NFTs And Second Amendment
This is one exciting technology that I recently discovered and which possibly can be utilized to support real world 2A advocacy.
The Past
There was no internet when the Bill Of Rights was conceived, however, in today's day and age there can be no question that internet is the lifeline of the First Amendment. Technology has truly become the bulwark of the First Amendment. However, we are yet to realize similar kind of gains for the Second Amendment. While there is no question that tech has helped boost up the support for 2A (online transactions, advocacy, media etc.) most of technology and how it is used is extremely offensive to the Second Amendment. Big Tech certainly does not like firearms and rich elites all over the world use every means of technology available to try and strip the common folks of their God given right to self defense (it is not even about the scary guns for them, they just want to outlaw self defense completely). Being both a technology enthusiast and 2A absolutist this is very painful to see. As an interesting aside, anti gun folks are always yapping about how 2A does not applies to handguns/semi auto rifles/… because those were not present when 2A was written (which by the way is not true). However, those same folks will let out ungodly howls if you talk about putting any sort of censorship on the internet as if a free internet is in the bill of rights. Even though there was more of machine guns present at the time of constitution ratification than there was internet, oh well 🤷♂️
Non Fungible Tokens aka NFTs
There is a ton of literature and media out there explaining NFTs much better than I can do. However if you are completely new to the subject and want a high level, over simplified definition then think of it as a unique asset. Something that can not be duplicated. Obviously, just because something is unique doesn’t make it valuable. However the concept is simple and powerful and that is enough to launch it into the mainstream.
From Virtual To Real
NFT art is all virtual but it has real world value. Tangible value which can support real world 2A advocacy organizations like GoA and SAF. With that in mind I have put together this collection on the opensea NFT marketplace because sadly I could not find anything similar already existing. And that unfortunately is the norm for tech. Barring some rare exceptions like 3d printing, we gunowners are usually far behind when it comes to harnessing technology to advocate for our cause. And I am most definitely including myself into this. NFTs have been around since 2017! and even then I could not find a proper 2A support collection on one of the largest NFT marketplace 😞
Make NFT Work For 2A
Just to give you guys an idea of how insanely lucrative NFT art is, consider this emoji which is part of the cryptopunks collection and is currently being offered for a low price of $1,654,560,000,000,000,200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 Obviously that is a joke but the mean price of a punk is still well north of $20k. That is serious money that can make a big difference for a grassroots organization like GOA or SAF.
Own A Piece Of 2A History
For better or worse I have created the first NFT which would be auctioned off for the support of the Second Amendment. It is a picture of my first gun disassembled on a mat. And before any accusations of ‘profiting’ off come flying my way, I have pledged to donate 90% of the proceed to GoA already. And listing it for $100 I will not be making any money from this since you have to pay a one time wallet initialization fee to make a listing available on opensea. However, this is more of a symbolic gesture at this point than anything else. In the future it is inevitable that we will have 2A related NFT artwork being auctioned off to fundraise for grassroots 2A orgs. When that day does come it will be really cool to have the first ever NFT that was auctioned off for the support of 2A. Would also be a great legacy to leave for your grandkids eventually 😌.
The Future…
Making my first NFT and listing it for auction was just a first step. My immediate next term goal is to create something similar to cryptopunks but related to firearms. No clue at this point on how to get that up and running and would love to collaborate with the community to make NFTs a pro 2A sanctuary 💪. Please leave your ideas in the comments, would highly appreciate it 🙏