Accepting Strategic Reality In New York City And Elsewhere

New York City/United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- The mayoral race for New York City is one of those that Second Amendment supporters don’t focus on. There are a number of good reasons – the Big Apple is not the most friendly of political landscapes, being one of them.

That said, criticism of Tucker Carlson for his excitement about Eric Adams is off base. The fact of the matter is that in places like New York City, Second Amendment supporters have to start from somewhere. Adams, in his statement about carrying a gun, offers a very good somewhere to start from, given the harsh strategic reality Second Amendment supporters face in New York.

With a major Second Amendment case coming up in the Supreme Court, this race may have some more implications than usual. First of all, Adams could be more easily persuaded than say, Andrew Yang, to move New York City’s concealed carry permit system towards “shall issue” in any event. This would not be guaranteed, but then again, we are talking about the Big Apple.

Will he stink in other areas? His track record indicates that he probably will.

But since we’re not likely to get a Ted Cruz-level Second Amendment champion in Gracie Manion in the near term, we need to figure out what we have the best chance to get in office and to focus on building the groundwork to make Second Amendment support more politically viable in New York City.

This is where Adams can be of benefit to Second Amendment supporters. Despite a track record that sucks, Adams could help broaden the pro-Second Amendment coalition. If anything, Adams is far less likely to try to defy a ruling from the high court than Yang, who has already shown he is unwilling to stand up to the hard-Left on other issues.

In a similar vein, Second Amendment supporters should view the race to replace Liz Cheney as chairman of the House Republican Conference in the same light. Chip Roy may have checked off more policy boxes than Elise Stefanik, but the position in question involved crucial skills outside of just checking off policies. The fact of the matter is that Stefanik put in a lot of work to raise funds and to elect more pro-Second Amendment members of the House of Representatives on her own in 2020, far more than Liz Cheney or Roy did.

Another thing should be noted about Stefanik: She’s shown Second Amendment supports far more respect than Cheney did. While far too many “leaders” have trashed their voters, Stefanik has gone out of her way to warn against that, saying, “I also would make sure that we’re not attacking our fellow members and attacking President Trump and Trump supporters.”

In addition, she offers the chance to blunt the second most dangerous threat to the Second Amendment – the growing trend of outright hostility to the Second Amendment leading to extreme anti-Second Amendment activism from suburban women. Could Chip Roy have said the same thing?

The harsh reality is that what works to defend the Second Amendment in Wyoming or West Virginia isn’t going to be effective in New York City. Places like the DC suburbs or the “collar counties” around Philadelphia will require another approach. The Biden-Harris regime’s incompetence on other issues could be an opening, but how many of the temporary defections that come from that become permanent is up to us.

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

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