This holiday season is going to be unlike most of us have ever experienced. No matter what your opinion on politics and the virus, the fact remains that America is undergoing more adversity this year than at any other time in many of our lives. Even 2001 after the terrorist attacks and 2008 amid the financial crisis pale in comparison to what we’ve experienced this year. For many of us, it is hard to be thankful in the midst of such strife, but, for those of us who are Christian, that is exactly what we are commanded to do. Despite all the bad news, when I look around me I can see a lot of things to be thankful for.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

The most obvious is that, if you are alive and able to read this, you should be thankful. As the old saying goes, any day above the ground is a good one. Whether you haven’t contracted COVID or you’ve survived it, you have a great reason to be thankful.

We should also be thankful for the health of our friends and families. The Coronavirus has not touched my immediate family. I’ve had numerous friends and more distant family members contract the disease but most have recovered.

For those who haven’t recovered, I am thankful that we have a forgiving God. I am hopeful that they are removed from their pain and suffering and that we will be reunited in a better place someday.

My mom told me this week that their pastor, the man who performed my wedding, and his wife both have Coronavirus. Their church closed for two weeks in an attempt to limit the outbreak. My dad has respiratory issues and my mom is a cancer and chemotherapy survivor so I’m very thankful that they elected to continue attending church virtually rather than going to in-person services where they could have been exposed.

I’m thankful for the technology that makes social-distancing bearable. We can order groceries, meals, and toilet paper online and have them delivered or ready for pickup without putting our health at risk. I’m very thankful that toilet paper exists in general.

I’m thankful that we decided to put our children in virtual school this year and thankful that our school district offered the option. With several Coronavirus cases being announced in our local schools each week, that decision seems to have been validated. Even if my kids weren’t infected, I’m thankful that we don’t have to deal with a quarantine. On that score, I’m also thankful that virtual school means I get to sleep until 8 a.m. rather than waking up at six to get the kids ready to go to brick-and-mortar school.

I’m thankful for the time with my family that the pandemic has given me. We have seen much more of each other this year than we would have if we were going our separate ways to work and school. With my kids getting older, that extra time has been a precious gift.

I’m also thankful for the frontline medical workers and researchers who have spent the past several months fighting the virus. These people have risked their own health and lives for their neighbors. Many have died or lost their own health as a result.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

We should also be thankful for medical knowledge. Hundreds of years of accumulated expertise as well as more recent research have shown us that protecting ourselves and our families is as simple as:

• Maintaining a six-foot distance
• Avoiding crowds
• Avoiding confined spaces
• Wearing a mask if you can’t follow the first three rules
• Washing and/or sanitizing your hands frequently

I’m thankful for people around the country who will practice self-sacrifice on Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season to protect the lives of their loved ones. Sometimes love is better expressed by staying away than by holding someone close.

The simplicity of protecting ourselves reminds me of the story of Naaman in the Bible, who was instructed by Elisha to wash in the Jordan River seven times to cure his leprosy. Naaman became angry at the simple and seemingly senseless command. Naaman almost didn’t do as he was told, but in the end, his servants convinced him to follow Elisha’s simple advice and he was healed. Sometimes following simple instructions leads to great rewards.

I’m thankful for our advanced medical research. It hit me last night that we had never heard of COVID-19 at this time last year. The virus has been a factor in our lives for less than a year, but we have already been able to create at least three very effective vaccines that are almost ready for mass distribution. That is an unprecedented accomplishment. I’m extremely thankful for the brilliant minds that chose to spend their lives researching and curing diseases.

Previous pandemics often lasted three years or longer. As bad as Coronavirus has been, the introduction of vaccines will cut this pandemic short, saving hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars. That is truly something to be thankful for.

Those of us who still have jobs should be thankful for the steady paychecks that are still coming, even if they might be at a reduced level. We should be thankful that the CARES Act reduced the number of layoffs in the first months of the pandemic recession.

It can be difficult to thankful in the midst of unemployment and pay cuts. I know because I’ve been there. But those people can be thankful for safety net programs, for charities, and for other people who lend a hand in their moment of need.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

The Beatles

I’m thankful that, despite the angst about public health restrictions, Americans really don’t know what tyranny is. Some jurisdictions have gone too far in anti-virus regulation. Others haven’t gone far enough. None reach the level of tyranny, however. It isn’t tyranny to say “no shirt, no shoes, no service” and it isn’t tyranny to ask folks to wear a mask and social distance in the midst of a pandemic caused by a dangerous virus that is spread through the air by close contact.

