Politics

NRA: Garland Confirmation Will Lead To Gun Confiscation

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
Font Size:

The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action warns that confirming DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court would likely lead to a nationwide gun confiscation via judicial fiat.

According to the NRA-ILA, Garland played a key role in several decisions intended to restrict gun rights to American citizens.

In 2007, Garland voted to allow Washington D.C. a second chance to allow its handgun ban to be upheld after a three-judge panel struck it down. Three years earlier he voted against rehearing a Second Amendment case, Seegers v. Gonzales, where the plaintiff challenged the city’s firearm ban.

Additionally, in 2000, Garland voted in favor of the federal government’s proposal to keep Americans’ private information via gun purchase background checks despite federal laws banning national firearm registration and mandating the destruction of these records.

The NRA-ILA says that, “If Garland is confirmed, Obama would be taking America back in time to an era where Supreme Court justices uphold the anti-gun policies of the president. Obama is hoping Garland will overturn the Supreme Court precedent that stands in the way of confiscatory gun control, like the gun ban and confiscation programs implemented in Australia.”

Australia launched a nationwide gun confiscation program of its private citizens after a gunman killed 35 people in 1996. The Australian government bought 650,000 guns, including semiautomatic and automatic rifles and shotguns, in a mandatory buyback program.

The NRA-ILA’s executive director Chris Cox released a statement Wednesday on the Garland nomination saying:

“With Justice Scalia’s tragic passing, there is no longer a majority of support among the justices for the fundamental, individual right to own a firearm for self-defense. Four justices believe law-abiding Americans have that right – and four justices do not. President Obama has nothing but contempt for the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners.”

“Obama has already nominated two Supreme Court justices who oppose the right to own firearms and there is absolutely no reason to think he has changed his approach this time. In fact, a basic analysis of Merrick Garland’s judicial record shows that he does not respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. Therefore, the National Rifle Association, on behalf of our five million members and tens of millions of supporters across the country, strongly opposes the nomination of Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Follow Kerry on Twitter

Tags : guns scotus
Kerry Picket