What Virginia’s Gun Grab Means For Gun Rights Nationwide

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Federalist Radio Hour

Episode Title: What Virginia’s Gun Grab Means For Gun Rights Nationwide
Host: Matt Kittle (Senior Elections Correspondent, The Federalist)
Guest: John Comerford (Executive Director, NRA-ILA)
Date: April 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the sweeping new gun restrictions passed in Virginia, analyzing what they mean for the future of Second Amendment rights nationally. Host Matt Kittle and guest John Comerford (NRA-ILA) explore the politics driving these changes, the coordinated efforts of gun control advocates, immediate legal challenges, and the broader implications for conservative and gun-owning Americans across the country.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of the Second Amendment (01:18 – 03:38)

• Federal vs. State Landscape:
  Comerford notes that while the Trump administration has protected the Second Amendment at the federal level, state-level battles—especially in Democrat-controlled states—remain fierce.

  • “The Second Amendment is constantly at risk in certain states because those anti gun Billionaires from the coastal big cities have a ton of influence with their unlimited checkbooks.” (John Comerford, 02:35)

• Virginia as a Flashpoint:
  Virginia’s recent electoral swings—fueled by outside money and constitutional changes—have created “a new reality” for gun owners in the state, with “unprecedented” attacks on gun rights.

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2. Virginia’s Political Shift and Gun Legislation (03:38 – 05:45)

• Constitutional Change and Partisan Gerrymandering:
  Kittle and Comerford discuss Virginia’s recent constitutional referendum, which gives Democrats the power to redraw congressional maps, possibly shifting their advantage from 6–5 to 10–1. They highlight the role of Governor Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned as a moderate but “the mask comes off” post-election.

  • “She campaigned against gerrymandering… then the mask comes off. We see her lead and shepherd this partisan gerrymandering…” (John Comerford, 05:45)

• Strategic Delays and Amendments:
  Comerford alleges that the governor stalled action on gun bills to avoid motivating pro-gun voters before the referendum, making only “minor amendments” (“made bills worse, not from intention, but through incompetence of drafting”—05:45) before eventual passage.

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3. The Hardware Ban: What’s in the New Law? (15:43 – 20:43)

• Key Features of New Legislation:

  • Bans on the most “commonly owned semiautomatic firearms” (notably the AR-15 and many handguns with 15+ round magazines).
  • Grandfathering clause exists, but Comerford cautions these clauses are often targeted for removal in future sessions.
  • Restrictions extend to "transportation" (carrying on public property), and bans could put some gun shops out of business—imported policy ideas from California, New York, New Jersey.

• Legal Strategy:
  NRA promises immediate court challenges, citing Virginia’s own constitution and recent conservative tilt on its Supreme Court as cause for optimism.

  • “We feel extremely confident in our ability to obtain an injunction to pause implementation of this and its effective date of July 1st.” (John Comerford, 18:15)

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4. Crime, Prosecution, and “Criminalizing Victims” (20:00 – 22:36)

• Public Safety Concerns:
  Kittle and Comerford argue these laws will leave Virginians “more likely to be shot, murdered, and robbed” (20:00), particularly because—at the same time—prosecutors are “releasing criminals en masse.”

• Victim Punishment:
  Comerford details a provision that criminalizes legal gun owners if their firearm is stolen from a locked vehicle but not in a secondary locked container—making the victim the criminal.

  • “There’s even a bill in this package… that would criminalize being a victim.” (John Comerford, 20:43)

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5. Controlling the Language: “Assault Weapons” and Media Narratives (23:42 – 28:28)

• Manipulation of Terms: Kittle and Comerford discuss how gun control activists and media use loaded terms like “assault weapon” and “ghost gun” to influence public opinion and legislation.

  • “Assault weapon is the brand name that is used by the gun banning left to ban guns.” (Matt Kittle, 24:00)
  • “Anything’s an assault weapon. The paperweight on my desk is an assault weapon if I use it as a weapon.” (John Comerford, 26:17)

• Statistics and Scare Tactics:
  Comerford claims the left manipulates stats (e.g., “mass shootings,” “youth deaths”) to bolster their case for restriction.

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6. Declining Hunter Safety Education (28:28 – 33:50)

• Participation Drop:
  Concern that politics are squeezing hunter safety courses out of schools, leading to declining youth participation.