Tyranny is the killing and imprisonment of dissidents and journalists in Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Tyranny is the confiscation of private land in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Tyranny is the Chinese government imprisoning pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong.

America has problems but we don’t have tyranny. I’ll get pushback for saying that, but we should really be thankful that our freedom has survived 200 years of encroaching government rather than making our problems seem worse than they are. We can also be thankful that the restrictions made necessary by the pandemic will be going away in a few months as vaccines are distributed.

Finally, and this will also be controversial, I’m thankful that a peaceful transfer of power looks more and more likely. If Joe Biden had lost, I am sure that there would have been violence. I’m thankful that did not happen.

However, as I wrote before the election, I’ve long been concerned that President Trump’s allegations of election fraud could lead to violence from the right. I’m thankful that has not happened and hopeful that it won’t.

Most of all, I’m thankful that this too shall pass. Our adversity is temporary. We can look forward to a return to normalcy next year as vaccines end the pandemic and the economy surges back. Next year at Thanksgiving, masks and social distancing will be a distant memory. We just have to stay healthy until then.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Follow David Thornton on Twitter (@captainkudzu) and Facebook

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com.

The hypocrisy of the Left is now at a point “where there’s no truth or moral standards at all,” Mike Slater argued this week. Case in point: Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, and Gavin Newsom.

Worse than hypocrisy is the fact that we have “cultural leaders” now calling the nuclear family “white supremacy” and advocating for polyamory, he explained.

“So at least back in the day you pretended to care about family values as opposed to today’s elites who have open disdain, open hostility toward the family.”

Regardless of who is inaugurated in January, big tech’s cover-up of the “huge scandal” between Joe Biden and communist China was “really bad,” Jesse Kelly told viewers this week.

We must not forget the unprecedented censorship that the corporate media and their social media allies conducted as they moved mountains to contain a damaging story to their preferred presidential candidate. It begs the question, what does it mean for the future?

“The power of it cannot be denied and the people who hate you control it. That is not good!”

WATCH:

Citing D.C.’s 158% higher-crime rate, newly-elected Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told Buck Sexton this week that she is pursuing her concealed carry permit for the District of Columbia.

She also spoke out about Thanksgiving lockdowns, arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not give the government any authority to dictate what goes on in Americans’ homes.

“Just because we are in a pandemic does not mean that we don’t have rights.”

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Joe Biden’s pick for National Security Adviser is “someone who has zealously defended the Steele Dossier,” Dana Loesch reported Tuesday.

She was joined by former Assistant Chief U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy who shared her discontent for the pick of former Hillary Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan but added that Biden has the right to take advice from whoever he wants as White House appointments are not subject to Senate confirmation.

“The more we’ve learned about it the more we see that this was actually something that was spawned by the Clinton campaign,” McCarthy said.

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President Trump authorized his Administration to begin working with the incoming Biden Administration’s transition team earlier this week, but even before the formal announcement from the president, Joe Biden had begun to name the picks for his cabinet. Some of these names are familiar. Some, if you’re like me, you’ve probably never heard of. One of those names is Antony Blinken.

We will definitely be hearing more about Blinken, Biden’s choice for Secretary of State, over the next few years. Although he’s not a household name, Antony Blinken has been around Washington for quite a while. In fact, Blinken has spent over two decades in Foggy Bottom.

Born in New York City in 1962, Antony Blinken is a long-time centrist Democrat. He graduated from Harvard and Columbia Law School before working for the Dukakis campaign in 1988. After that failed effort, he practiced law and wrote about foreign policy for numerous publications including the New York Times, the New Republic, and Foreign Affairs.

Blinken got his start in Washington as a staffer on the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration, per his State Department bio. From 1999 through 2001, he acted as President Clinton’s senior advisor on relations with Europe, the European Union, and NATO. He also served as Clinton’s principal foreign policy speechwriter. During the Bush years, Blinken served as the Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 through 2008.

When Barack Obama was elected president, Blinken returned to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the president and National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden. In 2014, he was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of State, a position that he held until Donald Trump succeeded Obama as president.

