Since President Trump returned to office, we have been in a golden age for gun rights. It’s a welcome change from the nearly fanatical assault on our Second Amendment rights over the past four years.
But there are still challenges: goose-stepping Democrats; a Supreme Court that avoids making decisions that are long overdue; and RINOs, or Republicans-in-name-only.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine are among the most conspicuous RINOs in Washington, but those at the state level are standing in the way of meaningful gun law reform, as well.
North Carolina has an opportunity to become the 30th constitutional carry state. Even though Josh Stein, the state’s Democratic governor, vetoed Senate Bill 50, the Freedom to Carry North Carolina Act, the state Senate voted to override the veto. Now it’s up to the House where Republicans are technically one vote shy of of an override.
I say ‘technically’ because collecting a Democrat isn’t the only obstacle. There are more than a couple of Republicans who, for some reason, seem to be squeamish about permitless carry.
Far from bringing back the Wild West, constitutional carry doesn’t appear to affect the rate of real violence, i.e., gun-related homicides, very much at all.
CDC data on firearm-related homicides from 2019 to 2023 shows the constitutional carry states’ weighted average rate per 100,000 increased nearly 3% less than the national rate and over 6% less than states with universal background check laws. Moreover, constitutional carry states account for seven of the ten states with the lowest firearm homicide rates.
Perhaps somebody should tell this to the RINOs in the North Carolina legislature and do it quickly; the veto override is scheduled for August 26.
Florida also has a big RINO problem.
In a recent post on X, Luis Valdes, GOA’s state director for Florida, reported State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl, used material from Everytown for Gun Safety to defend the Sunshine State’s ban on firearm sales to citizens under 21 and open carry. At the same time, Florida’s Attorney General, James Uthmeier, was urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari to NRA v. Glass, which challenges the under-21 ban. In addition, Uthmeier said the state would not be defending the law.
The FL Republican State Attorney’s Office in @GunOwners v Del Toro (GOA’s Open Carry Lawsuit) is stating to the court that Open Carry has no protection under the Second Amendment.
What?
So, the Minute Men at Lexington & Concord concealed carried their five-foot long muskets? https://t.co/OwF7wAbnUO pic.twitter.com/UdGifLPFrh
— Luis Valdes (@RealFLGunLobby) August 18, 2025
Uthmeier’s position makes a lot of sense, especially since the Florida ban makes no sense at all. The state stripped more than a million young adults of their Second Amendment rights because one of their cohort – in the entire history of Florida – legally purchased a rifle and used it to commit a mass shooting.
Republican reluctance is also the main reason the laws Florida hysterically enacted after the 2018 Parkland shooting, including the under-21 ban, haven’t been repealed. Florida has a trifecta with a Republican governor and Republicans controlling the legislature. But Republicans themselves have blocked efforts to get the laws off the books.
It’s not like those laws have reduced the number of firearm deaths, or the number of gun-related homicides. While Florida’s population grew 6% between 2018 and 2023, firearm deaths grew 12%.
Every friend of the Second Amendment knows gun control laws never deliver on their promises. In the final analysis, gun control fans are far more interested in taking guns, or at least making them hard to get, than public safety, saving lives, or any of the other excuses. If they were actually interested in reducing “gun violence” they would be pushing vastly different laws.
Now we just need to persuade the RINOs to ignore the gun control hype and hoopla and stand up for the Constitution that every one of them took an oath to defend.
About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.