• NRA’s Efforts:
  To counteract these trends and lower barriers to entry, NRA now offers free online hunter education in 16–18 states, providing both training and state conservation funding.

• Cultural Divide:
  Comerford notes that some gun rights supporters are not hunters, and vice versa, but the NRA strives to educate both groups about the broader importance of the Second Amendment.

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7. The National Outlook & Supreme Court Challenges (33:50 – 41:20)

• Red, Blue, and Swing States:
  Kittle asks about gun restrictions in other states. Comerford points to Rhode Island (where even “grandfathered” guns could be banned), expanded “red flag” laws, and youth restrictions as most dangerous trends.

• Supreme Court Frustrations:
  Comerford laments the Supreme Court’s reluctance to take hardware ban cases, despite clear circuit splits. He cites the Court’s willingness to take “pesticides labels cases” while avoiding critical Second Amendment questions.

  • “It perplexes me every day why the Supreme Court will not take a case… the Second Amendment is being treated as a second class right.” (John Comerford, 37:57)

• Recent Wins:
  Comerford highlights victories, particularly the Bruen decision (expanded carry rights), wins against California’s youth ad ban, and progress on ammunition and background check cases.

• 2024 Election Stakes:
  Emphasizes the need for a pro-gun U.S. Senate, Supreme Court, and more Trump nominees to secure “four more years” and reshape the judiciary.

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8. Leftist Contradictions and Future Outlook (41:20 – 44:40)

• Radical Left Armament:
  Comerford observes a trend of left-wing activists buying guns at the same time they advocate for restrictions. He attributes this to deepening polarization and political division:

  • “The next 10 years of American history are going to be very telling… it’s going to be a rocky road for the Republic.” (John Comerford, 43:25)

• Local Politics:
  NRA is being asked to get involved even at local school board and township levels due to coordinated efforts by left-leaning activists.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We see the gun prohibitionists move into abortion issues, referendums like this. So there was a team effort on that side to do whatever they had to do to get this gerrymandered map into place, including misleading the voters on the ballot.”
  — John Comerford, 09:14

• “If you have a firearm locked in your locked vehicle and someone breaks into your vehicle and steals your firearm, you’re now a criminal. You are a victim of theft. But this commonwealth wants to make you a criminal because you didn’t lock your firearm into another locking device inside of a locked vehicle.”
  — John Comerford, 20:43

• “Without home manufactured firearms, what a ghost gun is, this country wouldn’t be free.”
  — John Comerford, 26:17

• “I always equate it to trains on the track and we have a lot of trains on the track coming to the station… at some point in the very near future… it is dire that the US Supreme Court take a case and make a decision on this issue.”
  — John Comerford, 36:10

• “The next 10 years of American history are going to be very telling… it’s going to be a rocky road for the Republic over the next decade as we go forward.”
  — John Comerford, 43:25

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Important Timestamps

• 01:18 – Introduction to the episode and John Comerford
• 02:35 – Influence of anti-gun billionaires on state level policy
• 03:38 – Virginia’s constitutional referendum and gun control
• 05:45 – Governor Spanberger’s amendments and perceived political strategy
• 15:43 – Specifics of Virginia’s semiautomatic firearms ban
• 18:15 – NRA’s legal strategy and optimism for injunction
• 20:43 – Provisions criminalizing theft victims
• 26:17 – Rhetorical battle over “assault weapons” and “ghost guns”
• 29:49 – Decline of hunter safety in schools, NRA’s free online education
• 33:50 – Constitution, insurance policy, and the legacy of the Second Amendment
• 35:02 – Nationwide legislative threats to the Second Amendment
• 37:57 – Supreme Court inaction on “hardware bans”
• 41:20 – Leftist gun ownership and future polarization
• 43:25 – The next decade for gun rights and the Republic

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Summary Tone & Language

The episode is combative, urgent, and deeply skeptical of gun control advocates’ motives. The language is unfiltered and direct, woven with NRA talking points and a sense of existential threat. There’s a strong emphasis on vigilance, legal action, and the need for political unity among conservatives and gun owners.

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For listeners and non-listeners alike, this episode delivers a comprehensive breakdown of the current Virginia gun law fight, how it echoes across the nation, and the stakes for the next election and the long-term survival of Second Amendment rights.

