From the Editor: More Relevant Than Ever After 20 Years

by
posted on June 17, 2020
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America’s 1st Freedom is 20 years old this month. 

Twenty might not be an impressive age for a publication put out by an association that’s about to celebrate its 150th anniversary, but this is a magazine that became more and more necessary as the mainstream media gave up even the pretense of being honest about everything related to our Second Amendment-protected freedoms. 

This magazine was founded to tell the truth about our freedom. And this is what it will continue to do, with your support, for decades to come. 

At America’s 1st Freedom, we know that a new generation always needs to be educated about American freedom. But a good publication shouldn’t just be for the beginners. It must also constantly dig deep into the core topic the publication was founded upon as it brings interesting personalities into its pages and addresses the problems and opportunities of the day. This is exactly what we endeavor to do each month.

Still, as we publish America’s 1st Freedom, we constantly run into the mainstream media’s politically correct propaganda; narratives they think will benefit not the country and certainly not any honest analysis of the topic, but that they think will help the political party they prefer. 

This puts America’s 1st Freedom in an important place, as the truth is what solves problems and enhances American freedom.  

This, of course, doesn’t make this magazine popular with the in crowd in Hollywood, on the opinion pages of the big, urban newspapers or at the TV networks. But then it also doesn’t make America’s 1st Freedom counterculture, as NRA members are a fundamental part of America’s backbone—NRA members are as grassroots as it gets and what is more “mainstream” than that? Actually, this magazine has the grand sort of cross-culture audience CNN wishes it had—and maybe once did—when it was the first 24-hour news outlet, and before those in charge started thinking their job was political indoctrination. 

Still, this magazine is considered to be politically conservative, and this is true in the sense that we want to preserve a freedom protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights. But your NRA is also fighting for the freest idea ever to be protected in a nation’s founding document: the right to self-preservation, a natural right that is forever renewing and liberal (by the classical definition of liberalism, anyway). The right to defend ourselves and our loved ones and even our neighbors, after all, is a practical, empowering and liberating idea.

So, in this media climate, America’s 1st Freedom turns 20, which, of course, is a young, robust age full of possibility. And the possibilities are profound. During this pandemic, for example, many more Americans have decided to fully embrace their Second Amendment rights. Clearly, these people aren’t buying the media narrative that they’re better off without their basic right to self-defense. Just as clearly, these new gun owners need the NRA’s certified instructors, our advice, help and as much information about their freedom as they can digest. This, more than anything, will solidify this right for future generations.

Here’s to more decades of cherishing, exploring and rejoicing in our freedom in these pages and at A1F.com.

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