Thursday, January 29, 2009

Don't Confirm Holder

Professor Halbrook writes in Human Events on Eric Holder's nomination to the Justice Department:

Holder is a long-time adherent of the chicanery that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” means no such thing, and instead only protects a state’s power to conscript a person into a militia. He said as much in a friend-of-the-court brief filed just last year supporting a total handgun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller. The Supreme Court fortunately disagreed, holding that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to have a handgun for self defense. Asked at his nomination hearing if he would support the Heller decision if the Court reconsidered it, he replied irrelevantly that it would depend on the “facts” and that precedent is “a factor” he would consider. The evasive response makes clear that he would seek to blot out the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights. Even if he is stuck with Heller for now, it’s no problem for Holder, as he doesn’t think that any infringement of the right is “infringement.” He wants to reenact the expired “assault weapons” ban in which that derogatory term is applied to whatever firearm he doesn’t like. Yet Heller held that firearms that are commonly possessed by law-abiding persons are constitutionally protected. He wants to “close the gun show loophole,” the left’s code phrase for making any private transfer of a firearm without government permission a felony, and for registering all gun owners with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). He advocated that just after hijackers armed with box cutters struck on 9/11. Speaking of gun shows, anyone who so much as “plans” one should go to prison unless they are registered with the ATF, Holder proposes....

Dr. Halbrook testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Holder nomination. You can view his testimony here.

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