In his inauguration speech as the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani said, behind his characteristically easy smile, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
Historically speaking, this was a rebuke of a 1928 speech from Herbert Hoover who famously championed “rugged individualism” as the can-do spirit of American progress and self-reliance.
This line was also a rebuke of the Second Amendment in general and of lawfully armed citizens in particular.
To become a rugged individual, an American comprehends that the restrictions on government power inherent in the U.S. Bill of Rights protect our individual rights. Such a person is a citizen who works to overcome obstacles, gets dirt under his or her nails, shrugs off all those who say they can’t achieve their goals, grows calluses on their hands but not their hearts, has the fortitude to help those in need but is still resolute enough not to let themselves play the part of Boxer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, perhaps carries concealed in order to defend themselves and others until help arrives and so, in sum, tries to be a citizen others can count on.
To Mayor Mamdani, armed citizens are in the way of his ideology. He does not want rugged individuals in our society; he wants disarmed denizens powerless in his “warmth of collectivism.”
Mamdani has exposed his views on our freedom before. As a New York State Assembly member, Mamdani supported numerous gun-control measures. He voted for legislation requiring gun stores to post warning signs and restricting how guns are marketed. He backed “red flag” laws and supported requiring citizens to disclose their social-media posts when they apply for concealed-carry permits.
There is no lack of clarity here, as Mamdani once wrote: “We need to ban all guns.” He also said he supports a nationwide ban on popular semi-automatic rifles.
Mayor Mamdani, by his own words, detests armed citizens. They are the “rugged individuals” he wants to “replace.”
He, in sum, is a poster boy for why America needs national reciprocity legislation.