Transcript

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[Matt Kittle]

And we are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior elections correspondent at the Federalist and your experience Sherpa on today' his quest for knowledge. As always, you can email the show at radio the federalist.com follow us on XDRLST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast and of course to the premium version of our website as well. Our guest today is John Comerford, nra ILA Executive Director. I want to get a health check on the Second Amendment on the eve of the United states of America's 250th birthday. John, thank you so much for joining us. This edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.

[John Comerford]

Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

[Matt Kittle]

Absolutely. And I guess let's begin there because you know, no matter who is in charge in the White House, the Second Amendment is always under attack by the, you know, the gun control lobby, the leftist in this country. And how, how are we fairing those of us who still value a second Amendment in this country?

[John Comerford]

Yeah, you nailed it on the head. Look, we have President Donald J. Trump in the White House. He's, he's undoubtedly the most programmed president we've had in our lifetimes. And he's put the right people in the right places to assure the Second Amendment's protected on the federal level. But we see constant activity at the state level and in the courts. And in particular, you know, the Second Amendment is, is constantly at risk in certain states because those anti gun Billionaires from the coastal big cities have a ton of influence with their unlimited checkbooks. And we saw something happen in Virginia last fall. You know, the Bloombergs of the world, Soros has come in and, and they make their huge contributions. We see a big swing in the election and you know, voters and residents across the Commonwealth of Virginia are living in a new reality than they were a year ago. And the attacks on the second Amendment are unprecedented in terms of what we're facing right now today in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[Matt Kittle]

Yeah, and let's do talk a little bit about the Commonwealth of Virginia because we're talking hours after Virginia now changes its constitution for the second time in what, five or six years. Voters narrowly approved a referendum that would allow the state, the legislature to change the constitution, redraw the congressional maps obviously to the naked power grab of Democrats in Virginia which would, has, has the, the possibility of taking congressional representation for Democrats in Virginia from 6 to 5, a 6 to 5 advantage to a 10 to 1 advantage. And with all of that, you see what we have seen from the, the left in Virginia, from the so called moderate Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger, who is a moderate, the same way that the lawmaker from Delaware is a woman. Just to put that in perspective, the, the trans lawmaker from Delaware, there is a, a piece of legislation that would be extremely restrictive in terms of gun ownership in Virginia. Let's talk about that. And were you at all surprised that the moderate Spanberger decided not to put her pen to it before this critical election for Democrats?

[John Comerford]

Well, look at the results from, from last night. You see essentially a three point majority win on the insanely gerrymandered maps on a question on the ballot that we hope the courts are, will strike down eventually because of it misleading voters by, by basically campaigning in the question. We've never seen anything like that.

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[John Comerford]

But look, Abigail Spamberger won by 15 points, not, not even six months ago. And what do we see? We see the real Abigail Spamberger. She campaigned against gerrymandering. She was as moderate as any politician in the country on the campaign trail. And then we get to the mask comes off. We see her lead and shepherd this partisan gerrymandering and taking Virginia from the fair, arguably the fairest maps in the country, to the most gerrymandered. We even have a district that looks like a crustacean. And what has happened during this very short session of the General assembly, we see life in the Commonwealth fundamentally changing. And one of those items is, is the second Amendment and her decision to make Minor amendments to the second amendment bills that were passed by the General assembly was solely based on her concern for the passage of the ballot referendum. One of the most fired up segments of the electorate is law abiding gun owners. They sat on their hands. They didn't show up from winsome Sears last fall, but they showed up yesterday. And the fact is gun owners made up a huge chunk of that disparity between where Abigail Spamberger landed last year and the results yesterday. And she did not want to motivate them further by doing her job and making a decision on her own when she hit the deadline. So she made minor amendments, made bills worse, not from intention, but through incompetence of drafting through her staff. And what do we see? The General assembly today, one day after, has already rejected her amendments on the hardware ban bill from Delegate Helmer who single handedly helped write his own congressional district for his campaign. We see the House, just before we got on this podcast, rejected her amendments. So that bill will go back to the governor and she'll have seven days to make a decision. But we know what she's going to do. She's going to sign it. She's going to pass sweeping restrictions on the most commonly owned firearms in the Commonwealth and the NRA is going to meet her at both federal and state court to teach her a lesson about constitutionality.

[Matt Kittle]

Indeed. Well, John, let me ask you a question. Speaking of the law. As a, you know, any mediocre attorney knows you, you never ask a question you don't know the answer to. And so I think I know the answer to this question. But let me ask you, was it all by design? Was this just subterfuge by the governor and a deal worked out with her phony amendments to, you know, ultimately get what the far left wants out of this bill?

