Opinion

The artillery ($$$) has ceased, the “smoke” of campaign ads has cleared, “casualties” have been counted and identified, and the battle known as the 2024 General Election is now history.

Here at “Base Camp Delaware,” we remain surrounded and outnumbered by evil anti-gun forces, but we have not been overrun, and Base Camp Delaware has survived, at least for now.

Although we lost ground in the north, we remain strong in the south and remain at a stalemate in the center. Anti-gun forces control the North, and the North controls Delaware – and that puts every Delaware gun owner “behind enemy lines.” Despite our best efforts, Delaware remains a deep blue state with a strong anti-gun bias at the highest levels of government.

As our intelligence had predicted, anti-gun forces successfully repelled our pro-gun attacks on their state-wide fixed positions. They won all of Delaware’s state-wide races, sending anti-gun zealots to both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The Governor’s Mansion remains in enemy hands, with the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Insurance Commissioner entrenched deep into covering positions.

Opposition anti-gun forces captured all three of Delaware’s Electoral College votes. Fortunately, pro-gun victories elsewhere in the country will offset our Electoral College loss here in Joe Biden’s deep blue Delaware.

Sometimes, winning is not losing. Our pro-gun forces successfully repulsed a series of well-financed attacks against our incumbent pro-gun senators while losing only one pro-gun House seat to the anti-gun opposition forces. Unfortunately, that single loss in the House significantly reduces our ability to repulse the attacks we know are coming in the future.

Prior Battles Won & Lost

In years past, the pro-gun tactical situation in Delaware was not as dire as it is now. At times, it was actually pretty good.

In 1986-87, Pete duPont was our governor, and we (meaning the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association (“DSSA”) and the NRA-ILA), won significant battles, including the passage of a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that “A Person has the right to keep and bear arms for defense of self, family home, and State, and for hunting and recreation.” See DEL. CONST. Art I § 20. We also passed two State Preemption statutes. All three remain in effect today.

When I began my career as a pro bono pro-gun lobbyist representing DSSA in the Delaware General Assembly in 1992, our strongest pro-gun caucus was the Senate Democrats, and the weakest were the House Republicans. We had enough strength in both Houses to defeat almost anything, and when the opportunity presented itself, we had the strength to pass some very meaningful pro-gun legislation.

We won battles to strengthen our concealed carry laws by adding a right of appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, Concealed Carry Reciprocity, and State Implementation of the federal L.E.O.S.A. (H.R. 218). Add to that handgun hunting, Sunday hunting, range protection, pistol caliber rifle hunting, and other smaller skirmishes, which are too numerous to list here.

Anti-gun measures we defeated included three separate attempts to ban semi-auto rifles and standard capacity magazines, two attempts to ration guns (one gun per month), several attempts to repeal or water down State Preemption, at least four separate gun registration schemes, and several attempts to gut and/or repeal Delaware’s Concealed Carry law.

In 2010, we began expanding our offensive operations to the courts by successfully defending the right to keep and bear arms in public housing, establishing Delaware as an Open-Carry State, defeating two separate bans on guns in parks and state forests, and a regulatory ban on the use of semi-auto pistol-caliber rifles for hunting.

Then, the Second Amendment tactical situation began a dramatic change – for the worse.

While we had been mostly successful in defeating “The Brady Bunch,” who actually lived in Delaware, a new breed of anti-gun enemy began to appear on the battlefield – an enemy with better training, better tactics, and lots of artillery ($$$$), led by “generals” known as Bloomberg, Soros, Giffords, the “Moms,” and Joe Biden’s White House staff.

Seeking to solidify their power base, a newly elected Democratic majority created a whole new series of gerrymandered districts in 2012 and expanded them again in 2022. At the same time, the Democratic Party was under attack from within.