After the Obama Administration, Blinken entered the private sector as co-founder of WestExec Advisors, a consulting group whose clients include “the defense industry, private equity firms, and hedge funds” per Foreign Policy. He has also served as a partner in the private equity firm, Pine Island Capital Partners, a position that he left to join the Biden campaign as a senior foreign policy advisor.

How conservatives view Blinken will largely depend on which side of the conservative foreign policy schism you fall on. Traditional national security conservatives like me will find a lot to like while America-first conservatives won’t be as happy.

For starters, Blinken favored the Iraq War, a difficult stance for Democrats in 2003. Blinken reportedly advised Biden to vote to approve the Iraqi invasion as well as criticizing the Obama Administration for not sending enough troops to Syria, per the Ricochet. CNN also notes that Blinken had a central role in Obama’s foreign policy initiatives such as the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the sanctions that targeted Vladimir Putin’s inner circle after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, and building a coalition against ISIS. He also reportedly backed the interventions in Libya and Yemen. Blinken is also an outspoken critic of China who can be expected to criticize the communist nation for human rights abuses as well as its military expansion into the South China Sea and trade issues.

A downside for most Republicans is that Blinken is a strong supporter of the nuclear deal with Iran. Likewise, Blinken was a vocal critic of Trump’s North Korea policy. The Biden Administration is likely to reverse Trump’s course on both fronts, re-entering the Iran deal and pursuing multi-lateral talks with North Korea rather than engaging with Kim Jong Un on a one-on-one basis. Nevertheless, Blinken also voiced support in the Jewish Insider for continuing “non-nuclear sanctions as a strong hedge against Iranian misbehavior in other areas.” 

With respect to Israel, Blinken is a strong ally of the Jewish state, who is being welcomed by Israelis. The Times of Israel reports that Blinken and Biden have promised to continue aid to Israel without policy conditions, keep the US embassy in Jerusalem, and support Israel in the United Nations. The pair also reject the far-left Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

In fact, Blinken’s foreign policy views are so centrist that he may well draw criticism from progressives, especially for his past support of military interventions and his support of Israel. “Squad” member Rashida Tlaib responded to the news of Blinken’s appointment by tweeting she hoped he would not “suppress my First Amendment right” to oppose Israeli policies in Palestine. The tweet was considered anti-Semitic by many since Blinken is Jewish and his stepfather was a survivor of the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps.

Blinken may well have a contentious confirmation hearing, especially if Republicans retain control of the Senate. He had a dustup with Marco Rubio over Obama’s Cuba policy in 2014 that is likely to be revisited. In the end, he is a solid pick, however, and will almost certainly be confirmed. Blinken may not be the perfect Secretary of State but Biden could have done much, much worse.

Follow David Thornton on Twitter (@captainkudzu) and Facebook

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com.

As 2020 draws mercifully to a close, we all face grave danger from the year’s most vicious villain. This miscreant so imperils our way of life that governments and organizations throughout the land are mobilizing to blunt its destructive power. No, I’m not talking about the coronavirus, China, not even Democrat politicians. The greatest enemy of 2020 is (gasp!) the traditional American family.

I know, I know. Just the mention of such a specter brings chills to the spine. The family presents such a threat to the fabric of our society and the overall health of the general public that herculean efforts are underway to destroy families and scatter their remnants to the winds.

Examine the strategies deployed by some of our nation’s best and brightest – that think tank known as “liberal governors” – for an illustration of the tactics necessary to mitigate the damage done by families.

As the pandemic rolled across the nation last spring, Governor Cuomo of New York sought to cut the octogenarian head off of the barbarous family unit by rounding up elderly covid patients and confining them in congregate living environments. There, the filthy, infected elderly could freely spread the disease amongst each other and presumably not to the younger, healthier population. These tactics hastened the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers who had clearly lived too long, removing key advisors to evil families throughout the nation.

With the traditional, and therefore culturally appropriated and imperialist celebration known as “Thanksgiving” upon us, aspiring Cuomos in other states have stepped up their game to defeat the dreaded family. Governors from California to North Carolina and Virginia to Oregon have moved to cut off the advance of a key family brigade from rejoining its peers – the nefarious college student. Families have been warned of the dangers of allowing these wayward rogues back into the fold. Surely nothing good can come of it. No, they must remain isolated in an empty dorm or apartment, masked and sanitized as they partake of meager rations until they can be rounded up and inoculated, by force if necessary.