[John Comerford]

You know, being a political creature myself living here in the swamp just outside of Washington D.C. i think of everything through a political lens. I can find no other justification for her actions other than kicking the can down the road to the day after the ballot referendum. I believe if the referendum was polling at 10 to 15 points in the yes column, and it probably should have been considering the, you know, tens of millions of dollars being spent in the Commonwealth from out of state billionaires, I think she would have signed these in a giant signing ceremony. But if you look at the anti gun crowd, the gun prohibitionist lobby, Everytown, Gifford, Sprady, they, they haven't been saying anything. And there's a reason for that. They were celebrating her election but they've been quiet as, as a mouse in this session. And that's because it's allegedly all coordinated. This is, this is a goal. We've seen the gun prohibitionists move into abortion issues, referendums like this. So there was a team effort on that side to do whatever they had to do to get this gerrymandered map into place, including misleading the voters on the ballot. So I fully feel that it was, it was intentional that she would make kind of mistake ish amendments to the bill. But there are other issues where it's commonly talked about in the General assembly that the, the governor's office has not populated itself with qualified staff and there are mistakes all over. And then she injected herself at the last minute while kind of sitting out the traditional lobbying aspect of a session. So but I fully feel that this was a coordinated activity to do whatever it took to get this across the line last night. And now we're going to see their real colors. And she will probably have a large fanfare signing ceremony potentially with fireworks to celebrate taking core constitutional rights away from law abiding Virginians.

[Matt Kittle]

I don't know what gun owner would vote for this woman quite frankly, but obviously she got independence and had a significant victory over the Republican candidate for governor. Now there are Republicans who will tell you that the candidate, their candidate for governor was not very strong. And so that was a problem as well. But as we noted, Spanberger campaigned as something she is not. What she is is another radical leftist from the Washington D.C. bubble now leading the Commonwealth of Virginia. Do you think that voters in general, when I say voters in general in Virginia, I mean those independents and I certainly mean Republicans, moderate Republicans in particular and some who you know or many who who support second amendment rights. Do you believe that they feel like they were sold a bad bill of goods today and was the the referendum this week the closer results than maybe originally expected a reflect that save on

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[John Comerford]

Yeah, there is a lot of buyers remorse in the commonwealth right now related To Abigail Spamberger, as you mentioned, I mean, there may be maybe moderates who didn't like the opposing candidate. Maybe they didn't like something they saw happening in Washington D.C. so they're motivated for quote, unquote change and they thought they were electing the candidate that they saw on their television. Right. They, they may not be as politically astute and follow along with the process. And hey, the polished ads, the terminology, you know, she was really driving towards that moderate voter, suburban voter and getting them out to vote. But it's anything but. And the results last night really do show that. I mean, if you look at the turnout yesterday versus the election a year ago, it is not dramatically different. I would say the turnout in the margin wouldn't be as significant as it is if it was a typical off year off type election where only a small segment of the populace made the decision, but voters turned out. I mean more than 3 million voters cast a vote in this election for one question. So that alone is significant to me. And I think when you look at Spamberger's crashing approval ratings, you see her having basically bickering sessions with the legislature and how they're approaching governing coming off of four extremely successful years of Governor Glenn Youngkin. And you know, they're going to be in for rude awakening next year when they, they come back to the polls if they continue down this path. And look, we mentioned gun owning voters. A lot of times if you're a gun owner or conservative voter and they get what they want and that is a pro gun house, a pro gun US Senate, a pro gun president, they kind of tune out for a while. But I think Virginia is a stark reminder to turn that knob and tune. I'm kind of dating myself in terms of antenna speak, but turn that knob and tune in to the channel. And what's happening in day to day life across this country and Virginia is an absolutely stark reminder of what can happen overnight because elections have consequences and you'll hear it every year. The next one is the most important and I'll say that every single cycle.

[Matt Kittle]

Yeah, no doubt about it. And we're talking about an existential election right now coming up in, in November. I, I, at first I thought you were going to go and refer to the eight track cassette player. You didn't go that old school.

[John Comerford]

That one's a bit before my time.

