clinton_trump_split

I’m not voting for President this November. I can’t abide any of the candidates, starting with the obvious, Hillary Clinton. Despite Ms. Clinton’s claim that she isn’t coming for our guns, she’s coming for our guns. The “smoking gun” proving her anti-gun agenda? A recording where the candidate tells a crowd the Supreme Court was “wrong on the Second Amendment.” But it’s no secret where Hillary stands on the Second Amendment: with her boot on its neck. Moving on to Donald Trump . . .

Trump infuriated me, backing the elimination of gun rights for Americans on the secret, unaccountable “no-fly” Terrorist Watch List. There’s no excuse for his stance, or his previous support for an “assault weapon” ban. Trump’s support for the NRA-modded “No Fly, No Buy” proposal indicates what we all know anyway: a President Trump would have no core convictions on gun rights (or, you might say, anything else). He’d gladly deal away our firearms freedom. Or, at the least, fail to vigorously defend it.

The third-party options are a joke. Libertarian Gary Johnson chose former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld as his running mate. Weld is anything but pro-gun, even to the point of making some Hillary-level comments about legislation involving our rights. Green Party? Jill Stein is an environmental fascist who supports tighter gun regulations, including an “assault weapons” ban.

I cannot, in good conscience, vote for any of these people. I understand the lesser of two evils argument for Trump. I understand the importance of the upcoming appointments of Supreme Court Justices, and the fact that Trump’s list of potential nominees were all genuine conservatives…a list he then removed and said they were just “ideas.”

The way I see it, gun owners can vote for a candidate they know will degrade and/or destroy their rights or write someone in. Well, that isn’t good enough for me. Every time a new gun law passes, the Constitution is violated. In states where Democrats hold sway, the People of the Gun don’t have a voice in the matter. And no matter who wins the presidential election, this egregious violation of rights will not end. And it will continue to spread.

We are left, then, only with civil disobedience. And when that happens, my conscience will be clean. What about yours?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

300 COMMENTS

  1. You are free to do what you want; however, one candidate MAY appoint decent to good judges, one candidate WILL appoint judges that will erase what is left of the 2A.

    If you feel good about your protest vote, or lack thereof, please know that it will do nothing to help the cause in the courts.

    All in all, your vote doesn’t matter. Wyoming’s electoral votes are clearly going to the republican candidate.

    • I won’t bother to argue Sara’s points when I can let Dennis Prager and Bobby Jindal (both known good conservatives with near impeccable credentials) do a better job of laying out the reasons of why conservatives need to vote for Trump.

      All I ask is for people who think they are “voting their conscience” to take a few minutes to read these with an open mind.

      http://www.dennisprager.com/a-response-to-my-conservative-nevertrump-friends/

      http://www.wsj.com/articles/im-voting-trump-warts-and-all-1462739009

      And more clear thinking from Prager
      http://www.dennisprager.com/columns/

      • If I lived in a state that mattered, or even a county, maybe, I’d have to vote for trump. I live in Portland, OR. Nuff said. I know exactly what I’m getting Hillary. Trump? I just know what I’m getting with Hillary. I hope people in Ohio, PA, FL and CO make the right pick.

        • I agree with you up to a point. I live in NJ, where a Chimpanzee running as a Democrat would win in a landslide. However, I consider it my duty to vote and at least make the attempt top keep Clinton out of the White House. This is the third election in a row where freedom vs. free stuff is the choice. I’m praying freedom wins this time.

      • How about my simple statement in lieu of Prager and Jindal:

        Your vote does not, I repeat, does NOT represent some sort of allegiance with the candidate. Your vote is not, I repeat, is NOT a statement that you like the candidate on a personal level or agree with most/everything about the candidate. Rather, your vote is your official action to install the best viable candidate in office, nothing more and nothing less, even when the best viable candidate is a scumbag.

        Look at it this way. When you vote with your money to buy a car, are you stating your allegiance with, personal agreement with, and fondness for the manufacturer? If you purchase a Ford, does your purchase mean that you like and support Ford’s business decision to make exploding Pintos that killed people? If you purchase a GM, does your purchase mean that you like and support GM’s business decision to install faulty ignition switches that killed people? If you purchase a Chrysler, does your purchase mean that you like and support Chrysler’s business decision to make confusing gear range selectors that killed people? If you purchase a Toyota, does that purchase mean that you like and support Toyota’s business decision to make cars with stuck gas pedals that killed people? Do you purchase no car because every manufacturer has made business decisions that killed people?

        Or, do you purchase the best car available from all of the manufacturers, even though every manufacturer has made business decisions that killed people? And when you purchase that car, is your vote with your dollars a statement that you like and agree with everything about the manufacturer? Or is your vote with your dollars simply a utilitarian action to do what serves you best?

        • I agree with the points you’re making, but they don’t convince me to vote for Trump. My reasons for not voting Trump aren’t just because I disagree on a couple points and he’s not perfect. Rather, it’s because everything I hear from him and everything I read about him indicates that he would be a horrible choice for president! Yes, if she gets elected, Clinton will be the worst president we’ve ever had, and Trump supporters repeatedly point this out. However, what they need to do is to show us that Trump would actually be better, rather than simply horrible in a different way.

          If someone offers me the choice of getting thrown out of an airplane without a parachute or being held underwater for hours with no breathing apparatus, there’s clearly noticeable differences, but that doesn’t make either choice obviously superior to the other.

          That being said, it’s still a long time to November, so I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens between now and then.

        • Trump has at least SOME positive points – Starting with the fact that He has held A FREAKING JOB. Unlike hellery, he has operated in the real world of commerce and results. And second, he is not surround by dead bodies.

          Hillary for Prison.

      • Bobby Jundal is a joke that ran his state into the ground as a governor. Why do we listen to idiots who tell us to vote for other idiots?

      • ^ That.

        Not voting is a vote for HRC and a vote for a lifetime appointment of a progressive,liberal SC Justice.

        You can explain personal distaste, ‘voting your conscious’, etc., but that is the reality. Hope that keep folks warm when a new AWB is put in place, Heller is overturned, and Calif.-type lunacy floods other states.

      • Prager takes the never stance to the woodshed. I can’t stand Trump but Clinton is the worst. Look people,I was one of the people who was dead against Trump, but after much pondering Prager expresses my views best. We who vote for Trump are not morally culpable for his actions after gaining the presidency. His actions are his own and he will have to answer for them before God and history.
        I just wish Trump had stayed the hell out of the race. Rubio or Cruz or Paul could have beaten HIllary and while they were not perfect candidates they were a damn sight better than the idiotic Trump. His ego is literally a lead ballon.

    • Love Sara, not buying it. Not voting for the lesser of two evils is essentially voting for the big evil. If Hillary wins in November it is armageddon for gun owners. If Trump wins it is likely there will be no ill effects. Unlike Hillary, who has made gun control a central plank and promise of her campaign, Trump has been full throated in his defense of the 2A. Yes, the watch list issue is a crack in his armor, but a small one considering the alternative.

      • “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem
        – or you’re just part of the landscape”

      • Not voting is essentially the same as doing nothing, and Trump’s “armor” is a leaky sieve full of contradictions and confusion. Sara’s points reflect those of many longtime conservative thinkers.

        If you wanted a candidate that would press RKBA issues, Trump was the wrong choice. If you were so blinded by fear & hatred of Hillary that you wanted whoever they hated most, congrats; you fell for the oldest trick in the book & let your enemies choose your champion.

        The amoral, the anti-intellectual, and the inebriated. DC version of a Western movie.

        • barnbwt,

          Your bloviating does not change the reality that stands before us:
          (a) November 2016 election for U.S. Congress and President
          (b) There are only TWO viable candidates for President
          (c) Hillary Clinton is one of those two viable candidates
          (d) Hillary is campaigning on gutting the 2nd Amendment
          (e) A Hillary Presidency comes with a Democrat Congress
          (f) A Democrat Congress will work with Hillary to gut the 2nd Amendment
          (g) Trump is campaigning on upholding the 2nd Amendment more-or-less
          (h) A Trump Presidency comes with a Republican Congress
          (i) A Republican Congress will NOT work with Trump to gut the 2nd Amendment.

          These are facts. Period. All of your commentary about armor, enemies, tricks, champions, amorality, and inebriation do not change those facts.

          Is Trump guaranteed to champion expansion of 2nd Amendment rights? Of course not. Is Hillary guaranteed to erode 2nd Amendment rights? Absolutely. You can face this reality and vote for Trump as your best course of action to expand 2nd Amendment rights. Or you can ignore this reality and help Hillary to erode our rights, either directly by voting for her, or indirectly by not voting at all or voting for a non-viable candidate. What is it going to be?

    • Sarah, you just lost me. Either you are woefully ignorant of the world-changing issues at hand, or you are so naively self-centered that you think sharing your hissy-fit on TTAG is something People Of The Gun should know about. You are pathetically wrong on both counts. Now, do us all a favor and Please Go Away.

  2. Thank you, Mrs. Tipton.

    I feel more or less the same way, though I feel obligated to vote for Johnson/Weld in order to somewhat allay the damage that Trump’s upcoming catastrophic defeat might do to the possibility of a more libertarian GOP, as well as to lessen Killary’s mandate.

    But I generally agree, I refuse to pull a lever for anyone who would outright harm this country, and there’s a chance that I might gain the intestinal fortitude to leave that column blank by the time November rolls around.

    • If Clinton wins, you won’t have to worry about little things like political parties. If someone that crooked gets into the White House, we’ll be either a dictatorship or in the middle of a civil war by the end of 2017.

      • ‘If someone that crooked gets into the White House…’

        You seem to be forgetting that 2 of our last 3 presidents have been ‘that crooked’.

        • We lost for almost the entire decade of the 90s. Now we have a legislator that has the balls to introduce the Hearing protection act, all fifty states have at least one method to carry a firearm. There are more gun owners than ever, we beat Universal background checks federally, beat a federal assault weapons ban after Sandy Hook, gun control is a losing issue, and most people don’t care about it. Violent crime is at an all time low. Gun sale background checks have set records every month for the last 15 months

          The SJW, PC, Safe space crowd has created a newer, younger, and smarter branch of classical liberals. For every triggly puff there are dozens of Columnists, youtube channels, etc criticizing her, her beliefs, and her way of life. So yeah, we are doing pretty good.

        • No. Are you saying your blather about dictatorship and civil war was just hyperbole?

        • Unfortunately, Hillary is the Trigglypuff candidate, and she holds at least 40% of the popular vote according to most recent polls, despite having absolutely no redeeming qualities.

        • >> Look at the results. Are we better off today than we were in 1992?

          By a lot of measures, for sure. Crime rates, for example.