With the grandparents locked away and the youth banished, what’s left of the heinous family unit is free to gather for the fall and winter holidays, as long as their numbers don’t exceed the scientifically determined sum that varies from state to state. No revelry can be had at these limited gatherings. Alcohol is discouraged. Hugging is prohibited, as is singing, chanting and playing loud music. They must eat their supper in silence, scattered throughout the yard, then retreat to their individual chambers until spring. And if any of these families should get out of line and violate the sanctions placed upon them, their neighbors are instructed to call the police to force them to comply.

In a seemingly direct threat to Mormon and Catholic families in particular, Oregon governor, Kate Brown, specifically told citizens to call police if their neighbors’ Thanksgiving gatherings exceed six people. It’s not clear how police will respond, since Brown has hardly been their biggest supporter this year.

These governors have clearly zeroed in on the true threat posed by family gatherings instead of lesser infection threats like full airplanes and crowded Black Friday shopping centers. We should be grateful for their wise and protective actions.

It’s not just governors who have taken aim at the traditional family structure. Until recently, Black Lives Matter (not the sentiment, but the political organization) included in their mission statement, a declaration to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.” BLM clearly saw the threat that a family unit comprised of a present father, mother and between one and three children poses to society. Such family structures are renowned for producing children who feel loved, embrace education and graduate to adulthood with goals and values. We can’t have any of that. Sadly, BLM caved when former NFL star Marcellus Wiley criticized their anti-family message, citing his own nuclear family for his success.

Hospitals around the country have done their part to parse families and pick off the vulnerable one by one. Many hospitals either don’t allow visitors or limit them to a single family member when someone is admitted. This tactic, no doubt endorsed by the legion of liberal governors, puts the crosshairs on elderly and emotionally vulnerable patients. By depriving them of company, they are more likely to either die or to feel less bound to their family unit. Either outcome further weakens the great villain of 2020.

So as you gather in droves of not more than six this week, give thanks to the governors, the institutions, the wise organizations who clearly have all our best interests at heart. Be grateful that our sage benefactors protect us from ourselves and our vile relatives. Long for future winters absent of such familial bonds, perhaps devoid of contemptible holiday gatherings of any kind. For it is only then that we as a society can be truly free.

Cheers!

Follow Jason Thomas (@jasonthomas01) on Twitter.

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com.

America is unique among developed nations in that (1) our sense of community is not derived from religious or racial homogeneity; (2) our government is structured to defend the minority from the unrestrained will of the majority; (3) we practice thankfulness without mandating worship. One of the gems–even the linchpin–in this bond is our national holiday of Thanksgiving.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman, wrote in his two-volume deep dive into American community, titled “Democracy in America,” that our “associations” promote a strong bond that can survive even the most turbulent political upheavals. In fact, within 25 years of publication, our nation would be locked in the bloodiest war in the history of this continent. We survived it, not because the North defeated the South, or because slavery, as an institution, was removed from our laws, but because the humanity of our common bonds of association allowed General Grant to parole men who were up to that point, the enemy, to return to their homes free and undivided American citizens.

I’m fascinated by how many other nations celebrate this holiday, in imitation of America. In 2018, Voice of America looked at Canada, Grenada, Liberia, Japan, and Germany. As for Canada, it’s our neighbor to the north, and many of our own cultural proclivities are shared with fellow North Americans. They just do it earlier (in October) because, well, it gets cold in November up there (I assume that’s the reason, plus it’s a harvest holiday).

If you look at the other nations, they have one thing in common. Grenada celebrates Thanksgiving on October 25: The day American Marines, ordered by President Ronald Reagan, liberated them in 1983. Liberia was established by freed slaves, and retains many symbols of American culture, including our Thanksgiving Day. Japan and Germany were liberated–their fascist and militaristic Bushido imperial governments utterly defeated–and rebuilt by American investment and philanthropy.

America has defended liberty around the world, and nations display their gratitude by adopting our Thanksgiving. This in itself demonstrates the power of the holiday.

In America, we generally associate Thanksgiving with the arrival of the Pilgrims, who were religious refugees from England, which had (and has) a state religion. In the past, even publishing a Bible translation earned a death sentence (see Jan Hus or John Wycliffe), and practicing a more fundamentalist, or “pure” (as they were called “Puritans”) faith earned persecution. The pilgrims arrived in the New World, where there was no infrastructure to support them.

