Buckeye Reporter

With the release of the 2024 Democratic Party Platform, the national Democratic Party has reaffirmed its stance on gun control. Notably absent from the platform is any mention of the Second Amendment, which has been a part of previous platforms.

In earlier years, the Democratic Party acknowledged the Second Amendment. For instance, in 2012 and 2008, the platform stated: "We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms." Similarly, in 2004, it declared: "We will protect Americans’ Second Amendment right to own firearms."

David Kopel, a Second Amendment attorney and scholar, noted that in 2010, 63 Democrats were endorsed by the NRA for Congress. Furthermore, during that period, numerous House and Senate Democrats supported an amicus brief in McDonald v. Chicago advocating for incorporating individual rights under the Second Amendment at state levels.

The omission aligns with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' position. Harris has previously expressed that she does not believe the Second Amendment protects an individual right. In her role as district attorney of San Francisco in 2008, Harris endorsed a brief supporting Washington D.C.'s handgun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes such as self-defense. This was further reinforced by subsequent rulings in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022).

The 2024 Democratic Party Platform includes several gun control measures such as criminalizing private firearm transfers without government background checks and banning commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and their magazines. It also proposes a national red flag law and mandates for safe storage of guns.

These proposals have raised concerns among gun rights advocates about potential overreach by federal authorities into personal freedoms guaranteed by both the Second and Tenth Amendments.

NRA members are urged to inform others about what they perceive as threats posed by these policies to their constitutional rights.

© 2024 National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action