Obama Nominates Justice Who Supported Handgun Ban, Background Checks

What a surprise: President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court is an overly-deferential “moderate” with an anti-Second Amendment history.

In the face of Republican calls for a vote to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the late Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election this November, Obama has pushed ahead with submitting a candidate for consideration. That candidate is one Merrick Garland.

Who is Merrick Garland, you ask? A DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge, described ad nauseam by the media as “brilliant”, although they’re hard pressed to tell what you exactly about his record is “brilliant.” It’s not his past rulings on gun rights, that’s for sure.

While pundits ascribe the label of “centrist” to Garland, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action points out that his stance on guns is anything but. Indeed, his rulings on the subject easily put him in the ranks of the most vehement anti-gun liberals.

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As the NRA-ILA observes, appointing Garland to the Supreme Court would be a disaster for gun owners. Not only has he voted to give Washington D.C. a second chance to maintain it’s unconstitutional handgun ban, but he has also voted to allow the government to keep information gathered in background checks in express violation of federal law permitting storage of such information:

“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.’”

Source: Daily Caller