Can the Second Amendment have a real pop-culture hero today?

I am talking about a character who understands that guns are a tool of individual freedom and responsibility and who lives that way. A pop-culture hero who, even within today’s political whirlwinds, keeps his core cemented to the beauty of the individual liberty protected within the U.S. Bill of Rights.

A character on the iconic scale of 007 who, unlike the actor Daniel Craig, isn’t embarrassed to use the tools of the trade for good. An action hero who, unlike the actor Liam Neeson-who has done fine films like “Taken” yet has also spoken out against our right to keep and bear arms-understands the importance of this very practical individual right.

This would be no small thing in this age of anti-heroes, a time when even our military veterans and our heroes in blue are too often treated as if they are deeply flawed men and women.

Hollywood has lately brushed up against real heroes. The “John Wick” movie franchise, the Paramount Network’s TV drama “Yellowstone” and some other productions don’t treat guns as if they’re evil sidekicks. Still, guns in these movies and shows mostly appear when something bad is about to happen. They therefore treat guns as a negative necessity for some, not the freeing tools they clearly are in most American’s hands.

This is why I created Sid McDaniel, a heroic, pro-Second Amendment character starring in the “Cyber Hunter Series” of thrillers now available on Amazon or wherever you like to buy books; the latest installment, just out, is The Deep State Revolution.

Guns, to McDaniel–as they are to anyone who understands this hands-on right–are tools of freedom. They are something to master. They are mechanical instruments we need to be proficient with in a dangerous world. Like other tools, they can be used to do good or bad things. As they can be used for good or bad, taking guns away from a free people weakens or even destroys all of our rights, making good citizens vulnerable to the worst among us (people who won’t, by definition, follow gun laws).

Not trusting we the people with our Second Amendment rights means that a person doesn’t believe that this democratic republic can work and so must be transformed into something else, as President Joe Biden (D) is now trying to do. To combat this deeply false narrative, we need pop-culture heroes who aren’t afraid to maturely wield this freedom; we especially need this so we can effectively reach the millions of citizens who’ve recently opted to purchase a gun for self-defense.

After all, the big, positive parts of American gun culture–the self-defense and sport this individual freedom protects–are mostly left out of today’s pop culture. Today, the fact that guns empower women, that they are an equalizer allowing the weakest person to stand up to the strongest criminal until the police can get there, is rarely addressed outside of publications like this one.

So yes, imagine if we changed that in popular culture; we could do it with positive characters, new heroes who appreciate American freedom. We really can, you know. There are a lot of gun owners in America today.

Originally found on NRA’s Americas First Freedom website Read More