Yeah well… sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. — Cool Hand Luke

Like the song says, nothing’s freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.  Anti-rights groups were on top of the world after they had painted us into a corner in the 1990’s.  Pro-gun groups had played nice for seven decades, trying to find that one line the other side wouldn’t cross.

Finally, something clicked.  They’d been painted into a corner, and realized that the next compromise would be a surrender.  Having not much left to lose gave them a freedom to gamble, to fight back, and to find a way to win.

The new, more aggressive approach to defending our rights and clawing back territory already lost has been working for a more than a decade.  Beginning with the advent of  shall-issue concealed carry in many states, through the lapse of the Assault Weapons Ban in 2004, through today, where even the bastions of Chicago and Washington, D.C. are being forced to confront a populace that is not only screaming about gun rights, but also economic freedom, free speech, and government security overreach.

Having nothing in our hand played out pretty well for us so far.  Hopefully we can keep the momentum and don’t overplay it.