The U.S. Senate began the confirmation hearings Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh this week. Many have written commentary about him, and more will surely be written. Topics of concern will abound, but there is one that is of particular interest to this author: guns.
For years, I have owned a gun and believe in the individual’s right to do such.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation will be critical for the right to keep and bear arms, as particularly outlined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Not only will he likely be a solid vote for the individual to own guns, but he will also be a vote to cause gun regulations to be heard in the first place. Traditionally, four justices are needed to grant the review of lower court rulings at the Supreme Court level. In the past, lower court rulings have not been widely heard at the Supreme Court because there has been a lack of those four votes to put those rulings on the high court’s docket. With Kavanaugh, this will likely change.
The impact of his confirmation has gun control advocates worried because more cases will likely be heard, and hopefully decided in favor of individual rights and liberties. Many gun regulations will likely to be overturned.
Why is this critical? Just over a decade ago, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of the citizen to own handguns in the District of Columbia in the June 26, 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller. The court found that an individual, Dick Heller, had the right to own and possess a handgun in his home. By way of a quick review, Mr. Heller carried a handgun in federal office buildings due to his job, but was not allowed to have one in his D.C. home.
Heller’s case was the first one heard by the Supreme Court since 1939 in the case United States v. Miller, which directly addressed the rights of the Second Amendment.
But the concerning part of the Heller decision, four justices voted not to extend this right to him and other citizens. That means one justice can flip the court against the people and against the very creation of our country and her liberties that our founders fought to secure – for themselves and their posterity, which includes you and me! Without justices that recognize law-abiding American’s rights to defend themselves, a potential fifth anti-gun justice could take them all away.
This brings us to Kavanaugh. With his confirmation, more cases will likely be heard about the administrative and often arbitrary restrictions on guns, and their Constitutionality. More freedoms will be restored and strengthen with his presence on the Court.
To be sure, gun violence and needless loss of life is a tragedy and impacts all Americans – and their safety. But the violence comes from the criminal, not the gun. I wonder how some of the mass shootings in our country would have ended sooner if the citizens would have been allowed to carry. We often don’t hear of when armed citizens stop criminals with guns. That doesn’t make the news nor does it fit with the anti-gun agenda.
Law-abiding citizens often disarm themselves when they step foot in ‘gun-free’ zones, where many mass shootings have occurred. For example, this month is the 5th anniversary of the Navy Yard Shooting, a gun free zone. Schools, movie theatres, churches, and nightclubs have been the targets of mass shooters – often all designated as ‘gun free’ zones.
I wonder, how many would have been saved, how many students would be saved, how many movie goers or nightclub dancers would have been saved if honest citizens had their rights restored. And I also wonder, how many will be lost if those rights aren’t.
Therefore I urge you to vote for Corey Stewart so he can vote to confirm judges like Kavanaugh and to protect our Second Amendment rights.
Shak Hill