The Marxist-leaning Working Families Party was busy purging pro-gun and Blue Dog Democrats from the Party. Gone were the reasonable people we once relied upon, replaced by rabid far-left radicals with vicious anti-freedom attitudes. They became so powerful that they took out two Democrat House Speakers in the same year. The old-style down-home Delaware Democrats were gone, replaced by Socialist (some would say “communist”) Democrats with a deep-seated hatred for America’s Constitution, our history, our culture, and our heritage – and, of course, our guns.

I was once admonished for telling folks at a Second Amendment rally that this new breed of Socialist Democrats does not hate guns so much as they hate gun owners and all that we stand for – our history, our culture, our love for America, and our constitutional freedoms. One of those far-left legislators later admitted that what I had said was true.

With these new anti-gun armies entering the battlefield, it was time for a change in tactics. A new team was formed. DSSA needed a full-time professional lobbyist to work with NRA-ILA and NSSF. I moved to the backroom, focusing on strategy, drafting legislation, and preparing for the litigation we knew would soon be needed.

Current Battles Yet To Be Decided

Seven days after the Supreme Court’s decision in N.Y.S.R.P.A v. Bruen, Governor Carney thumbed his nose at the Supreme Court, signing into law three bills: (1) a ban on commonly owned semi-auto rifles, shotguns, and pistols; (2) a ban on standard capacity magazines; and (3) a ban on the possession and ownership of firearms by adults under the age of 21 years.
Shifting the battle from Legislative Hall to the halls of the Court House, DSSA and our allies filed suit in all three matters. Those issues are still being actively litigated in both federal and State courts.

In 2023, that new anti-gun juggernaut swept our pro-gun forces from the field of battle, ramming through yet another radical measure known as “Permit-to-Purchase.” We counter-attacked by filing suit in federal court the same day the governor signed that bill.

As you can imagine, our ability to fight simultaneous battles in the courts, legislatures, and ballot boxes during an election year stretched our forces and logistics ($$$) very thin.

The results of this 2024 Election signal yet another enemy offensive to be launched by the anti-gun armies at Legislative Hall in the new year ahead.

Future Battles Looming On The Horizon

Delaware’s new governor, Matt Meyer, ran for office on an anti-gun platform, as did the vast majority of the Democrats who were running for and winning seats in both the Delaware House and Senate.

Senate leadership has already announced their intent to introduce a mandatory universal gun registration bill in 2025. Given the current numbers in both the House and Senate, this bill may very well pass. If it does pass, DSSA and our allies will once again be forced to challenge that scheme in court.

We are hearing rumors of other anti-gun schemes being discussed by the forces opposing us. Only time will tell what those new anti-gun schemes may be.

Look for DSSA to launch our own pro-gun counter-offensive to include another attempt to pass Constitutional Carry, a Gun Owner’s Bill of Rights, and a Gun Owner’s Privacy Act. Also, expect us to fire a barrage of “killer amendments” at any legislation launched by opposing anti-gun forces.

Of course, we must begin to prepare for the 2026 mid-term elections, when our Soros-style Attorney General, along with the entire Delaware House and half of the Delaware Senate, will be up for reelection.

The new battle lines are drawn. New forces are on the field, new battles loom large on the horizon, and the war continues.

We need reinforcements. If you would like to help us fight the monumental battles that face us, please go to Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association (DSSA) at www.dssa.us.

Every AmmoLand Second Amendment Patriot is welcome to join our fight and DSSA. All reinforcements are welcome. Join the battle, help us defend our pro-gun position, and help us win our fight for Freedom.

We may be surrounded, outnumbered, and outgunned ($$$$), but you can rest assured that DSSA and our allies will never give up. We will never give in. We will never surrender. We will carry our fight for Second Amendment Freedom to the enemy no matter what the odds might be against us.

Freedom is not free – we will pay the price, whatever that price might be – will you?

“Charlie Mike” – Continue the Mission

John C. Sigler

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of any person or organization with whom he may be affiliated. For purposes of full transparency, Mr. Sigler is a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA, a former member of the RNC, and a Past Chairman of Delaware’s Republican State Committee.