In that first winter, over 40% of the pilgrims died, and the community was in danger. In what our kids learned, until radical “critical race” theory made it impossible to teach, the friendly Wampanoag heard the settlers gunshots as they hunted, and their chief Massasoit took 90 warriors to see if this was preparation for war.

When he realized they were just hunting, he joined them and they feasted together for three days.

This did happen regardless of those who try to prove it’s a myth, and for several years afterward, the annual feasts continued. Nothing lasts forever, and eventually, Native American and European colonist culture clashed, resulting in some bloody and terrible times in our history. Though I’m not proud of those, Thanksgiving has endured, and should endure as a symbol of our common humanity and our belief in a divine order.

Divine order is really the reason Thanksgiving is necessary, and why it’s the vaccine for tyranny. America doesn’t have a king to tell us who or what to worship. We don’t have a state religion. But knowledge and gratitude to the divine, and the Creator, is inculcated into our heritage, our ideals, and our founding documents.

George Washington realized that when fog rolled into the East River, which allowed him to finish evacuating his 9,000 troops from Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan in daylight, with General Howe’s men poised to capture him and end the War of Independence in August, 1776, less than three months after the Declaration was signed, it was not coincidence, or chance. It was divine providence.

I could go on about the “arc of history” and all its platitudes, but in fact there can be no “arc of history” or even a real sense of justice, charity, or common love of our fellow Americans without a sense of gratitude to the Creator who made us all equally blessed with His divine nature.

Thanksgiving Day is a day when Americans look at our families, our homes, our blessings, and even our adversity, and give thanks to God (as however we see God, or worship the divine) for our common bonds of affection. These transcend politics, government, and cultural origin. In fact, immigrant Americans are more ardent in celebrating Thanksgiving than many who were born and raised here.

The government may try to tell us not to gather, not to eat together, not to celebrate each other, because of a pandemic. But we don’t have to listen to that. We should take precautions, but in love, not tyranny.

While other nations imitate American Thanksgiving, and many of those nations have governments that tell their subjects what to worship, how to worship, and how community is to be celebrated, America doesn’t need to imitate anyone.

For those who think it’s about Native Americans and myths of Pilgrims, you can keep your tyrannical dreams in check, because Americans are thankful people, and our gratitude doesn’t leave room for your cancel culture.

Thanksgiving is ours, and as long as we have it, we will not suffer tyranny. We will be thankful and trust God to give us opportunity, courage, and conviction to throw it off like a moldy blanket.

God bless you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. Celebrate it with your loved ones.

Micah 4:4-5.

Everyone will sit under their own vine
    and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
    for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
⁵ All the nations may walk
    in the name of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord
    our God for ever and ever.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevengberman.

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com. 

One of the new stories making the rounds in recent days is the claim that Joe Biden plans to enact a $200 tax on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. There are several reasons why we should not be alarmed by these claims that Democrats will impose a heavy tax burden on gun owners.

The gun tax claim is rooted in a proposal on Joe Biden’s campaign website for a “buyback” of “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.” Biden’s proposal, the website says, “will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act.”

I’m a gun owner myself with an AR-15 among the firearms in my collection so the claims about the gun tax quickly caught my attention. Does Joe Biden really favor a tax on gun ownership since his website makes no mention of such a policy? Where is the evidence for the claim?

Americans for Tax Reform points to the registration requirement and then links to an ATF form. The anti-tax group claims that registration “triggers the $200 tax,” which it notes would be a “violation of Joe Biden’s pledge against any tax increase on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.”

It is true that the ATF form contains three options for “type of application.” The first is “tax paid,” which requires a payment of $200 with the application. The other two options are “tax-exempt” but these require the firearm to be “made” on behalf of either the US government or the government of a US state or possession. At this point, it looks bad for gun owners.

But then I looked more closely at the ATF form. The form cites Sections 5821(b), 5822, and 5841 of Title 26, Chapter 53 of the US Code. These sections of the law are easily accessible through the internet. When I looked them up, here is what I found.

Section 5821 specifies that the $200 tax is for “each firearm made” and is to be paid “by the person making the firearm.”