          In any case, your assertion was that we’d see a civil war literally next year after Clinton assumes office. If she’s comparable to the politicians before her, and a civil war didn’t ensue when they took office, what makes this time different?

          (I still remember how many right-wingers were saying that Obama would surely be a dictator by 2012. Then it was by 2016.)

    • Liberty is not about getting high, gay sex or abortion. It’s not even about guns. It is about an economy organized around markets and the government as a provider of public goods and a legal system. If you think Johnson is about liberty you confuse anarchy with liberty.

      • “the government as a provider of public goods”

        Did you really say that is what liberty is about? Really?

      • Don’t you have some tactical yoga pants to review, Ms. Tipton? You are embarrassing.

      • This conflation (and even subsumption) of liberty with capitalism, is one of the sources of current problems.

        No, liberty is not just about free markets and a legal system. It’s also about all those other things that you have listed. Singapore has strong market-based economy, and one of the strictest implementations of rule of law on the globe, but few would actually call them a free country.

        • Free Market economics is just a possible indicator of a free society, not the only one. Of course there are plenty of past and present examples of despotic or totalitarian governments that have adopted some form of free economic principles, but I can always point out there are no free or democratically elected nations that have survived with a total top down command and control structure economy. Not even the often quoted Socialists orientated Nordic countries. if a government doesn’t trust or restricted by it’s own citizenry to make individual free economic choices, there is very little else it will trust them with.

    • A vote for anyone, (or no one in Sara’s case) but Trump is a vote for Hillary.
      Even if it’s a protest vote. If we have any hope at all to not have Hitlery in the White House we need to unite around Trump. And he might not be a great option. But. He. Isn’t. Hillary.
      If she wins, our country as we’ve know it, as our founders invisioned it, will be over. She will do her best to eliminate the 1st and 2nd amendment.

      Hillary for Prision 2016.

    • Hmmm, what do politicians do? Promise they will do this, that, and the other when elected. What do they actually do? Whatever they darn well please.

      Maybe Trump is just more honest about the fact that he will do whatever strikes his fancy instead of opening himself to even more criticism for not keeping his promises. Like any politician ever kept their promises in the history of the world.

      If you are in a state that will go big for either candidate, you can safely vote for a third party. If the Libertarians can get more votes they can get gubmint campaign funds and might just become an alternative. Note that I didn’t say a good alternative, but competition is good, right?

  3. Yes… Because a “clear conscience” is totally worth surrendering to Clinton. Every vote not cast for Trump is one less vote the Demokkkrats have to steal and one step closer to the civil war that will result when Hitlary gets her brown shirts in power.

    • This is garbage rhetoric. People said the same thing about Obama for the last 8 years. Sure he’s made choices that I don’t support but we’re a LONG way from civil war. You’re fear-mongering and it makes us all look desperate.

      • A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and we have been walking this road for eight years.

        Walking four more can’t hurt right?

        • I really appreciate the way you’ve asked that question. Because I do agree with you that it WOULD hurt us to walk down that road for 4 more years. However the way you’ve engaged in communication with me is sane and rational. You have a good point and you desire to lead me to it. Our side needs a lot more of this, and a lot less of the garbage.

        • When the other alternative you’re contemplating is jumping off the cliff, yeah, it sounds like an awesome idea.

          Sure, jumping will get you somewhere else, and very quickly at that. But it won’t be anywhere you actually wanted to be, and you’ll be screaming all the way there.

      • The next president will most likely set the direction of the SCOTUS for the next 40+ years.

        Do you fathom the implications of that? A Leftist court is an activist court making radical leftist decisions that will undo the idea of liberty in America.

        A conservative court in contrast steps back and lets the constitution do the work.

        Do you think America will be America as we know with 40 years of Leftists SCOTUS decisions?

        America really does hang in the balance. Yeah there will still be a land mass between Canada and Mexico named America but it will be indiscernible from a socialist Europe.

        • But it’s not a race between a leftist and a conservative- it’s a race between a super progressive leftist, a slightly leftist authoritarian, and a progressive statist pretending to be a libertarian.
          A vote for trump is a vote for a leftist agenda
          A vote for Clinton is a vote for a leftist agenda on steroids.
          A vote for Johnson is a vote for a leftist agenda pretending to be anything else.
          They’ve won. Deal

      • I can guarantee, without any arguments coming from anyone, there will NEVER be a civil war in America. Until there is. It could have been 6 months ago, it could be 6 months from now, or 6 years, or 60 years, but thinking that someone as stupid as Obama calling for UBC when it would accomplish nothing is going to bring on a civil war is just seriously stupid.

        But if you think it is impossible, you might want to imagine just what would cause *you* to load your deer rifle and point it at your door. You may say, “nothing”, if you have no imagination. What Osama and Hillary are aiming for goes like this; you happen to see a truckload of JBTs kick in the door across the street, followed by gunfire and screams for 30 minutes before they come back out and cross the road to your next-door neighbor, kick in his door, followed by more gunfire and screaming. If you can still say you’ll be a good little sheep, may posterity forget ye were my countrymen.

        • Who plays the JBT part? I don’t know many liberal gunfighters. I know firsthand there’s ALWAYS “company” assholes willing to do whatever the government tells them to. (25+ years military, and LEO) But 99 times out of 100, they’re COWARDS!

        • Yes he is. Healthcare, Spygate, IRS gate, Fast and Furious, support to the Muslim Brothrhood and then some.

      • Obama never had the opportunity to stack the Supreme Court 6-3 with anti-constitutional rights judges.

        Obama is an empty suit. Hillary is a blatantly self-serving, corrupt-as-hell fake.

    • Exactly. I love how a lot of these keyboard commandos are ready for “civil disobedience” or craving civil war. When what will really happen, is most of them will stay home in their air conditioning, enjoying their comfort food, unwilling to sacrifice their job, their mortgage, their family, and their lives. We haven’t had a war on our home soil since the 1860s, and no American, not even are most battle hardened veterans, alive today knows what that’s like.

      • They may not personally “know what is like” but most of us also know that getting shot with a .22 short is a really bad idea. Do you have to get shot to understand that? You don’t have to personally experience something to lend validation to a conclusion when based on outside objective evidence it is either positive or negative. I think you might be surprised at the people who would show their character and their sacred honor.

      • Yep, there aren’t any 0311s, police officers, or veterans in any branches who know what conflict looks like. Your middle class experience in reading TTAG makes you uniquely qualified to dispense tactical advice. Can I get your number for some tips the next time I set up a perimeter for a felony suspect?

        I’m aware that I’m being a sarcastic bastard, I just don’t have the time I used to for folks who haven’t seen conflict / war / combat speculating about what it looks like. It’s definitely ugly. When you see somebody next to you get hurt or killed, it’ll change your whole perspective. I know guys who’ve been killed by drunk and distracted drivers and its left its mark. I’ve been to too many funerals.

        One thing that sticks with me: You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need some balls. I pray that 3% of gun owners have that. If things go catastrophic, 3% may be enough.

        Meanwhile, as I’ve said before, now is a great time to stock up on guns, ammo, and supplies. I’m practicing what I preach. And gun owners across state lines should be united in support. So even though I can be a sarcastic bastard, I hope you can forgive me. Everyone who has fought anyone has had to survive their first fight.

        Give pro gun candidates your financial support. Call congress critters. Get people around you interested in guns, carry permits, hinting and self defense. Keep your powder dry.

        • Assumptions are like ax holes son, everyone’s got one. You assume I haven’t seen combat. Combat, regardless of it’s intensity, is very different when it’s being fought in your own back yard. Here’s a clue, don’t take stuff said online so personally and you won’t look like such a dunce.

        • Hank,

          Here are two things I take personally:

          1. Gun owners who don’t have the stones to vote / act / donate / support pro gun politicians / laws / entities or who don’t have the balls to oppose anti gun politicians / laws / entities. Looks like Sara Tipton has put herself into that category.

          2. Those who haven’t fought or been in combat dispensing advice about the topic. Guess which category you fall into?

          So if that makes me a dunce, I’m at least a pro gun dunce who can actually walk the talk. I’ve actually been in conflict and used weapons against other human beings. I’m not a fan of the “we can’t do it” attitude.

          Part of my whole “schtick” to avoid violent confrontation is to support pro gun politicians, laws, and ideas. I (and other commentors) could be totally wrong about Hillary starting a civil war. But we’re not wrong about Hillary opposing gun rights at every level. So when I go to read TTAG in the hopes of finding pro gun and pro truth articles, and find an “I’m going to sit this election out” article, it doesn’t make me happy.

        • “One thing that sticks with me: You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need some balls.”

          Well said, ’81. I’m disappointed that so few people share your sentiments. Frankly, anyone who believes in the 2nd amendment and who also thinks that some accommodation to protect gun-rights can be reached with Hillary Clinton and the progressives is in deep denial.

        • Then you’ll just have to deal with the fact that a third of the usual GOP voters are sitting this one out.

        • Enjoy those sour grapes, Guv, all the way through the tyranny to come. Think how proud you’ll be when all those liberal judges are handing out their PC tripe as law, while you are blaming someone who was not even elected, because you “sat it out”, pouting ‘cuz you didn’t get your way.

        • Larry, do ever read your own posts? Seems to me like it’s you with the sour grapes. I’m just fine with waiting another 4 years for another shot. In fact I’m getting kind of used to it. But you’re the one that’s all bitter about me not wanting to cast a vote for a 13 year old boy with Aspergers trapped in the body of a 70 year old man. At least if HRC wins we still have 2020. If the man-child wins we have to wait for 2024.

        • William,

          You won’t be waiting “4 more years for another shot.” You’ll be waiting 50 years for the supreme court justices Hillary appoints to retire.

          You’re right – presidents come and go. But the supreme court is FOR LIFE.

    • In order to avoid invokation of Godwin’s Law, keep in mind that the SEIU wears purple shirts.

  4. Sorry, but any gun owner who does not vote or votes 3rd party is giving Hillary and the left a one vote advantage. All that will be left in your safe is your conscience.

  5. …and I am now done with TTAG. I will get my gun news from somewhere that isn’t ok with sitting on the sidelines watching their rights be eroded by someone like Hillary that they know will make things worse. Goodbye TTAG.

    • I agree that the author’s position is stupid, but come on, you are going to stop reading TTAG because of this one post by this one author? Your friends and family must love your patience and generosity.

    • Sara Tipton is NOT- I repeat NOT TTAG. RF has stated many times he’s voting Trump.She is an attempt to get the female perspective on guns. And MY response is never read her missives again. My conscience is clear-voting Trump/Pence 2016. I’m also a born again believer in Jesus Christ-HE said “go ahead!” Hillary is Satan incarnate-and God uses imperfect men like Trump.

