{"id":1492599,"date":"2022-05-26T08:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T12:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1492599"},"modified":"2022-05-26T08:01:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T12:01:30","slug":"check-out-the-bravest-gun-rights-speech-youll-ever-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/check-out-the-bravest-gun-rights-speech-youll-ever-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Check Out The Bravest Gun Rights Speech You\u2019ll Ever See"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcheck-out-the-bravest-gun-rights-speech-youll-ever-see%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1492599&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The National Rifle Association is hosting its leadership summit in Houston on Friday. Following a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday, many corporate media outlets are suggesting politicians should cancel their planned speeches there.<\/p>\n<p>ABC News <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABCPolitics\/status\/1529534549214085120\">tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM-1024x1024-1.png\" alt=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABCPolitics\/status\/1529534549214085120\" class=\"wp-image-273036\" width=\"684\" height=\"684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM-1024x1024-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM-300x300-1.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM-200x200-1.png 200w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM-768x768-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-26-at-1.00.16-AM.png 1206w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHouston Mayor Says He Can\u2019t Cancel NRA Convention After School Massacre,\u201d wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-05-25\/houston-mayor-says-he-can-t-cancel-nra-convention-post-massacre\">Bloomberg<\/a>. \u201cTrump will keep \u2018longtime commitment\u2019 to Texas NRA event despite school shooting,\u201d wrote the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/25\/donald-trump-will-attend-nra-convention-after-texas-shooting\/\">New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why would an organization of law-abiding defenders of the U.S. Constitution cancel an event on account of a horrific school shooting committed by an individual with no regard for constitutional principles, readers might ask. Nevertheless, the pressure from the media and others opposed to gun rights will be intense.<\/p>\n<p>It is reminiscent of a previous attempt by the media and other partisans to blame law-abiding gun owners and their defenders for gun violence. On April 20, 1999, two high school seniors murdered 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The NRA was slated to hold its large convention in Denver just days later.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone in the political and media classes warned the NRA to cancel their convention. Many immediately pushed for gun control as the only valid response to the murders.<\/p>\n<p>President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton immediately called for limits on gun rights, as did many other Democrat politicians. The Democrat mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb, repeatedly told the NRA attendees that they weren\u2019t welcome anymore. <\/p>\n<p>Weak-kneed politicians canceled their planned appearances. More than five dozen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/ct-xpm-1999-04-28-9904280093-story.html\">Colorado business leaders<\/a> signed a full-page ad published in local newspapers asking the convention organizers to cancel. Thousands of anti-gun rights activists descended on the convention.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, a few brave gun rights proponents stood strong. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/news\/bs-xpm-1999-05-02-9905020166-story.html\">Charlton Heston<\/a> \u2014 the actor and civil rights activist who was by then president of the NRA \u2014 opened up the convention in Denver on May 1, saying it was \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201coffensive\u201d to act as if supporters of Second Amendment rights couldn\u2019t gather.<\/p>\n<p>But what happened next was breathtaking. The top-ranking Republican in the state at that time was Gov. Bill Owens. He declined an invitation to speak. Secretary of State Vikki Buckley, a black Republican in her second term, welcomed the attendees to Colorado with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/CRECB-1999-pt11\/html\/CRECB-1999-pt11-Pg16034.htm\">breathtaking speech on gun rights<\/a>. \u201cI greet you as Secretary of State of Colorado and I welcome you to Colorado, a state where some of us believe strongly in the entire Constitution of these United States, including the Second Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buckley was the first black secretary of state in Colorado and the first black Republican woman elected statewide in the Centennial State. The mother of three sons, she had once been on welfare to support them, eventually becoming a clerk typist in the secretary of state\u2019s office in the early 1980s. <\/p>\n<p>Her campaign pitch was to tell people that if she didn\u2019t win the race, she\u2019d have to train whoever did win. She defeated four other candidates for the Republican nomination in 1994 on the strength of a floor speech, even though hardly anyone at the convention had heard of her previously.<\/p>\n<p>Buckley mentored young women and spoke to international women\u2019s organizations about building stronger communities. She helped homeless children and worked to end the scourge of gang violence. <\/p>\n<p>One of the children killed at Columbine was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/murder-before-his-eyes\/\">Isaiah Shoels<\/a>, an 18-year-old black senior. His murderers had used racial slurs before killing him. Buckley had spent time with his parents and quoted Isaiah\u2019s father about the scourge underlying violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuns are not the issue. Hate is what pulls the trigger of violence,\u201d she said. She talked about \u201cnew age hate crimes,\u201d such as raising children \u201cwithout a value system which places a premium on human life,\u201d or sending children to school \u201cwithout a value system which teaches the difference between right and wrong.\u201d She listed the ways in which children were not prepared for socioeconomic success, saying, \u201craise as much heck about that as you did about the NRA, and you will have saved more lives in five years than are taken with guns in a century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buckley then shared the painful story of how she was the victim of gun violence. \u201cI know firsthand the pain and fear\u2013but that experience has not made me an opponent of the NRA or the Second Amendment,\u201d she said. She called for resources to be spent against violence and hate, then said, \u201cBut we must stand ever strong against those who would ignore sections of the U.S. Constitution which they do not like. We are a strong democracy because the guiding principles of our Constitution and all of its amendments including the Second must be adhered to in its entirety, not selectively. Thank you and God bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The thousands of attendees roared to their feet and gave her a standing ovation. You can watch the speech <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?c4715297\/user-clip-age-hate-crimes-secretary-state-vikki-buckley\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rabid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/the-media\/2018\/02\/22\/cnn-tapper-face-intense-criticism-anti-gun-show-trial\/\">anti-gun rights activist<\/a> Jake Tapper \u2014 yes, that Jake Tapper \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/1999\/05\/02\/nra\/\">attacked Buckley<\/a> and her ideas. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/SB926026522927421205\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>, on the other hand, suggested Buckley was set for greater political heights.<\/p>\n<p>It was not to be. Buckley died unexpectedly of a heart attack just two months later. Her courage and leadership is remembered.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. She is Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College. A Fox News contributor, she is a regular member of the Fox News All-Stars panel on \u201cSpecial Report with Bret Baier.\u201d Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, CNN, National Review, GetReligion, Ricochet, Christianity Today, Federal Times, Radio &#038; Records, and many other publications. Mollie was a 2004 recipient of a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship at The Fund for American Studies and a 2014 Lincoln Fellow of the Claremont Institute. She is the co-author of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Justice-Trial-Kavanaugh-Confirmation-Supreme\/dp\/1621579832\">Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court<\/a><\/em>. She is the author of &#8220;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Rigged-Media-Democrats-Seized-Elections\/dp\/168451259X\/\">Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections.<\/a><\/em>&#8221; Reach her at <b><a href=\"mailto:mzhemingway@thefederalist.com\">mzhemingway@thefederalist.com<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Rifle Association is hosting its leadership summit in Houston on Friday. Following a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday, many corporate media outlets are suggesting politicians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/605"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1492599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1492599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1492599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1492599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}