Section 5822 deals with “making” firearms. Among the requirements are that the maker must submit an application and pay applicable taxes.

Section 5841 addresses registration requirements under the National Firearms Act. The National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record records the owners of certain applicable firearms under the NFA, particularly “machineguns,” but you can see the full definition of “firearms” under the Act here.

In my mind, the big question here is what “making” a firearm means under the law. I’m no lawyer, but I do know that laws and legal contracts normally contain definitions of important terms. The National Firearms Act is no different. Just as the law defines “firearms,” it also defines the word “make:”

The term “make”, and the various derivatives of such word, shall include manufacturing (other than by one qualified to engage in such business under this chapter), putting together, altering, any combination of these, or otherwise producing a firearm.

26 U.S. Code § 5845.Definitions

If we put all this together, we see that the ATF registration form does require a $200 tax, but the law specifies that the tax is for people who “make” firearms rather than for registering or transferring them. Indeed, if we look at the title of the form cited by Americans for Tax Reform, it is an “Application to Make and Register a Firearm,” not an application to register or transfer an existing gun. It seems that ATR and others concerned about the gun tax have cited the wrong form and jumped to conclusions.

I searched for ATF gun registration forms and found the “Firearms Transaction Record.” If you’ve ever bought a gun, this form should be familiar. I’ll point out that it does not require a tax or application fee.

Because the law would have to be changed to require Americans to register their “assault weapons,” the new Congress could make changes to the current law. So, you might ask, couldn’t Congress and the Biden Administration impose a $200 tax when they mandate registration of the guns?

Changing the law to tax “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines” would be theoretically possible, but there are two problems with this theory. The first and most obvious difficulty is that Biden has not made any such proposal. The entire tax discussion is centered on an apparently erroneous assumption that Republicans read into Biden’s platform.

The second problem is getting such a hypothetical tax through Congress. Assuming an unlikely Democratic sweep of the Georgia races, the Senate would be at a 50-50 tie. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has already said that he would not back radical progressive moves if Democrats won control of the Senate. It’s safe to assume that the pro-gun senator from a pro-gun state who won re-election by less than one percent in 2018 would put the brakes on any plan to tax guns. Manchin, who has a record of opposing bans on “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines, might even kill the Biden gun buyback.

Launching a frontal assault on gun ownership would represent a massive strategic error for Democrats, who no doubt hope to expand their congressional delegations in 2022 and return Mr. Biden or some other Democrat to the White House in 2024. The best way to destroy those hopes would be to overreach with a divisive and controversial initiative that angers voters in red and purple states. That doesn’t mean that the more radical wing of the party wouldn’t push for it, however.

The good news is that the moderates are in charge. President-elect Biden has shown many signs that his Administration will not take a radical direction but will seek a bipartisan course. As a long-time creature of the Senate, Biden must realize that a gun tax would be doomed to fail while simultaneously poisoning the well for future cooperation with Republicans and endangering Democratic electoral chances in rural states.

This does not mean that Biden is a friend to gun owners, but it does mean that any attempts at gun control are more likely to be small and measured. Biden gun control proposals may include his “buyback” plan, more background checks, waiting periods, or a national database of people prohibited from owning guns, such as the one proposed by Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in 2018, but we are unlikely to see serious proposals for gun bans, confiscations, or taxes.

And don’t forget that there is an additional line of defense for gun owners. The pro-gun balance on the Supreme Court is now assumed to be 6-3 with the addition of Amy Coney Barrett. Even before the addition of President Trump’s appointees, the Supreme Court handed down several friendly decisions friendly to the Second Amendment in recent years.

Joe Biden and the Democrats are definitely not pro-gun, but that does not mean that they will have carte blanche to impose their will on gun owners. Even if Republicans lose the two Georgia Senate races, there will be little, if any, gun control legislation from the Biden Administration.

Follow David Thornton on Twitter (@captainkudzu) and Facebook

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com.

Jesse Kelly told listeners the hard truth about Joe Biden on Monday saying, “I think Joe Biden is going to be president. I think that is, by a mile, the likely scenario.”

He clarified that does not mean there was not voter fraud but “unwinding these things” and stopping the transition of power is “very, very, very difficult.”

Kelly also came to the defense of Sidney Powell saying, “Sidney Powell is not an idiot… this is a woman who is maybe one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life.”

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