In 2024, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined forces with 16 other Democrat-led attorneys general in a brazen legal filing that outright declared no Second Amendment right exists to carry firearms at political rallies and protests. This wasn’t some fringe opinion slipped into a footnote—it was a full-throated argument in an amicus brief supporting Hawaii’s draconian gun laws, where they twisted Bruen’s landmark 2022 ruling like a pretzel to claim public demonstrations are inherently sensitive places off-limits to armed self-defense. Picture this: throngs of protesters chanting, signs waving, tensions boiling over, and Ellison’s crew insisting that the very people exercising their First Amendment rights must do so defenseless, as if history’s bloody parade of riot-torn streets—from Kenosha to Portland—never happened.

Let’s dissect the hypocrisy with a sharp eye. Ellison, who cut his teeth defending rioters during the 2020 Minneapolis chaos (you know, the one sparked by the George Floyd incident that torched his own city), now wants to disarm everyone at political gatherings while his side’s militants wield bricks and bikes as weapons. This isn’t subtle—it’s a power play to neuter 2A protections where they matter most: amid the chaos of public discourse. Post-Bruen, courts have struck down sensitive place bans left and right when they’re vague or discriminatory, yet these AGs are banking on judges to carve out exceptions for any spot with a whiff of politics. Clever? Sure, if you’re rooting for one-sided street rules where Antifa gets a pass but law-abiding rally-goers get the pat-down.

For the 2A community, the implications scream urgency: this is the vanguard of a nationwide push to redefine public as government-controlled. If Ellison’s squad succeeds, expect copycat laws flooding blue states, chilling armed attendance at everything from Trump rallies to school board meetings. Gun owners, sharpen your briefs—organizations like FPC and GOA are already counterpunching, but vigilance means flooding dockets with real-world data on defensive carry saving lives in crowds. The right to bear arms isn’t situational; it’s the ultimate protest against tyranny. Stay strapped, stay legal, and keep fighting—the streets are our proving ground.