Saturday night, Glenn stood before a sold out house inside the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX and delivered a powerful keynote speech to energize the supporters of the Second Amendment.
Glenn called for the conversation on guns to move past the one being put forth by politicians and the media. The American people need to see the move to regulate guns for what it is: a part of a larger ongoing effort to take control out of the hands of individuals and place it in the hands of the government.
Why is the effort to restrict guns so dangerous? Because there is no liberty without the ability of the individual to chart their own course and take responsibility for their own life. This is the only way man and mankind progress.
At the end of the day, the gun rights debate boils down not to more guns or less guns, but responsibility and freedom versus control.
The loss of the Second Amendment signals the beginning of the loss of all other amendments, Glenn also said.
“Our Constitution, our rights, our way of life, even our lives themselves are at stake. We have a responsibility to take a step back from our battle and make sure we are absolutely sure why we are fighting,” Glenn said.
“Our freedom is under attack. Our liberty and way of life is being legislated out of existence,” he added.
Glenn pointed to history to make his point about how the gun is only evil in the hands of evil people. He specifically pointing out how proslavery Democrats attempted to keep blacks disarmed and defenseless in order to restrict their freedom, and how Native Americans were driven off their land by men with guns while they didn’t have any to use to defend themselves.
But while guns have been used as weapons for evil, they have also been used by people for good. Like lifelong NRA members and NYPD officer Walter Weaver who rushed into the World Trade Center to save people on 9/11. All that was found of him was his gun. Or the people who save their lives and the lives of others when they come under attack from a home invader or an attacker – all because they had a gun as a means of self-defense.
“We must admit two things; that guns will always find their way into the hands of bad people, but because of that we must declare that guns remain in the hands of good people. This is the beginning of the path to our solution: good people who are willing to stand,” Glenn said.
Glenn added that it was time for responsibly armed citizens to recognize that they can be the first responders when they or their families come under attack.
At the end of the speech, Glenn called for people to stand up and passively resist in the Judeo-Christian tradition the ongoing effort to take away their rights, and to stand firm and strong in the face of opposition because they are on the side of justice and freedom.
“Tonight begins a new chapter in the fight for liberty,” he said. “One that is about more than just our cold dead hands - it’s about the hearts of good people and the active minds of a free people. And the actions of a righteous people. It’s about who we are. As Americans, proud Americans with a cause greater than ourselves.”
"Let us declare without shame that I will cling to my God and my guns because He is my rock and they are central to my foundation," Glenn said to cheers to the crowd.
“Our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. We will follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, Frederick Douglass, Winston Churchill, Thomas Paine, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Ben-Gurion, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, and MLK. “
“It is not the gun, the knife or as Cain discovered with Able a rock. But the cold heart filled with error and darkness and coldness. That what the problem is,” he said.
"We will work together as Americans not only to preserve our rights, but the rights of our children to be safe, our wives and daughters to not be held at knife or gunpoint by a rapist and our most precious and valuable little ones to have the right to survive a simple walk down a city street or God forbid survive a day public education."
"Because I have the power of the ultimate truth: Because I am on the side of nature’s law and nature’s God. Jesus was a man of love, peace, and forgiveness. But make no mistake he was also immovable.The right to keep and bare arms shall not be infringed."
"We will fight by strapping on the full armor of God. We will stand firm with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. We will fight their tactics of fear, we will fight their darkness. We will fight their lies and we will counter them with love peace and equal justice for all mankind."
After leaving to applause from the crowd, Wayne LaPierre called Glenn back to the stage and presented him with a piece of paper signed by Abraham Lincoln.
Glenn closed out the night asking for people to pray for Wayne LaPierre and the other members of the NRA.
Video of the full speech is below:
Morningstar via Investopedia