[Matt Kittle]

I'll never forget my brother driving around in his cool green used Camaro and cranking out on his eight track cassette player, the best of bread. And for those in the audience who are familiar with the 70s group bread. This was not a high rockin sort of band. This was, this was smooth gold. And so I always, I laugh at him at the memory these days of him thinking he was so cool as a 17 year old punk, driving around in his, his Camaro and listening to this adult contemporary music. Onto the Virginia law itself. Well, the bill that is soon to be a law as we know, what does it do and what are gun owners in Virginia about to wake up to, at least for the the time being in a pass law. I know that that law will immediately be challenged and rightfully so because of what it does to the second amendment. But what does this bill entail and what does it hold for gun owners in Virginia?

[John Comerford]

Sure. Sure. So the, the bill, the legislation that's getting top billing, they've, they've passed quite a few. But the, the most egregious and the most invasive on second amendment rights for residents of commonwealth and those outside of the Commonwealth trying to bring those firearms in simply is a ban on the most commonly owned semiautomatic firearms. So first and foremost, let's use an example. They are 15. It's a, it's a feature test of has one or more features and accepts a detachable magazine capable of 15 rounds or greater. After July 1, you will not be able to take possession of newly manufactured firearms or import firearms that fit into that category. So there is a grandfathering clause. If you own it today, you will be able to keep it until they meet again. Because as we're seeing in Rhode island right now, they're going after grandfathering when they have already dealt with new possession and new manufacture. This also impacts pistols that are capable of accepting the same type of magazine. So many commonly owned firearms are capable that quite frankly, the vast majority of the most popular pistols are capable of, of accepting these magazines, whether that's Glock 17 or a SIG P320 or anything else in that, in that realm. Combine that with the transportation bill that's out there that deals with carrying on quote unquote public property. It even restricts carrying these, these firearms that you may even have already. So there is, there is significant restrictions here. They did grandfather in FFLs and manufacturers and things to continue operating the original bill. They would have put quite a few businesses on, you know, out with clothes signs on their door, simply out of business. So it is a, it is what you saw crafted in California, New Jersey and York and others importing those bad ideas right here to the Commonwealth So it gives us strong grounds for a challenge. The Virginia state constitution is, is very strong in this regard. There is good court precedent already and we have a conservative leaning state supreme court. So we feel extremely confident in our ability to obtain an injunction to pause implementation of this and its effective date of July 1st. And, and we're, we're very confident we'll succeed on the merits and protect those rights Virginians and we'll also be in federal court. And as you saw, Harmeet Dillon put the governor on notice that the Civil Rights Division will stands ready to challenge as well. They we have a DOJ that won't sit back and, and allow states to violate the civil rights of their, of their residents like they did in the Biden years.

[Matt Kittle]

So what you're, what you're telling us, John, is that Democrats that control the government in Virginia want more of their fellow Virginians to be shot, murdered and robbed. Because that at the end of the day is what we're talking about here. And the saddest part of all of that is the Democrats in control of prosecutor offices, of district attorney's offices in the Commonwealth have released these criminals en masse to do more damage. But that's got to be a concern as crime rates continue to rise, particularly in and around Washington D.C. well I'm

[John Comerford]

glad you touched on that because we're seeing this, you know, the continuing revolving door of justice. No cash bail, putting felons back on the street as quickly as they can. There's actually a, not only are they restricting your self defense options and as the listeners know when seconds count, you're your first line of self defense. You can call 911 afterwards but defending yourself and your family is your responsibility. But there's even a bill in this package that's on her that, that she was said that would criminalize being a victim. So if you have a firearm locked in your locked vehicle and someone breaks into your vehicle and steals your firearm, you're now a criminal. You are a victim of theft. But this commonwealth wants to make you a criminal because you didn't lock your firearm into another locking device inside of a locked vehicle. What does that really boil down to? It's the Commonwealth preparing you for all of these new criminals they're putting on the street. They're telling you that you should expect that your vehicle is going to be broken into and that's the norm. And that's part of what I was talking about earlier where they're changing life across the Commonwealth as drastically as possible. So now I have to worry that I should expect my vehicle is going to be broken into. I need to have a separate locking device for my firearm that was locked in my vehicle. And then at what level of security is that beyond. So it's kind of shocking their priorities and what they're focusing on the most law abiding segment of the populace while yet creating bail workarounds for repeat felons.

