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By Patrick Parsons, Executive Vice President American Firearms Association – April 6, 2026
For more than thirty years, Democrats have relied on one of the most effective tricks in the gun control playbook — the so-called grandfather clause.
You know the pitch by now.
Democrats tell gun owners they are going to ban AR-15s or 30-round magazines, but insist we don’t have to worry, because “we can keep what we already own.”
I heard this constantly when I was growing up.
Back in late 1993, when I was finishing 6th grade, Bill Clinton began discussing the assault weapons ban. It was added onto the crime bill (H.R. 3355) as an amendment. Everyone was talking about the 10-year sunset clause and grandfather clause.
I remember seeing gun owners lined up outside gun shops trying to buy whatever they could before the law took effect.
The problem was that I knew gun owners at the time that decided as long as they could buy a couple before the ban took effect — the ban didn’t really matter that much.
Honestly, it enraged me even at the age of 12.
Gun owners who checked out were the reason that Republican Senators in states like Indiana, Idaho, Missouri, and South Dakota didn’t feel any heat — and ended up voting for the bill.
That has always been the reason behind any grandfather clause.
But that was thirty years ago. The Democrats have evolved.
Today’s Democrats are beginning to do what we’ve always said they would do, repealing existing grandfather clauses and passing new bills without them.
Take Rhode Island. Last year, Democrats banned AR-15s but included a grandfather clause. This year, just one year later, they’re pushing H-8073, which repeals that grandfather clause and moves to seize those rifles outright.
Look at Virginia. Democrats banned the sale of AR-15s this year. After weeks of negotiations, the final bill included a grandfather clause. But Richmond insiders are telling me that Governor Spanberger has always planned to repeal that next year.
And then there’s Illinois. JB Pritzker is pushing HB-4414, which serializes and registers ammunition sales. Anyone with a FOID Card is exempt. But the bill requires the State Police to annually review the FOID Card exception. We know what that means.
The pattern is crystal clear.
Democrats waved the grandfather clause in front of gun owners for 30 years. Now they are planning to yank that rug out from underneath the gun owners who fell for it.
I know that the members of the American Firearms Association have never fallen for that trick. We all saw this for what it was.
But the Democrats aren’t playing games anymore.
They’ve dropped the mask.
The bills they are pushing these days in Congress take away our guns today…no grandfather clause…no sunset clause.
Immediately.
This fight for gun rights has become what we always said it was: a zero-sum game.
Either we defend the Second Amendment now or the Democrats and the law enforcement lobby will crush our freedoms — the RINOs won’t be able to stop them.
That’s why the American Firearms Association is working every day to mobilize gun owners and push back against the gun control agenda before it gains momentum in Congress.
If we lose our gun rights, there is no getting them back.
But we need your help.
Many gun owners understand the need to support gun rights organizations like the American Firearms Association when the Democrats control the White House.
But often, they assume they can sit it out when the Republicans have control…even while the Democrats are going ‘all in’ right now.
If you’ve read this far into this email, you obviously know what’s at stake. And you know we need to hold the line for our children and grandchildren.
