Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt fortune and a vocal gun-grabber who’s poured millions into anti-2A causes, dropped a bombshell on CNN this weekend: President Trump is supposedly making people want to commit violence against the federal government due to eroded trust. He qualified it by noting that, miraculously, no one’s actually done so—yet. This from the same guy whose state enforces some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, including a now-overturned assault weapons ban that treated law-abiding citizens like criminals for owning standard AR-15s. Pritzker’s rhetoric isn’t just sloppy; it’s a masterclass in projection, flipping the script on years of left-wing demonization of Trump supporters as domestic terrorists while his own party cheers riots that torched federal buildings in 2020.
Let’s unpack the hypocrisy for the 2A community: Pritzker’s fearmongering echoes the exact playbook Democrats used to justify red-flag laws and ATF overreach, painting gun owners as ticking time bombs inspired by rhetoric. Remember January 6? The media and Dems branded that as an insurrection fueled by Trump, leading to endless FISA abuses and show trials. Yet when Antifa firebombs courthouses or BLM organizers call for burning it down, it’s mostly peaceful. Trump’s real crime here? Rallying Americans against federal encroachments—like the Biden admin’s bump stock ban or the pistol brace rule that turned millions into felons overnight. Pritzker’s admission that people want to resist but haven’t is telling: it underscores the restraint of the armed citizenry, who uphold the rule of law even as trust in D.C. plummets to Jimmy Carter-era lows (Gallup polls show federal approval under 30%).
The implications for gun rights advocates are crystal clear—brace for weaponized narratives. As we head into 2024 midterms and beyond, expect Pritzker-style soundbites to fuel calls for more domestic extremism crackdowns, from expanded no-knock raids to AI surveillance of 2A social media posts. But here’s the silver lining: this rhetoric exposes the left’s endgame. They fear not violence, but peaceful, Second Amendment-backed pushback against tyranny. 2A patriots, stay vigilant, train hard, and vote like your rights depend on it—because they do. Trump’s not inciting violence; he’s reminding us why the Founders enshrined the right to keep and bear arms.