      • WTH possible good can come from the headline and content of the article?
        Huh??

        Every day there is repeated evidence that I am a member of the “stupid party”.

      • Right. There are plenty of other reasons to stop reading TTAG.

        Bad writing, nasty ads….

        Ha!

      • What Sara has just done is demonstrates that her support of 2nd amendment rights is conditional and not nearly as important as her desire to express a political view that directly undermines the very thing she’s supposed to be committed to. Not voting tacitly supports Hillary Clinton who is decidedly anti-gun. By declaring her intention to not vote she betrays a core value that defines—or ought to define—her fundamental reason for being here. In this Sara has placed herself in a position that is very like that of Guns And Ammo’s former long-term editor, Dick Metcalf who wrote an article supporting gun-control. Metcalf thought he could have things both ways. Events proved otherwise.

    • ….seconded, I’m done with TTAG. It’s garbage like this that sadly I’m not surprised to see from this ‘author’. Shortsightedness like this HELPS the anti-gun folks who would rather do away with the 2A.

      Liberals in sheeps clothing…

      • Wow. Here all along I thought that absolute intolerance of views that did not align with ones own was the realm of the progressive liberal. Clearly I’ve been wrong in that assumption.

        I don’t agree with her take, but I’m sure as hell not going to question her credentials nor flee for my echo chamber because I may disagree.

        • >> Here all along I thought that absolute intolerance of views that did not align with ones own was the realm of the progressive liberal. Clearly I’ve been wrong in that assumption.

          Did you really just find that out?

          Did you miss all that talk from Trump about how he wants to “strengthen libel laws” (whatever that means, since there are no libel laws on the federal level) to make sure that the press doesn’t say nasty things about him, like, oh, quoting what he said a day before?

          Did you miss fanatics at the Trump rally chanting “lock them up” while Trump was unloading on the “corrupt media”?

        • No, I didn’t really just learn that but am glad I gave you the opportunity to prattle on just the same.

    • You misspelled “and”
      You vote for Trump *and* you’ll lose your guns.
      Of course a vote for Clinton also looses gun rights. Dittio for Johnson.
      The progressives have got their canidate as the nominee in both parties- and the third parties buy into the same crap to greater or lesser extents.

  7. I’m voting for Johnson. If he were to hold to the Libertarian ideals then he would be an excellent choice. I understand he’s not perfect either, nor is his VP pick. But he’s certainly got momentum and I can feel OK about voting for him. Hillary is not an option, and I don’t believe a word Trump says.

    • Moderately long term Lib here. I voted for GWB twice in 2000 and regretted it. By 2004 not even John Kerry could make me vote for him, been voting Libertarian ever since, including Johnson in 2012.

      But two things happened this year to change all that.
      1. I can’t support this year’s Lib ticket any more than I can support Bernie.
      2. Hillary is determined to claim new territory on the left, positioning herself as worse than Kerry and Obama put together.

      I’ve been planning on holding my nose and voting Trump ever since Cruz dropped out, but every now and then, especially when he jumped on the NRA gun ban platform, he seems determined to piss me off.

      • I definitely understand that perspective. Johnson’s VP pick really bothers me. His statement about using government power to enforce non-discrimination REALLY grinds my gears. He’s not near as Libertarian as I was actually hoping.

        Much of Trump’s platform sounds good to me. I still don’t believe he means any of it. I don’t understand how a guy that has lived most of his life as a privileged moderate democrat can all of a sudden claim to be this conservative stalwart. He’s never been one and I don’t believe he is one now.

        • I can, pretty easily, believe that he is the same as I am, a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. What, exactly, conservative principles do you think you cannot rely on him to pursue? Social? Fiscal? Imaginary? I’m kinda weary of hearing he is not a “real” conservative, while no one is willing to define the term. Does it require a secret handshake, or something, to find out just WTF we are supposed to be talking about?

        • LarryinTX: And yet Trump has been pantomiming the social conservative this whole time. Even if I agree with what I believe are his real views on same-sex marriage and abortion (which, frankly, I do), I’m still bothered by his blatant dishonesty on the matter.

          That (along with the fact that he’s taken every side of every other issue, from single-payer healthcare to national defense) makes me doubt every one of his other espoused views, like his nominally pro-gun “I managed to bribe my way into an NYC carry permit, and my son likes to hunt” attitudes.

          I think it’s most likely that he will nominate judges who are doormats who refuse to get in the way of the executive branch and the regulatory usurpation of power. “I’ll name these 11 justices because the Dems will begin Oppo on them today, so I won’t have to actually appoint any of them”.

      • “2. Hillary is determined to claim new territory on the left, positioning herself as worse than Kerry and Obama put together. ”

        If she had an honest bone in her body, that would be a valid argument. But at the same time we’re terrified that she’s going to go Chairman Mao, those on the left (I was going to say those that know her and love her, but the two seem to be mutually exclusive) seem to think that she’s been lying through her teeth about all of her radical-left positions. Just like those of us on the right think that Donald Trump is lying about all of his slightly-right-of-center positions. She was forced into those positions because the campaign of a bloody SOCIALIST was generating more excitement than her own. Does that indicate anything about the way she’d fail to govern? Not in her case.

        I refuse to bow to fear again (after I did so against an actual hard-leftist in 2008 and 2012, in the process voting for wishy-washy anti-gun Republicans).

  8. Women shouldn’t have the right to vote let alone run for president. Thank you for knowing your place.

      • The rise of Progressivism in the USA does roughly correspond with the decades of female suffrage, but I’m not sure if that’s what “Mack” meant.
        The only addition to the Constitution that proved so awful that it had to be revoked was mainly championed by women.

        It’s funny. Society wide, polls tell us that females tend to support totalitarian laws and Communist or Socialist economics, but the women I know personally, not so much.

  9. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”
    -Rush “Free Will”
    Yeah, I know they are Canadian- cf Canadian gun laws…

  10. Thank you, Sara.

    I can only hope that every other woman voter follows in your footsteps. Then maybe we can have a President instead of an Empress.

  11. I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, any vote NOT cast for Trump will be a vote for Hillary and even abstaining from voting will set her up to win. I will hold my breath and vote for Trump and pray he can get it *Right*.

    • You know how to make zero equal 1! You’ve defied all mathematical laws as we know them. You’ve beat binary. You’ve made 0=1! This is amazing, you should run for president!

    • Maybe this is why so many supposedly smart computer nerds are so stupidly Liberal.

      Binary means you have two choices (usually represented in code as 1 or 0, but really meaning on/off or yes/no). If you pick ON you get one result, if you pick OFF you get a different result. If you do not pick either, guess what? You get NO RESULT. No result = zero.

      And zero means that you have removed yourself from the equation since you cannot add, subtract, multiply or divide by zero and expect to alter the results of the equation. So if voting 1 adds to the possibility of a Trump win and voting 0 adds to the possibility of a Hillary win it is obvious that your failure to vote at all (in a pure democracy) would add zero to the equation and so would have the result that the candidate you like the least would have the balance tipped in their favor.

      An election is like an old balance scale. You put a weight on one side and add that which you want to weigh to the other side. When the indicator reads zero the weights are equal/balanced. If you do not want the balance to be equal (as in any election) you MUST add something to tip the scales to your favor. That something is your vote. To deny that vote is to stand idly by and watch the scales favor the other side, effectively giving them an advantage of one vote.

      So failure to vote does not = zero, it equals +1 for the opposition, in this case Hillary. This assumes a pure democratic election, not an electoral college system. In your state the difference of your single vote may not be decisive. In more than one presidential election the candidate with the majority of the popular vote still lost to the candidate with the majority of electoral votes.

  13. …I certainly hope your conscience warms your fuzzies when the Hildebeast runs roughshod over what’s left of the Constitution with executive order after executive order.

  14. Not voting is not making some kind of moral stand. It’s an excersize in ignorance. Not voting has only recently become this great moral stand by the uneducated, and pushed by those who believe in apathy. Not voting has only become a champion to those who wish to take your rights. So your offended at some of things a candidate said, guess what? Every politician ever has said something equally offensive about some group, only behind closed doors. You going to sit there and tell me Bill Clintom never made outrageous sexist remarks? Or Hillary never said anything racist? Or Reagan never uttered the phrase “welfare queen”. Politics isn’t about choosing your ideal candidate. It’s about a constant, never ending fight.

  16. I am so sick and tired of people putting their votes up on pedestals like some type of sacred moral idol. “I can’t in good conscious blah blah bah.” Get over yourselves. You are going to have to live with the results regardless of whether you vote or take some self-righteous moral “high ground” and don’t vote. So why not have a say in the outcome? Life is full of crappy choices, but sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils as a matter of survival. Ms. Tipton, if a lot of other people take your attitude, you could be handing the election to Clinton, because I can guarantee you that the majority of people having this crisis of consciousness are on the right, not the left. That is always a good metric by which to judge your actions and behavior; “if a lot of people did what I am doing, what would that look like? Good result or bad result?” I agree that Trump cannot be relied upon to defend the 2nd Amendment. But I can absolutely rely on Clinton to go attack it with everything she has. So which do you want? The dog that MIGHT turn on you, or the one that IS already charging for your throat?

    • I am so sick and tired of people putting their votes up on pedestals like some type of sacred moral idol. “I can’t in good conscious blah blah bah.” Get over yourselves.

      It’s the narcissistic attitude that the Left is wholly infected with.
      Unfortunately conservatives are not immune to the disease.

    • Me too. Self-serving baloney. Don’t vote so you can get on here and brag that you’re not voting because you’re just so above it all? Tell you what, Sara, why don’ you tell your friends you didn’t vote but go ahead and vote for Trump anyway, i promise you can sleep at night. Sara what a putz you are.

    • You know how to make zero equal 1! You’ve defied all mathematical laws as we know them. You’ve beat binary. You’ve made 0=1! This is amazing, you should run for president!

      • You do remember how the Demokkkrat political fraud works? Right?

        Sarah will vote for Clinton, regardless of what she wants or marked on her ballot.

      • I will admit, I am pretty damn awesome, so thanks for that. Exhibit #1 for sitting out elections in 2008 and 2012 is currently occupying The White House. A good portion of people sat on their asses in those elections so they are partly to blame for Oshithead. Votes against Hildebeast matter as well as non-votes. Sorry but I can’t dumb this down any further for you.

    • Funny. All the Democrats scream at me that if I don’t vote for anyone I’m practically guaranteeing a Trump presidency.

    • Pretty much this. My individual vote for president has zero impact in a state that would go blue even if the Democratic candidate was an outright criminal and bordering on traitorous (oh, wait…she is…).

