Virginians' Gun Run and New Jersey
Carry Surge Show True Will of The People

The clearest way to measure the will of "The People" isn't always at the polls every two or four years. Sometimes the will of the American people reveals itself through action, especially when the government starts threatening to take their rights away.

It was evident in New Jersey. A change came after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision that barred states from requiring ordinary citizens to prove a special need to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. In Virginia, it's playing out right now after lawmakers advanced extreme gun control measures which Gov. Abigail Spanberger has mostly accepted, including a ban on the future sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of many commonly owned semiautomatic firearms and magazines. Citizens in both states are reacting by heading to the gun counter to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Both states expose the same political fiction. Gun control activists talk as though their policy preferences reflect the will of the public. But when New Jersey lifted its "justifiable need" barrier, concealed carry applications surged. Likewise, as Virginia moved closer to a gun ban — Gov. Spanberger has signed several bills into law while altering others and sending them back to the legislature to approve — customers are rushing to firearm retailers. …