Freedom Lives On The Light Of Truth

by
posted on July 25, 2019
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
livesfree.jpg

Editors are guides. They show the way to things we want to experience or understand. We need them to be honest, unflappable and competent, but also merry, open and willing to take a step back to let us experience things for ourselves. The thing about guides, though, is when it’s time to take the photo we’ll likely get the guide in a photo or two, but those probably aren’t the photos we’ll put on the wall.

As the new editor in chief of America’s 1st Freedom, I understand this relationship. Our mission in these pages—and at Americas1stFreedom.org—is to honestly take you on a monthly or daily journey to all that is happening with your American freedom. At times it’ll be a wild adventure. At others a call to action. Sometimes we’ll stop to shake our heads at the absurdities dreamed up by those trying to ban what they don’t even understand. But, most of all, we’ll keep following the path of individual liberty that are your Second Amendment rights.

We do this because in this democratic republic we know that a well-informed public is the best defense of our freedom. Anti-gun activists lie, deceive and spin the news into storms of propaganda to get their way because they are wrong, and they know it. It is our job, as your guides, to take the spin out as we openly search for the truth.

Because stopping now and then to look back at how far we’ve come in the struggle for freedom can give a healthy perspective, our cover story this month is on the growth of concealed carry over the last three decades. After chronicling the big steps we’ve taken toward becoming a safer, freer nation, we look forward again to see how far we have to go—as we know that those who take their freedom for granted will surely give up their liberty one law and one restriction at a time.

Though these political times can be loud, partisan and even full of sophistry, we know we are right because we have been honest with ourselves. We know American freedom is right. This is what America’s 1st Freedom is solely focused on achieving.

Thanks for letting us be some of your guides to the light of freedom.

Latest

NRA member illustration
NRA member illustration

Parting Shot | There is a Time to Rejoice

When fighting for your constitutional rights, it can be tough to know when—if ever—to sit back for a moment and favorably review the scene.

Hawaii’s Concealed Carry is a Fraud

Hawaii’s legislative response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision has created a concealed-carry permitting system that is, by design, practically impossible for a law-abiding citizen to navigate without committing a felony.

President Trump Signs Legislation to Support Medal of Honor Recipients

In an Oval Office ceremony, President Donald Trump signed the Medal of Honor Act into law. This legislation increases the monthly special pension for living Medal of Honor recipients.

Dispelling Anti-Gun Disinformation | Here Are 10 Lies About Guns And Crime The Trump Administration Has Exposed

Crime is a major problem in the United States, 66% of Americans believe, with 81% saying it is a major problem in large cities, according to an August 2025 poll by the Associated Press/NORC [previously the National Opinion Research Center].

The Greatest Second Amendment Victory in a Century

On July 4, 2025, Americans celebrated not only our nation’s independence, but also the restoration of our constitutional Second Amendment rights becoming unconstrained by burdensome and arbitrary fees.

Opening Salvo | More Evidence That Gun-Control Groups are Freaking Out

With the Trump administration’s law-and-order push showing America’s crime problem is clearly not the fault of lawfully armed citizens, gun-control groups are freaking out.

Interests



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.