      Presidents aren’t elected by nationwide popular vote, but by the electoral college. Each state’s electoral college votes go entirely to whoever wins that state. Since my state’s electoral college votes are virtually guaranteed to go to Her Crooked Highness, my participation has no impact on the outcome.

      So there’s no reason for me not to abstain or vote for a third party on principle. If you live in a legit swing state, your moral/practical calculus might be different.

      I can make a difference, however, by voting for state and congressional candidates who respect the Constitution and the entire Bill of Rights — and I damn sure will, regardless of the presidential race.

  19. I’m with Sara. I MIGHT break down and vote for the man-child, but I’m probably going to write in ‘The Zodiac Killer’. Trump has 3 months to convince me he’s worth giving up on 2020.

  20. And we care what you plan on doing about voting? Not in the least Sara. I couldn’t care less about your political views anymore than I care what Michael Pig Moore thinks, says or does.

  21. Sounds like Sara has more guts than a lot of the men here. They are saying “Hilary will take our guns”, and Sara’s saying “come and take them”.

  22. POTD are made better and stronger by people with your grit, spirit, and courage.

    Starting with the War for Independence, men and women have done distasteful (to them) things (like die) to establish and protect this greatest of countries, as imperfect as it was and is. But here you are, Sarah, not wanting to sully yourself with a vote against a true political monster: Hillary Clinton.

    A meaningful vote against the likes of her is what patriots are now called to do. It’s distasteful, but the primaries are over. A general election is a zero-sum game. I don’t trust someone (including myself) to be civilly disobedient “someday” if she (or he) cannot even risk backing a better candidate because the candidate is human, i.e., flawed. A vote for Trump is a vote for a lot more liberty than a vote for any other candidate, including the silly pseudo-libertarians.

    Stay safe and please vote this November.

    P.S. Welcome to the free state of Wyoming. I’m a Montanan but went to kindergarten in Casper. I still remember the wind even though I was barely five years old.

  23. I have no conscience. All kidding aside, he isn’t Hitler and there are checks and balances in place to prevent presidents from going completely nuts and will be easier to repeal a no fly/ terror gun purchase ban than it will be to get a constitutional amendment put back in place. Abstaining is exactly what Hillary wants Republicans to do.

    • “…there are checks and balances in place to prevent presidents from going completely nuts…”

      Could you CC Obama on this? The admin doesn’t seem to have received the memo.

      • Actually, JT is correct. Trump is disliked so much that House and Senate will refuse to cooperate with him (because he is not a Democrat President). He may get us some good SC appointments, but he has no real leverage over the legislature. If Billary is elected, House and Senate will default to cooperation, as they did with Obama.

  25. I like how your title includes the phrase “for president.” I am hoping that means you will do your best to keep the 2A friendly politicians in your state from being disrupted.

  26. Love how the Trumpkins are getting all bent out of shape about one person not voting for their guy. The electoral college decides It anyway, people. Unless you’re in a swing state, the best thing you can do is make a statement to our major partis that the candidates aren’t acceptable. If you really dislike Trump you sure aren’t obligated to vote from him. Join the NRA, vote in local elections and make a statement in the general so we get better people next time.

    • I could not care less how she casts her individual vote (or doesn’t). What I care about is her and every other anti-Trump person with a soap box screeching about how they are not going to vote for Trump; this includes an alarming number of GOP members of Congress. What these idiots don’t get is that most people only show up for the general elections to vote for president. Many of them have no idea who their senator or congress rep is. But if they go into the booth to vote for the R presidential candidate, they will most likely punch R for all the other races because they are clueless. Likewise, many voters going into the booth to vote for the D presidential candidate are just going to punch D all the way down. What these GOP morons don’t understand is that if voters don’t care about the presidential race, they don’t care about voting, so they stay home. The danger of swaying conservatives to not vote for Trump is that they just don’t vote, which places a lot of congressional races in peril of falling to the Democrats. Now, Ms. Tipton makes a point of saying that she is not going to vote for President which different from not voting at all. But most voters are not thinking that way.

  27. Who would Mike Vanderboegh have voted for if he had the chance? Sadly this great fighter for gun rights has passed on today……may he rest in peace. 3%

  28. Ok Sara Hillary it is then. While you’re riding around on your high horse not voting for anyone crooked Hillary will be winning. She will finish off this republic. Enjoy your gun rights while you can.

  29. Sarah is more then entitled to sit it out. Wyoming wont matter, Florida will. I have to vote for Trump even if it hurts my head to do so.
    Anything less is a vote for Hitlery and that is something I see as intolerable for anyone who cares 1 wit for whats left of this country. Another 4 years of Obamas policies will be the end of America as I wish it to be,. No coming back from it.
    I have to believe that Trump knows he isn’t going to run the country and will pick able right thinking folks who can.
    The Court being the most important of all for generations to come.
    My gamble is on Trump. I know what I will get from Hitlery.

  30. Sara, I hear you. I used to think voting was almost a sacred obligation, but Clinton and Trump are making it really, really hard to do so. I’m not sure I could live with myself if I voted for either of them. They’ll both screw us over; the only question is how.

    If I vote for president at all, it’ll probably be for Gary Johnson, even though his running mate is a standard-issue Democrat idiot. They’re not an inspiring choice either, but they’d be a FAR better ticket than the corrupt hag or the orange clown. Hopefully they’ll make it into the presidential debates and keep both of the establishment corruptocrats from getting the necessary majority.

    I will vote for state and local candidates, regardless. And I’ll be voting for Republicans, Libertarians, and independents (used to vote D, but after they showed their true colors in recent years, never again). Whatever your presidential choice, be sure to vote for solid conservative/libertarian congressional candidates. We’re going to need Congress as a bulwark against the stupidity of our two major-party morons.

  31. The problem with supporting anyone but Trump is the SCOTUS issue. Trump has already given us a list of the judges he would appoint and I am willing to trust him that far.

    I fear the outcome of a Hillary win and what that will require of me, and the cost to my family. We as supporters of the Constitution may well be called upon to sacrifice far more than has been asked of us for many years.

    • If Trump can give us 3 or 4 solid SCOTUS members, and 4 years of stagnant gridlock on everything else, he’ll be the best President of my lifetime.

      • Yep! You sir are one of the few people who truly appreciate the value of gridlock! Yes, I would love to be free of the BS that is the NFA. Yes I would love to be free of the BS that is Obamacare. Yes I would love to be free of the ridiculous mess that is our tax law. I will be happy to accept gridlock that prevents any of these things from getting worse as you can bet Hillary Clinton will make them!

  33. You vote for Trump because #neverhillary “trumps” #never trump.

    I know the general consensus here is that Coryn bill, which is what the NRA is supporting is unconstitutional. but that TTAG conventional wisdom is wrong. The Fifth Amendment doesn’t say rights cannot be abridged. It says rights may not be abridged unless you are given due process of law. The Coryn Bill provides that due process. When the government goes to court to deny the sale it requires the buyer get his day in court. There is no ban in secret.

    • Which the Dems will never accept, and the prez would veto, allowing people to begin asking “why”, embarrassing the assholes. But it is backfiring because POTG are positively SICK of every restriction, and are rebelling against the people who came up with this great idea, from the NRA to Cornyn, who, as a Texan, I do not plan to ever vote for again.

  34. Not making a decision is a decision. Not voting is voting (and for the one you don’t want). Your high moral ground is flushed down the toilet when you leave everything to others. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about the results.

  35. I agree with Sara 100%. F*ck both political parties for putting up these abominations as candidates.

    Maybe they’ll learn when Clinton gets in office and starts war mongering all over the middle east. Remember, she’s got to prove she has a bigger set than Bush 43. So much blood and treasure will be spilled they’ll be mopping it up for generations.

    Or maybe they’ll learn when Trump gets into office and basically screws the pooch on domestic policy becoming the laughing stock in the industrialized world. Watch the dollar turn into the peso right before your eyes.

    The American political apparatus needs to be punished with a good old fashion beating in order to facilitate any semblance of change.

    • Both candidates were selected collectively by us. The political class is just a reflection of the electorate. We get corrupt politicians because the electorate is corrupt. They are giving us what we the people want. When you come up with a system that promotes the selfless and angelic let me know. I am all ears

      • This x’s 1000. Just think for a second how messed up that is. Hill and Agent Orange are a reflection of the electorate. We got what we wanted….yikes!

      • “Both candidates were selected collectively by us.”

        No, the DNC cheated during the primaries. Bernie Sanders would have won except the DNC wanted Clinton for some reason.

  38. First of all, let’s remember a little civics: Presidents are elected by the electoral college. Your vote makes a difference if your state is a swing state. If it isn’t, your vote is background noise.

    As far as I recall, Sara’s in Wyoming. It’s a state that’s going to go for Trump, hardcore. Whether she votes for him, or any other candidate, won’t affect the election in any way at all. Just like any individual voter here on the West coast won’t affect the election.

    Given that, do what you feel you need to do. If you’re in a situation where it really matters and there’s a calculus that points to a particular candidate, then go for it. If your situation allows you to vote purely on your conscience, then go for it.

    Personally, since I’m in Washington, and all these people suck, I’ll be leaving the top of the ticket blank.

    • Same here. Although I might register a protest vote for the Libertarians this time around. They’re not great either, but far better than the two major-party morons.

  39. This is a great example of the logical Error “making the good perfect the enemy of the good ” . It’s where you sacrifice a perfectly good option because it is not perfect.
    IT ALWAYS LEADS TO FAILURE BECAUSE PERFECTION IS UNOBTAINABLE !
    I remember the assault weapons ban, the Brady bill, ruby ridge, Waco, and other gifts from the Clintons.

    She is a narcissistic sociopath. The Clintons moved gun control further than anybody else since 1934.

    don’t any of you give me the ” I don’t care , I won’t turn them in” crap either. Who wants it to come to that?

    Clinton hates us with passion and fury, real honest to god fury.

    A victory for her will filp the house and senate too.

    If she wins:

    All the recent California gun laws will be passed nation wide.
    You have a bunch that it’s illegal to shoot on any federal land. and the will probably make interstate transfer of firearms by owners difficult and risky .
    Charles Schumer will replace Scalia and the court will define the 2nd amendment as a right of the national guard only with no implications for individual citizens.
    They will probably find that everyone from the manufacturer down to the store that sold the bullet fully liable if anyone is hurt by a firearm.
    Ammo and any gun parts purchases will require a NICS check.
    Having an ” arsenal ” of more than 4 guns or 1000 rounds of ammo will be banned .
    The consumer product safety commission will require a 15lb “childproof” trigger a requirement on all new firearms sold, or any existing firearm transported across state lines( that brings it under federal jurisdiction).

