This feature appears in the November ‘17 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.

The heart and soul of America is at stake.

We have an epic battle on our hands, a titanic struggle over not just our Second Amendment-protected freedom, but for all of the freedoms and values that define our great country.

You know what I’m talking about. You feel it in your heart. The liberal elites from Hollywood to New York City, to the political elites of Washington, D.C., are doing everything they can to impose their utopian and, frankly, un-American vision upon us all. And they’re not one bit interested in our vision of our great nation of personal freedom and constitutional liberty. In all my years of leading the NRA, I’ve never seen a national news media as hateful and poisonous as it is today. Every single day, they spew venomous lies to denigrate NRA members, demonize law-abiding gun owners, and rip apart the fabric of the America we all cherish and hold dear.

All while most Americans have lost faith in the institutions we used to be able to count on, except for one—the National Rifle Association of America. Today, more Americans trust the NRA than either national political party, and more than almost all of our political leaders and institutions. And Americans sure don’t trust the news media! But they do trust the NRA. They trust the NRA to tell the truth, to say what we mean, and to stand and fight for what we believe. More than anything, we stand and fight for the right of every law-abiding citizen to exercise his or her Second Amendment-protected freedom—unfettered by government intrusion—to defend and protect themselves, their families and their communities.

We have an epic battle on our hands, a titanic struggle over not just our Second Amendment-protected freedom, but for all of the freedoms and values that define our great country.

The majority of Americans, like never before, have embraced that simple, God-given right to keep and bear arms for personal protection. They know that at the scene of the crime there is only the criminal and the victim. Despite all their best intentions, the police arrive in the aftermath of the violence.

It is a battle between good and evil, and the NRA and the Second Amendment stand on the side of the good guys … and most Americans stand with us. Facing 25,000 violent crimes committed per week in this country, and outraged by a catch-and-release criminal justice system that fails to arrest, prosecute and imprison repeat violent offenders, Americans have come to realize the hard truth that government has abdicated its responsibility to protect us. Worse, the anti-Second Amendment elites are working hard to strip away our freedom … to deny our very right to survive the violence they have failed to prevent.

From gun bans to licensing and registration schemes, even calls to abolish the Second Amendment forever, the political elites, media elites and celebrity elites don’t believe you have the fundamental right to defend yourself … and they’ll stop at nothing to remove your freedom from their vision of America. But their vision for our country, and our freedom, is dead wrong. History proves it.

Just look at Paris or Boston or Brussels or San Bernardino, Calif.—where all the gun laws the elites dream about were on the books and completely failed to protect innocent people from the terrorists and violent criminals bent on destruction. In all the world, disarmed citizens are reduced to innocent, easy prey. We cannot and we will not allow that to happen, not here in the United States of America.

The hypocrisy of the elites is sickening. They will always have their guns, their security systems behind their walled neighborhoods and their armed personal security details. If you’re a celebrity or a friend of the mayor … if you are among the wealthy and connected … you can get your permit.

But honest folks like you and me? No permit for you … no freedom for us to protect ourselves. The majority of Americans cut through all that hypocrisy and know that, in the end, we’re on our own. We know that when it comes to defending our families and homes, freedom is and must always be in our own hands … the freedom that can only be found in the Second Amendment.

The hypocrisy of the elites is sickening. They will always have their guns, their security systems behind their walled neighborhoods and their armed personal security details.

Americans also believe that precious, life-saving freedom should not end at the state line. That is why the NRA is fighting right now to enact national Right-to-Carry reciprocity.

As more and more Americans embrace their firearms freedom, the time has come for Congress to enact Right-to-Carry reciprocity and for the president to immediately sign the bill. People want and deserve the ability to protect themselves from the monsters and menaces lurking among us. No one should be forced to face evil with empty hands.

That is the freedom we all fight for, and we must stand together and fight harder than ever to keep our freedom and save our nation. That is why every gun owner and patriot of freedom should join us. Join the NRA, renew your membership, and bring a friend or neighbor into our ranks.

That is how we save our freedom, together. The anti-freedom elites are coming after us with everything they’ve got—all the billions of dollars and anti-gun media and Hollywood celebrities they can muster.

But they don’t know you. They don’t know the heart of a freedom-loving NRA member. They don’t know how much the majority of Americans love their country and their freedom.

The NRA knows … and for those millions and millions of good, decent, honest Americans, the NRA—stronger now than ever before—will always stand and fight.