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[Matt Kittle]

That's the idiocy of all of these, you know, anti gun, anti second amendment drives campaigns is that, you know, it would be still not constitutional but there would be some semblance of reason to it if they were locking up violent criminals, people who by law should not have guns to commit these crimes in the first place and not law abiding citizens. And so I think that is a frustrating point for anybody who who again values the Second Amendment. We're talking today our guest on this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour, John Comerford, NRA ILA Executive Director. As we take a look at the state of the Second Amendment on this the 2 150th anniversary, the creation of this great republic. You know John, you've been in this business long enough to know and to watch the left and just to watch politics in general, you control the language, you control policy, you control policy. You know, you control the all of the political levers. And so I bring all of that up in context to the word, this nebulous word assault weapon, which to me always has the kind of, the similarity to say Kleenex, which you know, is people, when they, when they get a runny nose, they grab what they call, you know, a Kleenex. Well, that's the brand name for this and assault weapon is the brand name that is used by the gun. Banning left to ban guns. How do you fight against this sort of rhetoric and the control of the language? Because obviously of the corporate media that has forever followed the, the left on, on the language.

[John Comerford]

Yeah, look, I, hey, I, I gotta give it to him on the creativity side, right? We see it on assault rifle, assault weapon. We see, we see ghost gun. I actually like the term ghost gun, quite frankly because it's none of their business without the guns that I build in my house.

[Matt Kittle]

Sounds cool though. Yeah.

[John Comerford]

Talk about 250 years, right? Without home manufactured firearms, what a ghost gun is, this country wouldn't be free. But, but going back to assault weapon, you know, anything's an assault weapon. The paper weight on my desk is an assault weapon if I use it as a weapon. But they term, they create these terms, the media runs with it and they want to make it as as scary as possible. Just like they, they've done this with the term mass shooting. You know, they have, they have broken this down in a way to where the media doesn't let any good crisis go to waste. And they will take gang violence in the Bronx or Camden, New Jersey. And if there was a drive by shooting from gang violence, which we've unfortunately had to deal with for a very long time, this is now going into these quote unquote mass shooting indices that they will then use by the gun control lobby to push for banning guns that law abiding citizens use to defend themselves and their family. We've seen this where they've, they have, they have perverted the stats related to unfortunate youth deaths by stretching the ages higher and higher and higher to support their narrative. So again, the terminology, they've, they've used their, their creativity. But assault weapon, you're exactly right. It's. The left is, has tried to make that ingrained in people's minds. You've seen the firearms industry use the term modern sporting rifle or msr. Quite frankly, I prefer the term America's rifle because the AR15 is America's rifle. It's the most popular firearm in America and there's reasons for that. So you know, the left will continue to, to push for these things and they'll there's probably someone in a room right now trying to think up scary terms that they can use on their next CNN visit.

[Matt Kittle]

No, I'm sure of that. Like rust the left never sleeps and the, the gun banning left, certainly that, that applies to, you know, I, we've talked about Virginia. I want to talk about the rest of the country and some of the problem areas as well as the successes when it comes to protecting gun owner rights and abiding by the second Amendment. But I want to start with something that I see is very sad to me. You know, for much of my life I have been, I've been very pleased that there are hunter safety courses still out there. When I was a 12 year old kid, I took a hunter safety course at my middle school in Wisconsin. And that set me up. It was, it was, you know, a great experience and of course I was excited to get, you know, my license and, and to begin and all of that sort of stuff. Not that I hadn't begun before out on the farm and what have you, but I'm seeing less and less of that certainly in public schools. And I think that all has to do with the politics of it. What do you think and what's the NRA doing on that front?

[John Comerford]

Sure. Yes, NRA actually helped pioneer the original hunter safety course just as we, we pioneered the first law enforcement firearms training course. Because that's, you know, what NRA was founded 155 years ago on marksmanship, education and firearm safety. And we haven't abandoned the world of hunting. We're first and foremost there. We've actually, because of what you're saying, you know, this, this coming out of school curriculum, we've seen, seen a little bit of approach to that in Kansas and a couple others recently to kind of get back into it. But there is a decline in hunter participation and hunter recruitment numbers. So we wanted to try to make it as easy as possible. And NRA actually has in 16 or 18 states now we provide complete free hunter education for, for potential hunters. So it's an online course, it deals with all of the safety fundamentals that you need and it's totally free and also qualifies for Pittman Robertson funding to the states as a dollar equivalent. So we're underwriting the cost for the hunters, but the states still get their Pittman Robertson reimbursement based on what would have been spent on the court. So trying to make it as accessible as possible for sportsmen and women and youth to get into the field and truly enjoy what so Many of us treasure every hunting season, but there's cost prohibitors. There's loss of land, there's loss of access. There's tons of activities for kids nowadays, whether you're competing with soccer and football and cheerleading and video games. And video games. You're exactly right.