    People buying any parts for a gun would be subject to a waiting period and background check and only from a FFL .

    they will ban lead for ammunition as an environmental law.

    But at least you will have the comfort of knowing that if anybody but TED Nugent runs for president you didn’t vote for them so you are still pure.

  40. Grand standing idiot.

    We are voting for the courts, and not just the Supreme Court, not the president this time

  41. Yes, we have survived 8 years of Obama, but we are now living with a totally deadlocked Supreme Court when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. The only thing stopping a complete loss of 2nd Amendment rights is the Senate refusing to vote on an Obama appointee. Do you seriously think we can go another 4 years without choosing a Supreme Court Justice?

    If the Supreme Court says the 2nd Amendment is only for the “militia” then we will no longer have an individual right to bear arms. This is not something that Congress can overcome, no matter how pro-gun they are. Anyone who does not vote for Trump, as distasteful as it may be, will be insuring an anti-gun judge will sit in the “deciding vote” seat that is now vacant.

    Do you honestly want Hillary Clinton to pick our “deciding vote” justice?

  42. There are a lot of insinuations about civil disobedience as a possibility. Some may have drawn a line in the sand. However, there is a lot of difference between today and the last major war inside the U.S. It was one thing when people lived off the land and could walk hundreds of miles and fight someone basically with the same skills. Today, the reality is that very few people are going to get in a vehicle and drive to the beltway and start violence. What support would you have for food or ammunition and if you think the current gov’t employees are going to lay down their weapons or join you I think you may be having some delusions. They need to eat and want to draw a paycheck. Their side will be to protect the population from unrest and not look at the details of whether you were denied 2A rights.

    Now, if you drew a red line in the sand, who are you going to fight and where would you start? I just don’t see a logical place or identity of anyone that might be the face of government that would be an effective starting point or anyone that you could actually get near. Maybe I am wrong. In the meantime, the people that are disgusted and decide not to vote in spite are ushering in a gov’t that will take more control of your lives and not in a good way for an individual. FEMA camps be damned and so are the people that don’t vote as far as I am concerned.

    • Don’t assume, that if all hell did break loose and fighting started, that it would be done on a traditional battlefield. I’ll leave it at that.

    • “They need to eat and want to draw a paycheck.”

      In order to do that, they must be alive. If there are 100,000 we’re talking about, 1,000 dead while “following orders”, across all 50 states and about a week, and they will thereafter follow their consciences, not worry about that paycheck. Which means over 90% will discover they are sick and unable to report for work until next month.

  43. Thank you Sara!
    You’re doing exactly what I want every conservative to do!
    If every conservative fails to vote because the Republican candidate just isn’t conservative enough, I’ll win!

    Now, kiss your guns goodbye!

  44. I doubt many will take the time to read the following article, but, if you are one who makes the “wasted vote” argument, you really should know the facts before you continue doing so.

    1. The “wasted vote” myth is busted: https://fee.org/articles/how-not-to-waste-your-vote-a-mathematical-analysis/

    2. Don’t forget conservative Constitution candidate Darrell Castle: http://Castle2016.com/

    3. Just this week another conservative decided to run as an independent: http://heavy.com/news/2016/08/evan-mcmullin-anti-donald-trump-who-is-joe-scarborough-cia-house-republicans-independent-running-for-president/

    I will not be voting for any of the big four either (dem, rep, lib, green).

    “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone. Then you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”–John Quincy Adams

  45. So this would be like if someone asked you if you wanted your finger chopped off or your whole arm and you reply “I choose neither” then they whack off your whole arm anyway.

  47. It sounds like you can take the girl out of California but you can’t take the California out of the girl. I’m sure Hillary will thank you.

    • Wait…so not voting for a person that would, and has said they would, violate her freedoms is “California” of her? Not supporting a liberal, a liberal lite, or two fascists is “California”? …did you read what you wrote before you hit ‘enter’? Do you not know what California is like?!?

  48. This election is already lost. If Hilary wins, we lose. If Trump wins, we lose. No matter how it plays out, there is no “less bad” option. All the outcomes are equally bad in different ways. *IF* Trump wins and *IF* he goes against a lifetime of words and deeds and actually supports the second amendment, say goodbye to the first amendment. He has a massive problem with free speech and religious freedom. This is a man who said, “This is the Republican party NOT the conservative party.” A man who said, “EVERYTHING is negotiable.” A man who donated millions to both Bill and Hillary’s campaigns over the years. A man who changed political party five times. A man who believes printing more money is the way to solve the deficit. He is no “lesser evil” to Hilary. He is simply a different form of evil in the same amount.

    The number of people leaving the Republican party because of Trump is staggering. Then number of high level Republicans who have come out against Trump is staggering. Fifty percent of Republican women said they will not vote for Trump under any circumstance. Trump is both the worst thing and the best thing to happen to Republicans.

    He is the worst thing because he is going to lose this election by monumental numbers. He is the best thing since he is destroying the Republican party as we know it which could lead to a real, honest, and viable conservative movement.

    I say all of this as a lifelong Republican who has voted straight Republican in every election since I became eligible to vote almost thirty years ago.

    • You’re just plain lying when you say there is no “less bad” decision.

      I know you don’t believe that.

      You’re presently running solely on emotions and feelwings….just like f$%king stupid Democrats.

      • 25 years of Trump’s past behavior as a celebrity businessman, plus his current behavior, tell us exactly what we can expect from the Orange One. And if you think any of that is good, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you (and some feelings, too).

        • Not saying it would be “good” I’m saying it would be “less bad”.

          If you’re an adult, you have to make decisions like that.

        • ….tells us exactly what we can expect from the Orange One.

          NOBODY knows what Trump will do in office….including Donald Trump.

          However we KNOW EXACTLY what Hillary Clinton will do.

          I am logically choosing the UNKNOWN ENTITY over the KNOWN DISASTER.

  49. I live in a Democratic majority state. I work with a lot of Democrats.

    They hate Hillary and many use the “B” word or even shockingly the “C” word when referring to Hillary.

    Yet, they will be doing what most Democrats do well. They join the Borg and vote and that is why they win.

    People forget, in order to make change, you first must rule, You rule lining up and winning. That may be unprincipled but you cannot argue with the results.

  50. I’m sorry Sara. But I’ll be reading and commenting no more on any posts of yours.

    I cannot respect a person that takes their marbles and goes home.

    • Yep, stupid decisions should have ramifications.
      I have too many options to be reading people with fuzzy thought processes.

      • Ralph, funny as hell.
        The wind and cold in Wyoming has a way of making people stone cold crazy. There is a reason Wyoming has the smallest population of the 50 states.

    • I’m sorry, but the vote for President in Wyoming is one of the least consequential votes possible. It’s only three electoral votes to begin with and they’re nearly carved in stone for Republicans. Trump would have to start performing human sacrifice on live TV before Wyoming would start to come into play.

      All this huffing about consequences, responsibility, blah, blah, all irrelevant. Her vote, my vote, your vote (because you live in California), all just noise, because our states are going one way or the other so overwhelmingly. So do whatever you feel is justified, because in the grand scheme of things, what you do won’t matter.

      • I thought all the states required electors to vote for the person who wins the popular vote in the state. Wouldn’t the popular vote then determine the “lean” of electors?

        • There are many states, and Wyoming, Washington, and California, are among them, where the election has been a foregone conclusion for years. The only thing that was settled this year was the name in front of the R or the D. In these states, whatever you do is ultimately to satisfy your own narrative, because the question is already settled.

          If, for you, voting for Trump is the right decision, then go right ahead. More power to you. He doesn’t appeal to me and as a resident of Washington state, I’m not faced with having to make a “lesser of two evils” choice.

  51. So you left one socialist hell hole and refuse to vote against the woman who will turn the rest of the country into a bigger socialist hell hole?

    Genius plan.

    I haven’t voted FOR a Presidential candidate since Reagan. And I disagreed with things he said and did.

    I vote AGAINST those who would damage or destroy our country.

  52. I know this forum is not a political (in the vernacular) stage, but…..

    People who declare they cannot vote for the candidate who is most likely to honor the constitution are the most narcissistic, egotistical, self-important, self-absorbed, holier-than-thou I can think of.

    As a gun owner, you should be considering not the candidate’s personality, but the danger to the constitution. Trump says stupid stuff, often; Billary will destroy the constitution. Pretending the “down ballot” will save us from evil is a fantasy. We have a House and Senate who can and will stymie Trump’s follies. We have a House and Senate who will enable Billary.

    Our individual principles (not voting for scum) make us feel good, maybe get some feel good points at the barbecue, but will do nothing to protect the rule-of-law and the constitution as a whole. Which candidate is more likely to end federal and state asset forfeiture? Which candidate already pledged to make every effort to obliterate the first two amendments? It is not about us, it is about the future of the country. If you truly believe Trump will be more damaging to the nation than Billary, you need to unmask and admit you are not a 2A supporter after all.

    • “We have a House and Senate who can and will stymie Trump’s follies. We have a House and Senate who will enable Billary.”

      The Hillary gets to appoint justices who will rubber stamp her executive orders. I am not sure Congress will be relevant any more.

      • The Senate’s advice and consent to the President’s judicial appointees is still a thing.

        • If Clinton wins, Mitch McConnell or the new Dem senate leader will allow Clinton to do as she wishes. They barely push back against Obama.

  53. Do I like Trump? No. Do I detest, hate, abhor Hillary? Yes. Who will I vote for? Trump. To not vote is to give a vote to Hillary.

  54. I truly get a kick out of the yahoos who exclaim that ” not voting for Trump is a vote for Hillary”! or ” a vote for so ‘n’ so is a vote for Hillary”! What a bunch of morons.
    Do you really think that Sarah’s vote will determine the outcome of this election? Do you really think that Trump will protect your rights? If so, then your are so short sighted and bereft of common sense that there is no way to help you at all.
    Lemme ask you some questions. Which right can you exercise right now without asking the government for permission?
    The right to own property? The right to free assembly? The right to travel unencumbered? The right to keep and bear arms? The right to your own body?
    Republicans have had control of Congress and the White House. Which promises have these idiots kept? Which rights have they restored? How many taxes, fees, or regulations have they reduced or eliminated?
    Do you think Trump will change any of this?
    Do you really think Trump would be the nominee if (he) were a threat to the status quo? Maybe. But how long would he last?
    The free America no longer exists. It has been sold out to the Federal Reserve to the tune of 20+ trillion dollars. Eventually they are going to call in the note for all of this borrowing and you my friends and everything you own is the collateral. Even if Trump wanted to fix this mess he couldn’t. It’s way above his pay grade.
    Good luck. You’re going to need it.

