I first came to know Dana Loesch nearly nine years ago. We “met” via Twitter in the days around the 2008 presidential election, when conservatives were taking to Twitter to voice frustration at the handling of the “financial crisis,” show their support for the much-maligned Sarah Palin, and generally chat with like-minded folks about the worrisome state of the conservative movement.

Dana was a sort of “mommy blogger” back then, one who was not afraid to talk about politics. I remember being quite impressed that a conservative mom would have the guts to post at the left-leaning site for women called BlogHer. Let’s face it, most chick sites like that tend to devolve into post after post of ridiculous feminist fantasies about how life should be (and the resultant anger when it never is like that); there was much slavering over Obama back in those days. Dana flew the flag for conservative women and moms, and I was thankful for it.

Fast forward to the Tea Party days. I had helped found the group Smart Girl Politics (SGP), and we were privileged to be involved in organizing the tea parties of February and April of 2009. We also spent a significant amount of time in those days defending the Sarah Palins and Michelle Bachmanns of the world against the loony left and their accomplices in the media.

Dana was doing the same out in St. Louis, helping to found that area’s very active tea party movement. And she became an important voice for conservative values, particularly when it came to gun rights. She used her position in the media to help conservative candidates and bring attention to causes dear to the conservative grassroots. Our paths crossed often over the years; she spoke at several of SGP’s events, which were designed to empower conservative women.

Back in 2012, Dana led a movement to help defend Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, who was being targeted for recall along with Governor Scott Walker. They had dared to take on Wisconsin’s powerful unions in order to save the state from fiscal ruin, which, of course, meant the left had to take them down.

Rebecca was all the things the left hate. Attractive. Successful. Outspokenly conservative. While Scott Walker received substantial monetary and moral support from the GOP and conservative groups, Kleefisch was somewhat on her own.

Dana rallied support for Kleefisch by gathering up a group of us to raise money for, and awareness about, the recall effort that threatened to remove the lieutenant governor from office. Some months later, Walker and Kleefisch both beat the recall and have since been reelected to their respective offices.

I find myself today thinking a lot about what Dana Loesch did five years ago for Rebecca Kleefisch. Dana has long been a target herself of the oh-so-intolerant left, something she handles with aplomb. Her association with the NRA has resulted in a lot of negative attention from the namby-pamby media who quake at the thought of girls with guns; the nonsense surrounding this association reached fever pitch in recent days when an apparently semi-literate reporter was introduced to the word “fisk” via a Loesch/NRA video collaboration.

Enter Rep. Kathleen Rice, Democrat from New York state, who has taken leftist insanity to a whole new level. Ms. Rice, who seems to have ample time to be on Twitter, spends large swaths of her day tweeting about Donald Trump. Perhaps it’s a blessing that Rice spends so much time on Twitter, as it hopefully limits the time she can spend exorcising her progressive insanity in the form of legislation.

Well, now Dana Loesch has taken up residence inside Kathleen Rice’s head.

Yes, you’re interpreting her tweet correctly. This public official and so-called representative of the people equates the lawful ownership of firearms, as espoused by Dana Loesch and the NRA, to a domestic security threat. Because the Constitution is clearly something that doesn’t matter anymore to the modern Democrat Party.

Here’s the thing … Dana showed up – and continues to show up – for the conservative movement. She didn’t get where she is by looking pretty and regurgitating talking points she heard elsewhere. She got where she is because she showed up. And she spoke up. At tea parties. On TV. On the radio. In books. On Twitter. Always, always on Twitter.

And now we need to show up for her. She hasn’t asked for it, but we should offer it. Because she’d do it for us.

How can you show up? If you blog, write a post. If you’re on social media, send her a nice message … and let Kathleen Rice know how you feel about her ludicrous statement. Support Dana’s sponsors. Buy her books. Speak out against this nonsense everywhere and every time you can. It doesn’t matter what it is, just showing up for the battle is enough.

Dana Loesch is not the threat. The NRA is not the threat. The Constitution is not the threat. The threat is people like Kathleen Rice, who’d prefer to live in their liberal wonderlands instead of facing the true threats to our society.