[Matt Kittle]

What's ironic about that too, John, is that you're competing with video games, that some of them are hunting video games. The kids are playing those, but they're not getting out into the fields come November for deer hunting season in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota and Illinois and wherever.

[John Comerford]

You're exactly right. And we want to try to break down those barriers to entry, especially for folks who maybe not maybe didn't grow up celebrating that opening day of deer season in Wisconsin or Pennsylvania and seeing the sea of orange hats and windshields of trucks at lunchtime and, and all that are grace to duck blind at sunrise on, on opening day or, or pheasant hunted for that matter. There's so many options out there for all types of all types of hunting. But we're, we're trying to, to lower those barriers to entry as much as we can, work with our partners in the, in the hook and built bullet community, in the sportsman's groups to, to get that message out there wherever we can. And we also do it within our own membership as, as some may know. Look, there's a lot of second amendment supporters that want nothing to do with hunting because they, they feel the second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. I could, I could argue both sides of that, but we're all in it together for the same reasons. And there's also a lot of hunters out there who don't really understand what the second Amendment really is about. We're trying to educate on both sides of that.

[Matt Kittle]

Yeah, well, the second Amendment is the primary amendment to protect all of the other Bill of Rights, of course.

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[John Comerford]

You touched on America 250, right? Our founding fathers were smart enough and, and had enough wisdom to put an insurance policy in, and that's the second Amendment. Along with our men and women in uniform. The second amendment has kept this country free for 250 years and it will continue. And, and that's the insurance policy for freedom. And we like to see ourselves as the insurance policy for the second amendment. So it's something we'll be, that'll be, we'll be talking about a lot this year.

[Matt Kittle]

Now that's what I want to talk about now. Will it continue to be free? Will it be free for gun owners? Are we going to see more and more laws like we're seeing in Virginia? Obviously the blue states have pushed all kinds of gun control measures. There's some red states out there that have done the same. Talk about the kind of restrictions like red flag laws, those sorts of things. What are some of the more dangerous bills being proposed or laws in place across the country right now as it relates to anti second amendment legislation?

[John Comerford]

Well beyond what we're seeing in Virginia which involves standard firearm bans, magazine bans, transportation bans, home manufactured bans, expansion on red flag gun confiscation orders, those limits on, on young adults under 21 being able to acquire firearms. You see the most egregious is in Rhode island where they were attempting to ban the grandfathering of previously banned items. So that would be, you know, you would have to, I don't know if that means door to door seizure or does that mean required registration and turn in? I don't know. And that's part of the reason why we, we fight with everything we have to prohibit registration because all that means is a gun confiscation mechanism where they know where to come find it. But look, where will the Second Amendment be over the next 250 years? It's a great question. And we have in today's day and age we have a United States Supreme Court that has strong conservative justices that for some reason will not accept a true hardware case on the second amendment. We have the Duncan case out of California that's sitting there right now. That's from nra. It's had expert testimony, it's been en banc twice. It's a strong case. We have good counsel of record and the court, I believe it's conferenced seven or eight times and we know generally what happens at that point. But they, ever since, you know, in recent memory we've had the Heller, the Heller decision, we had the McDonald decision. Then of course we had the landmark ruin decision in 2022 which was NRA's case from the get go. We need the United States Supreme Court to make a decision on hardware. You see, a court that will take, that will take pesticides labels on some obscure product that only eight people in the country will ever touch. But yet a governor like Spamberger can outlaw the most commonly owned firearms in America and they won't take a case. It's hard to not agree with Justice Thomas when he says the Second Amendment is being treated as a second class right. It perplexes me every day why the Supreme Court will not take a case and decide on this issue. However, we, I always equate it to trains on the track and we have a lot of trains on the track coming to the station. Whether that's a hardware ban out of the third Circuit, which now has recently become conservative, hardware ban in the 7th Circuit, which is not. And if they, if they want their perfect recipe of circuit split cases, we will deliver that to them. But at some point in the very near future for the, for the health and the safety and the life of the Second Amendment, it is dire that the US Supreme Court take a case and make a decision on this issue.