    • I agree. Hillary definitely will not push us further into decline, definitely will not create a more burdensome/intrusive government, definitely will not further erode our limited freedoms; Trump, not so sure.

      I’d rather go with the person who I know will make things worse, rather than support someone who might/might not.

      • Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin. One will get you to despotism while walking and the other at break neck speed. I say bring it on so my children don’t have to fight this fight. Every one else seems to want to kick the can.

      • ” . . .Hillary definitely will not push us further into decline, definitely will not create a more burdensome/intrusive government, definitely will not further erode our limited freedoms . . .”

        And when you lose a tooth, the Tooth Fairy will come and leave some money under your pillow.

    • It’s not her vote alone but the hundreds of thousands of people who think just like this. Talk about short sighted dude.

  55. The electoral college is a farce of the democratic system, and has allowed us to get to the point where there is only two parties due to the state winner take all nature. In fact, the vast majority of votes do not count as the it is only the swing states that decide the election. I will not vote for Hillary because she is corrupt and pure evil (what feminist would still call Bill her husband anyways), nor will I vote for Trump because he is a pure ***hole and the mental fortitude of a ten year old. I will not hold my nose and vote, it isn’t worth my time… I’ll just make sure my powder’s dry. I know when I’ve been marginalized and screwed.

    • You must not understand how the electorial college works or why it is there. Without an electorial college, the candidates would only need to appease the large cities and large population areas of the country to win elections. Small states and rural areas would be ignored with no benefits or money spent on them because it would be of no benefit of the politicians. We country folk would be a minority with no say in anything.

      By the way how are you going to keep your powder dry as Hillary flushes you down the toilet?

      • Without the electoral college, New England and the West Coast would control the Presidency based on population alone. There would never be another Republican elected President.

  56. And I am sure that Hillary appreciates your support in this election.

    And this is how we lose our rights.

    • Continuing rant…

      This is almost like people during WWII saying that because Stalin is such a bad guy, they are not going to help the allies defeat Hitler.

      • Actually, it’s more like saying I want neither Hitler nor Stalin in charge of my country. From what I’ve read, Stalin wasn’t really any better than Hitler, it’s just that because he was our ally we didn’t worry about his atrocities as much until after the war was over.

  57. I have no idea how bad Trump will sell out the 2A but, I beIieve he will to some degree. I know Clinton will attempt to eradicate the 2A.
    It is a case of the devil you don’t know over the devil you do know for me.

  58. I don’t like either of them, either (seriously, where do they get these clowns?). But I am going to vote for whomever is running against Hillarity, because not voting is the same as voting for her.

    Sometimes, doing nothing is not an option.

    Charlie

  59. Your vote is a communication tool, nothing more, nothing less. When you don’t vote the message comes across as “I’m just fine and dandy with other people deciding who gets elected.”, whether you mean that or not.

    My suggestion is to find someone you can get behind either on the ballot or as a write-in. If there still is no one that fits the bill, why not write-in “none of the above”? Seems like an appropriate way to express your displeasure with the choices presented. Above all, communicate.

  60. Anyone who doesn’t vote Trump either by voting for someone else or by abstaining has automatically voted against gun rights. Just my opinion.

  61. Let’s say you want to stay in this business, but at our darkest hour your, “conscience,” read: ego, required that you sit on your hands, you will have NO SAY, no say whatsoever. I, and the rest of the people who have had to make hard, ugly, nasty choices to protect the Second Amendment, will never give a flying f%^k what you will ever have to say.

    Michael B

  62. Dumb. This is why we lose. Because of people like Sarah and Ben Shapiro. And it makes me sad to say. Because I greatly respect this site and Ben Shapirod work.

    • No, we lose because the party that generally defends gun rights nominates a candidate so bad he puts states such as North Carolina and Utah in play. Clinton is a horrible, weak candidate for the Democrats, and a competent Republican would be burying her. Trump is down by double digits. And whining about the media is no defense, because Republicans have known for decades the media is stacked against them.

      Trump’s going to lose and lose big, and it’ll be no one’s fault but his own.

        • F$%king retard RNC that lets the enemy run their primary debates.

          Imagine instead if the debates were moderated by Conservative thinkers that was in a format to flesh things out. Folks like Prager, Sowell, Levine, and others.

        • Meh. Trump was a stupid vote if you wanted to stick it to the RNC. The least establishment candidate was probably Cruz, and he would have a snowball’s chance in hell in the general.

          Trump has bought zero ad time. If someone wanted to throw an election, the Trump campaign would be a perfect script.

    • I’m kind of stunned that Prager can’t turn around Shapiro and they even work very close together.

      Prager attributes it to the optimism of youth thinking that we could recover from a Hillary term. Of coarse anybody in their late 40’s and beyond have lived through the transition of the past 3 decades and understands the decline that we are in. To 40+ YO folks, a Hilary SCOTUS means we’ll die before there is even a chance to swing it back, and that would probably never happen because of 40 more years of Leftist indoctrination of K-grad school.

  63. We have the right to keep and bear arms. Or not.

    We have the right to vote. Or not.

    So much hate from so many that fail to recognize that part of defending our rights is defending the right to not exercise them.

    • If folks sit on their asses we will lose. Yes it is a choice but it is basically giving up. It’s just not smart when so much is at stake.

      • What’s at stake? This country is already a shadow of the republic the founders envisioned. At this point the absolute best Thedonald can do is put his finger in the dyke. (Phrasing)

        Maybe my pessimism is showing, but we’ve lost the magic. It’s been a slow drip for at least 100 years, if not more. I’d bet in another hundred we’ll be bled out.

        At this point the only thing that can save the republic is, ironically, a revolution. And that won’t happen. As a lot of comments above said, and I’ve said all along, the majority of Americans don’t give a shit so long as they have cold beer and cable.

        As for the rest of us, the “3%” (in quotes because I think it’s bigger than 3) probably will just plain never openly revolt. In the comments a while back I broke the Declaration of Independence down line by line. Of the 27 specific grievances listed therein our government has directly repeated AT LEAST 21 of them. If we haven’t started shooting by now it isn’t going to happen.

        So, since we’re going down anyway, what’s at stake?

        • Because if it takes another hundred years for us to bleed out you, your kids and your grandkids are going to have to live in a country that’s bleeding out. Wouldn’t it be better to try and stop the bleeding? At least for them?

        • What jwm said. I’m not going to sit this out and let my country go to the libtards willingly. Give up if you want….I’m NOT!

        • I don’t think the bleeding CAN stop, it needs to be cauterized. And realistically I don’t see a revolution happening in my lifetime, if ever. This country has revolted twice: once in 1776 and once in 1861. In both cases the revolutionary side was able to organize a capable fighting force before the shooting started. In our modern era the best we can seem to muster is one or two “lone nuts” who will remain “lone nuts” because we can’t get enough people to agree to side with them all at once.

          As much as I don’t like saying this out loud and online, if a true revolution kicked off I would be there (Hi Judy from the NSA). I would MUCH rather bear that burden than pass it off on my daughter, or her children.

          I just don’t think we have the necessary ingredients to make that happen anymore.

    • “part of defending our rights is defending the right to not exercise them.”

      By default, one is not to take an interweb discussion seriously. Just sayin…

  64. Your conscience? What does that even mean? Spouting a self-righteous idea and throwing a tantrum just so you can protest? Great. Let’s stop voting and let the libtards win. This type of uselss discontent is the last thing we need in the face of a real ENEMY. If your silent protest changes things for the better, sure go ahead. In this case, it does not make any impact whatsoever.

    However, I still appreciate the fact that you are not voting for Hitlery. Vote Trump, your 2A rights will thank you for the (probably) reduced damage.

  65. Well. You live in Wyoming. So I don’t care much. Regardless of you vote, your states will be siding with Trump. If you were in Colorado or New Mexico which are states leaning to elect Leninist Clinton, then I would have an objection.

    Regardless of gun rights, I think Trumps supreme court picks would be better than RothingHam Hildebeast’s picks. We could all vote our conscience and vote libertarian or whatever, but those candidates still wouldn’t win, because I believe the majorities conscience is democratic or republican. We can vote our conscience next time when the supreme court isn’t on the line. Maybe if we could get a large significant vote for an independent candidate, then the major parties can correct themselves appropriately, or eventually we can get an independent in office, but unlikely. The reason is because too many people support a two party system. They like it.

  66. Not voting is just a dodge of responsibility. Imagine if a general said ” I am not going to war because plan A involves 10 people getting killed and plan B involves 100 people getting killed, and I want a plan where no one gets killed.” Sometimes even the best plan has some downside.

    Not voting is putting a blindfold on and allowing someone else to roll the dice.

    Clinton will expand the use of executive authority, appoint justices who rubber stamp her executive orders, and congress will be irrelevant. The media, congress, and courts will all be backing her. She will be free to raise taxes 1 trillion dollars and use it for Australian style gun confiscation. You will not be able to hide, even in Wyoming.

    At least with Trump, people hate him so much congress, courts, and the media will push back on whatever he does. He will outsource supreme court picks to Pence or Cruz. His tax and spending reduction plan is not horrible.

    Wyoming probably will go to Trump. Probably. But if Clinton wins, your guns are not safe anywhere. Gun owners will be viewed as petulant mentally ill trouble makers, and D.C. will come for those rural western troublemakers first.

  68. This TTAG contributor clearly doesn’t understand the issues in this election. TTAG doesn’t as well. My last click on this site.

    • Yeah, I am afraid that’s true. I totally understand the Trump hate, I’d rather have my nuts tarred and feathered. This is an election which is a choice between one candidate who says dumb things, and another who actually does dumb and reckless things that compromise national security and constitutional rights.

      But if Clinton wins it’s game over. The courts will rubber stamp her agenda for at least a generation. If the TTAG crew is seen as having helped Clinton by giving permission to sit out the election, I think those fancy readership graphs cliff dive.

  69. Here’s my humble suggestion for a new title..

    Sara Tipton: Give Me Attention! Again. Still.

    Well, at least she didn’t find a way to include a picture of herself this time.

  70. If trump wins the rule of law has a chance to be restored.

    From Ace:

    “Crony Criminals: Department of Justice Blocked Any FBI Inquiry Into Clinton Foundation
    —Ace

    This is why I just don’t get NeverTrump.

    Do you want a country that is still recognizably America in four years, or do you want… something darker?

    Yes, Trump is an obnoxious, ignorant, possibly crooked asshole.

    And what is Hillary? Hillary is all that plus the official and very illegal protection of the US federal bureaucracy.

    The Clinton Foundation was not part of the recent investigation into her private server; it was separate. The FBI went to Justice Department earlier this year asking for it to open a case into the foundation, but the public integrity unit declined. The Justice Department had looked into whether it should open a case on the foundation a year prior and found it didn’t have sufficient evidence to do so.
    America is being divided, before your very eyes, into those castes with Juice and those without Juice. It’s devolving into a fucking organized crime family.

