by John Boch
GSL Executive Director
As gun owners, we have a lot to be thankful for since last November. We have an ally of gun rights in the White House. President Trump’s nominees to key posts are all pretty solid on guns. Perfect? No. But don’t let perfection become the enemy of good.
AG Pam Bondi “demilitarized” ATF, sending its door kickers over to ICE and DHS to do immigration enforcement. Talk about a win – win for gun owners and Americans in general. What’s more, that assignment may become permanent.
Before he left as ATF’s Acting Director, Kash Patel reversed Biden’s “Zero Tolerance” policy which revoked federal firearms licenses for dealers who made trivial clerical errors on paperwork. What’s more, other “policies” and “rules” are now under scrutiny and likely to be revamped if not repealed.
At the Department of Justice, they’ve taken over firearm rights restoration from ATF. More importantly, AG Bondi set up the Second Amendment Task Force within the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
If this isn’t just “talk” – and plenty of embedding lawfare operatives have done their best to undermine Team Trump at every turn – then we may soon see legal action targeting some of these unconstitutional gun control schemes passed by the gun control jihadists in our state. Here’s to purging the deep state actors at the DOJ. Because until they’re gone, little substantive will change.
In other good news, ICE continues to round up the worst of the worst criminal illegals and send them home. Or to El Salvador’s famous gang prison. With each violent predator swept up, our streets are safer for our families, friends and neighbors.
Yes, most of the good news is coming from the federal end of things.
In Illinois, all manner of gun control schemes are in play in the General Assembly. Sadly, we don’t have the votes to stop them. As we’ve covered recently, we can’t even keep the entire supposedly pro-gun Republican caucus from voting for gun control – and even gun confiscation schemes!
If it makes you feel better, make a trip down to Springfield for IGOLD on May 14, 2025. For more information, visit ISRA.org. Right now though, at the present time, the courts are really our only hope for rolling back gun control in our state. And we know who owns the Illinois Supreme Court… While Trump 2.0 is reforming the federal judiciary one appointment at a time, we still have no shortage of insurrectionist jurists. Coupled with a US Supreme Court that seems unwilling to deal with the legal insurrection in progress, we’re kind of stuck.
Trade policies.
If you’re not aware of the tariffs enacted by Team Trump to help incentivize companies to bring production and manufacturing back to America, then you’re probably not a GSL member. (You should join, we’ll keep you informed.)
Why is that relevant to you? If you want to buy a foreign made firearm, or gun food, you might want to get that sooner rather than later. Imported guns and ammo are going up in price very soon.
Also, we’re sold on the utility of having a backup form of communication as part of emergency preparations to help turn disasters and emergencies into mere inconveniences. Those inexpensive Baofeng two-way hand-held radios like the UV-5R are an exceptionally good value presently. With the 125% tariff in place on future Chinese imports (and still more duties on de minimus orders direct from China – think Temu), these radios aren’t going to be available for $20-30 much longer.
Buy them, along with the appropriate mobile/car radios, spare batteries, and better antennas. Get what you need while stuff is still dirt cheap. While like many I prefer “Made in America,” I just can’t afford Motorola products that cost 20x as much. Many of our readers are also likely in the same boat.
The bottom line: positive changes are happening. It’s hard to keep up with them. So, like with other aspects of life, be thankful for what and who you have in your life. At GSL, we’re working hard to make life better for gun owners, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Join with us to help us continue our mission getting proven results and change will come.
When I go to a GSL meeting I see mostly people over 60. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m one of them. It’s what I don’t see that bothers me and that’s younger people. We need new blood that will fill the shoes of those good people who are doing the grunt work today. If I may suggest, if you know someone a generation younger than you buy them a membership in GSL. The next step is to get them to come to a meeting. That is probably the most difficult part but almost any form of persistence or subterfuge is allowable. Good luck.