[Matt Kittle]

Well, I suppose for those who have followed the Supreme Court over the last several years, maybe it's not all that surprising. This is a court that refuses to really do anything to rein in what I see as a judicial coup from, you know, the lower courts in America, a bunch of leftist activist judges that have decided that, you know, the Constitution is negotiable. And, and that's a big issue. And obviously that's a big issue on the Second Amendment front. What are you talked about? The fact that, and the NRA has been there over and over again challenging these laws. What are some of the successes you've seen on the legal front over the last, well, decade or so in this country?

[John Comerford]

Well, it's, it's definitely led off by the Bruin case. You know, that started in New York challenging basically your core right to have a firearm outside of your home. You took care of in your home with Heller. And then this expanded that. I mean, I have a Maryland carry permit today in my wallet because of that case. Before that case, you could not get a permit, New Jersey and New York and Maryland and others without connections or restrictions or other things. So we have expanded that. And then you see the states flaunting that, just going against their decision and wasting taxpayer dollars and court. But as of this year, you know, we had a, we had a big win in the 10th Circuit relating to unconstitutional waiting periods. We were able to beat California on their youth advertising ban on firearms. I'm actually awaiting for the $482,000 check the state of California owes NRA for its, for our legal fees in that case. And we just had an en banc hearing for the second time in the roadie case, which is in the ninth Circuit, which deals with ammunition, background checks and registration. And we, we had a, a 7:3 conservative draw on that en banc panel in the Ninth Circuit. So feeling very confident about that. But the only reason these case, these victories are possible and look, there's plenty of losses in there, in between, but the wins are possible because we have a, a pro gun Senate, a pro gun fire, a pro freedom Senate, and we're protecting the judicial nomination process. And that's why when we head into November this year, protecting that fire, that critical firewall in the U.S. senate is a top priority for the NRA because we need, we need a full four years of President Trump to help reshape the American judiciary in the interest of freedom. And we're fully committed to doing that. And that helps us with the more than 60 active cases we have nationwide trying to protect that core constitutional right of the Second Amendment.

[Matt Kittle]

Indeed. But here's a huge concern that I think we all should be following, and that is the radical left in this country doesn't give a, you know, what about constitutional issues, how it affects their agenda. They don't care about court decisions that go against that. They don't care about the laws as it relates to so many things. I mean, immigration enforcement law immediately comes to mind, of course. And at the same time, you are seeing an interesting new buyer or at least a new buyer in force now of, of guns. And that is the radical left. The, some of the same people who continue to fight for gun control are arming themselves. How do you see that playing out in a increasingly divisive, divided country?

[John Comerford]

Look, the, you know, the radical left in their, their influence is, is this is going to continue. Right. We're going to be, we're going to be dealing with this from every facet of government in, you know, I know I'm going to venture here for a second, but all the way, you know, we're, we're getting asked on a regular basis to get involved in school board races and in township council races because you're seeing, you know, the Soros groups in the world going into, going all the way down the ballot as far as possible because that's their farm system to bring folks up to, to who don't care about constitutional freedom, constitutional liberty. They care about quite frankly controlling the subjects as they would see across the United States as much as possible. You know, we see the radical left now evangelizing basically a this complete socialist who's celebrating the Iran war and all these other things. So, you know, it's going to be the next 10 years of American history are going to be very telling on where we go. You will be in a post Trump era after 2028 in terms of him being actually in office. He will always be a force, of course, but does that mean that the rhetoric gets back to normal? I certainly don't think so. I think that pin is out of that grenade and, and it's going to be a rocky road for the Republic over the next decade as we go forward and the courts, you know, are going to have to play an important part of that. And we'll see where we, where we get with, with the President, his nominees and hopefully as a US Supreme Court, that gets a bit of a backbone on a few of these issues. But it's, you know, the left impact cannot be overstated. We need to make sure the conservative aligned voters and individuals and entities in this country are united as much as possible to be able to beat back the warfare that these folks bring in at all levels. And it's going to be an interesting few months to see if, if we can make some magic happen here heading into the fall.

[Matt Kittle]

Well, I know one thing is certain as I've known it for a long time, the NRA will be on the the front line of these important battles for our liberty. Thanks to my guest today, John Comerford, NRA ILA Executive Director. You've been listening to another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior elections correspondent at the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. Until then, stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the fr.

[John Comerford]

I heard the faint voice of reason and then it faded away.

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