    We are not equal under the law — far from it. And every day this corrupt gang makes this more and more normal and more and more acceptable to the public.

    I know one thing about Trump. I can’t vouch for his good intentions — he doesn’t have them — but I know the federal government and the so-called Fourth Estate will not play Mob Lawyers for him.

    Anyone who says they’re for Equal Treatment Under the Law and then who supports someone who has been, is, and will continue to be Above the Law is simply a liar or hopelessly confused.

    If Trump breaks the law, he’ll be hounded, pressured into appointing and Independent Prosecutor —

    Remember those? We had them under Republican presidents. It’s where the President has to appoint someone from outside his coterie of cronies to investigate himself or his cronies. We don’t have those under Democrat presidents, who prefer having their own cronies “investigate” them.*

    — and then impeached and kicked out of office.

    It will, indeed, be a black eye for the GOP.

    But it will be a victory for the Rule of Law and a vindication of the American Republican System of Government.

    And what happens when Hillary similarly breaks the law, then has her crony Loretta Lynch say “no controlling legal authority,” and completely gets away with it?

    Which outcome sounds worse to you? Which will be more corrosive to America itself — the rule of law triumphant, or the rule of law humiliated, stripped of its clothes, and raped on the floor?

    We are literally witnessing the end of the Republic itself, and yet people prefer to dwell on smaller things (maybe because smaller things are comforting; if you dwell on small things, you can convince yourself nothing major is amiss) and just shrug at the end of the Republic.

    By the way: CNN buried the lede at the end of their story. Drudge had to elevate it to the actual headline news it is.

    So, hey. Let’s all coronate queen Hillary and her united media, federal bureaucracy, Supreme Court, and permanent Clinton-Industrial Complex.

    There’s nothing at all wrong with power with no checks whatsoever — that’s Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution, isn’t it?

    Treason never prospers, for if it prospers, then none dare call it treason.

    Let’s just sit back and watch some treason prospering.

    * Some fool of a leftwing blogger — are there any other kind? if they had anything on the ball, they’d be working for their buddies in a real media organization — says I’m forgetting the Clinton Administration. Well, no; I just got sloppy with my terminology.

    There are Special Prosecutors — who have always existed; these are appointed by the President or AG — and Independent Prosecutors — who existed from like 1978 to 1999, when the law was allowed to lapse.

    Independent Prosecutors are appointed and directed by a three-judge panel drawn from the DC Circuit of Appeals. I think a matter had to be referred to them by the AG, but the AG had little discretion about whether or not to refer; much was dictated by law. (Janet Reno caused great controversy when she refused to refer Al gore to the 3-judge panel, claiming “no controlling legal authority,” despite the fact the law in question actually did control and did mandate she refer the case.)

    So, the point is: democrats don’t appoint outside prosecutors they can’t control unless it’s forced by the law, and that law doesn’t even exist any longer.

    See here.

    Democrat Presidents don’t appoint Special Prosecutors anymore, and didn’t under Clinton, either. That was an Independent Prosecutor appointed by the court. Clinton didn’t voluntarily have that going on.

    (Note: because the questions of constitutionality with the independent prosecutor law, a special prosecutor — actually appointed by the AG — was to “shadow” the independent prosecutor basically as a fall-back option if a court struck down the independent prosecutor law as unconstitutional due to separation-of-powers concerns. So technically there was a special prosecutor “shadowing” Ken Starr, but you don’t know his name, because he wasn’t important, and was just there to preserve any convictions should the framework of the independent prosecutor law be invalidated.)

    Anyway, this blogger-who-blogs-about-other-bloggers didn’t know this, so I thought I’d help him out.

    Democrat presidents don’t appoint special prosecutors. Republicans bow to pressure and do so — see Nixon and Bush — but the media never pressures Democrats to do this, which is why the idea of a special prosecutor for Hillary has never been so much as broached by the mainstream media.

    It was just allowed to sit in Obama’s cronies’ hands.”

    Trump sucks but this choice isn’t hard

  71. You live in Wyoming, so you are free to vote (or not) your conscience.

    Those of us who live in battleground states are forced to hold our noses and vote for our best chance to keep Clinton out of office.

    • It is one thing to live in Wyoming and not vote. Quite another to announce it with a megaphone on a highly read blog and give other people permission to dodge responsibility.

      • Another thing with her new Wyoming better than thou attitude. Wyoming’s population is 600,000 people. You can run away and hide in Wyoming but it won’t take that many leftist fools moving in to turn that state into another Colorado. If you don’t thing that can happen just look at what happened to Wyoming’s neighbor to the south. I know, I live there. This is happening across the country.

  72. Sara, Bill Bennett said the other day that it is better to lower your standards than to lose your country. With lowered standards, I’m voting for Trump solely to protect the 2A.

  73. Mrs. Tipton,
    I read all of your articles and I do enjoy the majority of them. This is the first Ive ever felt the need to respond to. What your saying does no help for people like us…

    Theres slim chance to none that trump will be president anyway. (may i add that i think trump is a moron, however he holds the only chance for fewer gun restrictions)

    Anyway, the most important thing at this time is replacing justice scalias seat. Not voting for him is a vote for hitlery. Imagine who she would vote for the next justice… At the very least consider the fact that the morons vp is pence, A rated nra grade. Please consider where im coming from. And educate others about the shitstorm were in for.
    Thanks!

  74. Tipton, LePetomaine, and all of the other hand-wringers here: you’re NOT going to get another chance in four years. Clinton has stated outright that she thinks Heller was wrongly decided and WILL appoint justices to the Supreme Court who WILL reverse it and re-establish the collectivist “militia” interpretation to the Second Amendment. This WILL happen in her first term and it’s not something Congress can correct. Those Clinton appointees will be on the Supreme Court for thirty or forty years and WILL NOT budge. They WILL allow every taking and confiscation of the scary firearms that the liberal politicians can dream up. THIS IS A CERTAINTY. There is no ambiguity, no way to rationalize your way out of it. Hillary Clinton will have the support of the Feinstein / Pelosi coalition in California, Schumer in New York, Murphy in Connecticut, Manchin or his ilk in West Virginia. You can never forget what Feinstein said, on camera, preserved for posterity: She said in connection to the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban, “If I could’ve gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them — Mr. and Mrs. America turn ’em all in — I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.”

    So that’s what we’re facing. Now, do you want to encourage votes for third parties that have no hope? Do you want to encourage gun owners to stay home in the face of such clear and present danger? No. Gun owners MUST turn out to vote and they MUST cast their votes in the most effective way to send a message to Clinton and the liberal anti-gun establishment.

    If we don’t, if Clinton wins and, God forbid, wins by a significant margin, she’ll claim she has a Mandate from the Masses to go forth and take our rights and she will do it.

    And I will blame you.

  75. There is a silent coup happening in this nation right now. The mainstream media is using all of its power to ensure the candidate they prefer gets elected to the Presidency. While media bias has been an issue for decades, it has never been this bold or this blatant. Basically, the media is trying to steal this election.

    Look no further than the blow up over Trump’s recent 2A comment. The attempt to link those comments to threats of violence come right out of a leaked DNC strategy memo advising Hillary supporters to try to link Trump to violence. Here is a link to that power-point page:

    http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/08/3784-DNC-Trump-Deck-FIN.jpg

    The democrats and their surrogates in the media have fully embraced this strategy and are using it to dishonestly tilt the election to their candidate. They have lied and distorted Trump’s statements at every turn and are openly hostile to his candidacy.

    By not voting and not voting Trump, not only are you guaranteeing the most openly anti-2A candidate in modern history the Presidency, but are assisting the media in their quiet coup.

    One more thing, it’s not only Hillary’s anti-gun positions that should be of concern. Her immigration policy will potentially mean amnesty and eventually voting rights for the 12 million illegal aliens already in this nation, not to mention the millions more her policies will allow to flood across an open border. Once the demographics of the county are changed, the 2A is dead forever. Don’t believe me? Look no further than California which has experienced the sort of demographic shift Hillary and the Democrats would like to see happen on a national level. I seem to recall Sara just moved from California and the assault on gun rights had something to do with it. By helping Hillary win, you help bring CA style gun laws to the rest of the nation.

    So think long and hard before you help Hillary become President. Your children and grandchildren will be the ones paying.

  76. Sad really it seems that many of you would choose to deny Sara her right to free speech, seems a bit hypocritical. Just like every candidate in this race. When we continue to settle for substandard representation we get what we deserve.

    • Nobody is denying anyone freedom of speech here. We’re simply trying to explain that self-defeating behavior is self-defeating. Refusing to vote against Hillary or throwing a vote away on third-party candidates will result in loss of Second Amendment freedoms. It’s that simple.

    • By saying she’s mistaken and foolish to sit this out out of some sense of self righteousness doesn’t deny her of anything.

  78. GOP’s already thrown in the towell, look at all the traitors and news attacking every sylable Trump says. The Republican party is dead. Come January we may actually miss Obama, God help us.

  79. Just because you vote for Trump doesn’t mean you can’t still rise up in civil disobedience. He most definitely does not get a pass card. A vote for Trump is a vote against Hillary. By not voting your helping Hillary by not fighting her on the political field. The vote will continue wither you participate or not. Not voting is a cowards way out.

    If you refuse to vote and Hillary wins office, if it comes to blood shed, those deaths are a direct result of you cowering in the political corner. Will your conscience really be clear?

    If Trump wins, if it still comes to blood shed, at least we know we gave it the best chance to not result in a bloody civil war.

  80. Free speech is free speech. But this particular free speech is literally doing nothing for gun rights. Essentially, this post that weve all read, means a writer for ttag is doing nothing for the ‘truth about guns’. I say this article be removed as it does nothing to encourage people new to the ‘gun world’ of being active about the serious problems were about to face. This is a “gun website” correct? Again, im all for the first and second amendment, but when the first contradicts the second, where do I run?

    • You don’t run. You speak up.

      Part of the truth about guns and The Truth About Guns is that gun owners who care about their Second Amendment rights will disagree with each other.

  81. I live in Idaho, and I’m voting for Clinton, even though my vote will be “wasted”. Sure, I value my Second Amendment rights, but Trump reminds me way too much of Mussolini, and even if I agreed with radical libertarians, Gary Johnson doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell.

    • I’m sorry but you’re a moron. Mussolini? Get a grip. Your voting for the head of the oligarchy snake yet you call Trump Mussolini?

    • If you value your 2nd Amendment rights then you would not be voting for Clinton.

