But that’s not all.

Cruz rapidly followed up our victory over gun control by leading the effort to kill Marco Rubio’s anti-gun Gang of Eight amnesty bill.

Cruz did that by arranging to have the Senate-passed bill “blue-slipped” in the House as an unconstitutional Senate-initiated revenue measure.

Furthermore, Cruz put a “hold” on the Senate calendar to prevent Harry Reid from secretly trying to stick the unconstitutional Senate measure onto a minor House-initiated revenue bill.

Had Cruz not implemented our successful strategy, up to 11,000,000 new anti-gun voters would have turned the entire country into an anti-gun “utopia” comparable to California.

Of course, none of this was a surprise to us. Cruz had helped argue the Heller case. And as a result of Cruz’ advocacy and the arguments of other top Second Amendment attorneys, the Supreme Court has now recognized this fundamental truth: The Second Amendment is a God-given individual right applicable to all Americans.

Marco Rubio is a good-hearted articulate young man who, as he gains more experience, could have a great future in the Republican Party.

But his inexperience in negotiating with Senator Chuck Schumer over the Gang of Eight amnesty bill almost cost us EVERYTHING. Had Marco succeeded in giving a path to citizenship for 11,000,000 anti-gun voters, we would have been on a glide-path that ultimately would have made our battle for gun rights hopeless.

Similarly, many of our good-hearted friends have been inspired by Donald Trump’s willingness to stand up to the feckless Republican establishment.

But, if he were to gain the nomination, we just don’t know where Trump would be on the Second Amendment.

In his autobiography, Trump endorsed the semi-auto ban and a longer waiting period on firearms purchases. And, caught unaware by a questioner, he endorsed Chuck Schumer’s plan to take away guns from anyone Barack Obama chose to put on a secret list — which suggests he doesn’t understand some of the seminal issues which face us.

And now Trump is bragging about the “deals he’ll make” specifically with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. That’s REALLY SCARY.

So, in short, that’s why we believe Ted Cruz is the ONLY REAL CHOICE for gun owners.

In head-on-heads, Cruz does well against Hillary Clinton — unlike the incendiary Trump. Thus, he has a better chance of uniting the base and winning the election — rather than going down in a burst of flames.

And, when he arrives at the White House on January 20, the entire wretched “legacy” of Barack Obama will be repealed — on Day 1.

For this reason, Gun Owners of America urges you, in the strongest possible terms, to support Ted Cruz for president.

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