Make Sure Chris Cox's New ‘Secure Our Freedom' Group Doesn't Also Secure More Gun Control

September 16, 2024 By David Codrea

“New gun group launches to fill NRA vacuum,” an Axios story labeled “Scoop” claims. “The Secure Our Freedom Alliance, a 501(c)4 organization, isn't looking to compete with existing firearm groups, but wants to fill what it sees as an urgent need to address gun owners this election cycle.”

That need?

“The goal is to convince new gun owners, especially women and minorities, that their rights are under attack by the Biden administration and progressive politicians,” the story explains. "Our purpose is to win the hearts and minds of the American public to protect the right to self-defense," the group’s senior advisor Chris Cox declared.

Thats the same Chris Cox who was NRA’s chief lobbyist/political wonk, who was cast out (suspended, then resigned) after being accused of being part of a coup to oust executive director Wayne LaPierre. One would think that would work in his favor.

After all, the so-called “Gun Culture 2.0” represents an untapped political market. While some “gunfluencers” have been quick to uncork the champagne and claim victory because of the millions of new gun owners that have emerged following, among other things, the Covid scare, the more prudent are curbing their enthusiasm, realizing that diversity is no guarantee for enhancing Second Amendment recognition. If owning a gun was enough, we wouldn’t have to worry about Tim Walz and Fudds for Harris.

So, Cox is right about the need. But is he the right person to address it?

While the case could be made that you need to start people out slowly and get them to dip their toes into the pool and splash around a bit before wading into deeper waters, couching the Second Amendment exclusively in “self-defense” terms limits the right and invites infringements. And Cox has supported plenty of those in his tenure at NRA.

One of the reasons he and LaPierre opposed confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General is the nominee didn’t support enough “gun control.

“…Mr. Holder was among those in the Clinton administration who strongly resisted a national expansion of Project Exile, a successful anti-crime program in Richmond, Virginia that used true ‘zero tolerance’ federal prosecution of convicted felons, drug dealers and armed robbers to achieve a remarkable reduction in that city’s murder and violent crime rates,” they claimed in a 2009 letter to Sens. Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter.

“We condemn any program that involves enforcing unconstitutional ‘laws’, even if such ‘laws’ are enforced only against violent criminals, the Project Exile Condemnation Coalition, a resolution signed by a diverse cross section of national and state gun rights leaders, including Gun Owners of America’s Larry Pratt, declared. “Unconstitutional ‘laws’ are illegal, harmful to public safety, tyrannical, and are inevitably enforced against ordinary, non-criminal citizens. The ‘Project Exile’ supported by the current NRA management calls for enforcing all existing gun laws, regardless of their unconstitutionality and regardless of their being enforceable against non-criminals.”

There’s more.

“We’ve never advocated fully automatic machine guns and Paul knows it,” Cox responded to then Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke in a 2007 appearance on Glenn Beck’s show.

“Chris Cox… told a national television audience Donald Trump was wrong to suggest the shooting in Orlando could have been prevented, at least in part, if patrons to the nightclub Pulse had been allowed to carry weapons – that drinking alcohol and concealed carrying just don't mix,” WorldNetDaily reported in 2016. “No one thinks that people should go into a nightclub drinking and carrying firearms," said Cox, during an interview on ‘This Week’ with ABC. "That defies common sense. It also defies the law."

People who don’t drink don’t go to nightclubs…? And the law should render defenseless people who do so responsibly…? Extending his concern, is it possible to have both a liquor cabinet and a gun safe in the home?

There’s more, but we’ll end this with the big betrayal, Cox and LaPierre throwing bump stock owners under the bus – and despite their denials, giving Donald Trump a de facto green light to ban them.

“The National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law,” they wrote in a 2017 Joint Statement. “The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.” (And while apologists have been floating the opinion of late that this was a genius move that ensured a Supreme Court win, such claims have no credible documented basis, especially in light of past NRA actions and positions and how getting the high court to hear a case is a risky gamble.)

All this isn’t to say that the Secure Our Freedom Alliance can’t be helpful in swaying some votes against Kamala Harris and her gun confiscation agenda. Just be under no illusions about the guy running the show, and what he’ll be telling gun owners under his influence if he gains more of it.

Additional Reading

Scoop: New gun group launches to fill NRA vacuum

NRA Suspends Second in Command

‘Diversity’ No Guarantee for Enhancing Second Amendment Recognition

Gun Owners for Harris Highlight Lie of ‘Second Amendment Democrats’

Holder Letter

We Condemn "Project Exile"

Supreme Court Takes Up Washington, D.C.`S Gun Control Law

NRA's Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox Issue Joint Statement

About the Author

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. In addition to being a regular featured contributor for Firearms News and AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts onTwitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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