      That is almost as dumb as Sara T. not voting because she has an issue with Trump.
      Not voting is the same as casting a vote for Clinton.

    • Really? Still pulling the “fascist” card? We get it, you have no point to make and would rather lose your rights in order to look moral, you are a cuck and you are what is wrong with America.

    • “I value my Second Amendment rights, but Trump reminds me way too much of Mussolini . . .”

      Mussolini was a fascist and fascism was/is a form of socialism where the state controls the means of production through central planning but—in contrast to socialism and communism—allows private property to remain in private hands. Really, now, before you start tossing terms like “fascist” around it might be a good idea to first ask yourself why you don’t already know what I just told you?

      Trump is a thoroughgoing market-capitalist and is, thus, the complete antithesis of a fascist. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is a progressive and is, by definition, much closer to a fascist than Donald Trump or any market-capitalist could ever be. But, then, if you don’t know what a fascist is, you most likely also don’t know what a progressive is. Look it up.

  82. Don’t get hung up voting for someone you can abide by. Vote your best interests. I’d like to vote 3rd party but I’ll probably vote for that orange a$$hole. He won’t be able to pass any gun control if he wanted to. He’s got no friends. Hillary’s got a whole damned army of sycophants and massive conspiracy behind her.

    -D

  83. Hell if I lived in Kalifornia, I still would vote for T. there is not anything to think about. T maybe alright, and maybe not, but I know what h.c. is duh. All the is is just B.S. I guess they’re some of us that are just dumbass’s. Wow, baaa, baaa said the sheep.

  84. We are left, then, only with civil disobedience. And when that happens, my conscience will be clean. What about yours?
    Not always thrilled with Trump, but he beats the heck out of the alternatives. I have a lot of other heavy industrial and economic issues riding on this election besides guns.

  85. I am with you, Sara. I was going to vote for Johnson, but Weld… BAH. I may still just as a gesture to the big political parties. I cannot believe how much they fail to represent us these days.

    I wish there wasn’t so much animus this political season. But we are where we’re at and we all must ultimately walk our own path.

  87. Congradulations Sara on setting womens rights back 100 years…..

    As always, a no vote is a yes vote. Abstaining from voting will not cause the election to not happen, you should vote so the candadate you DO NOT WANT does NOT get in office, because it will either be your worst nightmare or an aggrivation, but wouldnt you rather have the ability to at least lesson how much the future will suck?

    • “…you should vote so the candadate[sic] you DO NOT WANT does NOT get in office…”

      And what if you don’t want any of the candidates to get into office?

      Quite frankly, it’s this kind of nonsense that got us stuck with Trump in the first place. People no longer look at a candidate’s positive points, or try to find the best candidate for the job; they just look at the negatives and vote against them, and try to pick the lesser evil. Trump won the nomination because he was the best at mud-slinging, rather than because of any virtue on his part.

  88. This morning my wife said, the Media is trying to get people not to vote, so Hillary can win. The infringement of the 2ND Amendment will come through the Courts. If Trump keeps his promise on Federal Judges, we will be better off. That simple.

  89. I know this will be buried in all the other comments but:
    I understand your frustration and can offer no solution. I ask you to do one thing though… go to your polling, sign your register (or whatever methods they follow), enter the polling booth, and do what feels right in that moment. If it’s to leave the ballot totally blank and press the “DONE” button, then so be it. I’ve often found in life that being at the precise moment of decision often brings clarity.

  90. Hillary will Waco somebody else. That’s a given. If she wins there will be another Bundy Ranch. The feds will start shooting because Hillary is ruthless. And then we see if the 3%ers and Oath Keepers are full of it or (hopefully) not.

    Welcome back to 1860.

    You have a choice between a evil psycho that has an even chance of pushing Russia into nuclear war and is guaranteed to start a civil war here in America, or a loud mouth New Yorker that wants to renegotiate some trade deals and lower corporate taxes and environmental regulations to make manufacturing profitable in America again. Heaven forbid Russia and America not go to war and in fact start working together . This is not an intelligence test that anyone should fail.

  91. What ridiculous garbage! You won’t vote for Trump based on him like gun control back when he was a liberal and thinking the no fly list was a good idea until someone explained the commie trickery involved? You know this whole article is BS. You know there is no possible legitimate concern about Trumps 2nd amendment stance. Anything other than full opposition to Hillary and her radical agenda makes you an enemy of freedom.

    “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams

  92. Sara, do you think not voting will help to keep your gun rights? It’s our responsibility to choose and vote for the less evil one, even if there’s no perfect candidate. If you don’t vote, others’ votes will take away your gun rights.

  93. This election isn’t about who will be president for the next 4-8 years, it is about who the next few members of the supreme court are going to be for the next 30. Not voting is the same as handing Hillary the ability to make the court extremely anti-gun ownership for the foreseeable future.

  94. Not voting is a vote. It’s also an abdication of a civic duty and a Societal Agreement vested charge.

  95. This country’s institutions have demonstrated that they refuse to rein in the abuses and criminality of the Clintons. Time and again this has been made plain for those who watch.

    I expect that the country’s institutions will watchdog Clinton’s opponent. They will be all over him, as they are now.

    Therefore the country is much better off with him in office. My conscience must take a back seat in this election, as it has in many in the past.

  97. You are entitled to do what you wish. But if hillary gets elected, and then appoints 3 Supreme Court Justice and then they all depends idea to take away our rights, don’t write about it, don’t complain, just hide in shame at what you and many others will help accomplish.

  98. She is not going to effect the election with her vote, especially not in WY, so she has nothing to gain by voting. Since she believes it is unethical to endorse any of the candidates she does keep a clear conscience by not endorsing them. Her action in this matter is more than reasonable.

    • In that case, she would have less negative impact if she kept her opinions to herself and not spewing pro-liberal propaganda – albeit obliviously.

  99. Well, Ms. Tipton, you’ve generated lots of clicks and comments. So, I suppose, mission accomplished. What’s next, tactical yoga pants review and an article espousing the goodness of transgender bathrooms? Oh, you’ve already done those. More drivel. Whatever.

  100. If the readers here had a vote, I would have voted against Sara Tipton being on this site long time ago for other reasons. This thread ices the cake. She is the lamest female spokesperson for the gun community I can imagine. She uses this site to vent her own personal, irrelevant political views and doesn’t add much positive. She is no Dana Loesch, in any respect, that’s for sure. If the bloggers here are not 100% for promoting gun rights, then they don’t actually believe in the truth about guns. I will hold my nose to vote for Trump, but I will do it because Hillary is the great Satan when it comes to gun rights. Trump might compromise some on guns, but Hillary will work to outlaw them all.

  101. Vice Presidents don’t make policies. Particularly in more recent years, VP is a largely ceremonial position, and any particular VP is chosen largely to broaden the existing candidate’s appeal. Vice President is a PR position. The VP is there to make the President look better, more palatable, more accessible. Basing whether you will or will not vote for a Presidential Candidate based on their VP choice seems shortsighted, regardless of whether it made you more or less likely to vote for their running mate.

  102. Jeez, another Liberal! what the Fvck. Tell her to take her cap gun and go vote for H.C. Hopefully she votes like her little brain tells her. What a Dumbass. Please note, I really don’t talk to ladies like this, but what she is, she is!

  103. Kindly consider this:
    If you really, really just can’t stand to vote for someone on the ballot and you really, really can’t stand to write someone in, please at least show up. Walk into the booth (or fill out your mail-in ballot) and do not make a selection for president. Submit your vote with the button or by returning your ballot.
    Why you ask? Because that way your lack of vote is not put into the same pile as the apathetic too lazy to vote pile. Show that you are ready and willing to vote. Show up. Just don’t register a vote for president in the process.
    If enough people do this then when the results are tallied and the analysts go over percentages they’d notice a discrepancy between total voters and total ballots cast for president. Even if enough don’t do it you still won’t be increasing the number of people who just don’t care.

    • Better still, show up and pretend the Clinton box actually says “Trump sucks worse” and the Trump box actually says, “Hillary sucks worse.” Then there is no contest and your vote will actually accomplish something.

  104. I really thought Tipton was merely using a sneaky title to say she’s not voting for President, she’s voting against Hillary.

    Apparently she is as much of a closet liberal as is Farrago.

    Of course, it could be an IQ related deficiency as well

  107. Sara read this, shit the idot can’t read, I bet she can’t shoot either. She is tryingf to be a big boy, sorry not.

  108. Sara – Though I’ve enjoyed your previous posts, and applauded your California departure, I can in NO WAY agree with your stance on the Trump / Clinton choice.

    If Mrs. Clinton wins, and the country is saddled with the most corrupt, lying president in the history of our nation, I hope your conscience will also be clear as the courts make legal ever increasing losses of individual rights… speech, assembly, religious, economic and gun rights. If (when?) her actions are sufficiently egregious that some take arms to protect what they see as basic human rights, will your conscience bear no responsibility for the loss of life?

    When faced with a choice between a loser and a heartless, dishonest, remorseless, lying wretch who has PROMISED to destroy the fabric of this country, I think you’re wringing your hands needlessly.

    Go vote – and work harder in the next primary.

  109. Not that my opinion matters in the world of the great debates…..

    I agree with Sara’s conclusion.

    I find the choices we are left with unworthy of my vote.

    Not because of who we are left to chose from, but the will of the American people who have led us to this point.

    When faced with choices, “we” picked Trump over Cruz, Hillary over Sanders and Johnson over Peterson.

    I voted for none of them in the primary. But I voted.

    I consider my vote sacred. More important than just a way to keep one or the other brand of evil at bay.

    I will vote in November in much the same way as I will stand at the gate when they come for me and my freedom.

    But I will never bend the knee to any of them.

  110. Using Sara’s logic would suggest the best vote would actually be for Crooked Hillary.

    That logic says to me that all of the choices we have are going to lead down the same path. So just vote for HRC because she will get us there faster. Let’s get to the tyrannical government that has progressively been happening for the last three or four decades. NOT

    That being said, Trump is MY choice and I do not see him as the lesser of two evils.

    Peace brothers and sisters.

  111. In the words of my illustrious compatriot Russell Crowe (the only famous non cricketer in his family), Trump is “The lesser of two weevils”. Is it better to vote for a megalomaniac liar or a pure criminal? The criminal actually means you harm and is experienced in the means by which to do it. You might not believe the liar, but he might accidentally do the right thing. By the time he has figured out how to do you harm he can be voted out of office. No sure bets here. But to abandon the choice smacks of cowardice in the face of the enemy. Not a good look. I admire you, Sarah, and you write great articles. I find the advertisement engines on this site more of an issue in the way they slow down my web browser, than anything you have written. But don’t vote for Hillary by staying home!

Comments are closed.