From the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms comes this example of a communication you can deliver to your elected officials regarding nominating Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court:
[Sen.] or [Rep.] [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME]
Washington, DCRE: Reject The Anti-Gun Sotomayor Supreme Court Nomination
Dear [Sen.] [LAST NAME]:
As Americans who have dedicated themselves to protecting the Second Amendment right of U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms, we urge you not to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
It is extremely important that a Supreme Court justice understand and appreciate the origin and meaning of the Second Amendment, a constitutional guarantee permanently enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Judge Sotomayor’s record on the Second Amendment causes us grave concern over her treatment of this enumerated constitutional right.
Last year, the Supreme Court decided the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that the Second Amendment guarantees to all law-abiding, responsible citizens the individual right to keep and bear arms, particularly for self-defense. Following Heller, the Supreme Court is almost certain to decide next year whether the Second Amendment applies to states and local governments, as it does to the federal government (see NRA v. Chicago and McDonald v. Chicago.)
While on the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor revealed her views on the right to keep and bear arms in Maloney v. Cuomo, a case decided after Heller, yet holding that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right, that it does not apply to the states, and that if an object is “designed primarily as a weapon” that is a sufficient basis for total prohibition even within the home. Earlier in a 2004 case, United States v. Sanchez-Villar, Sotomayor and two colleagues perfunctorily dismissed a Second Amendment claim holding that “the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right.” Imagine if such a view were expressed about other fundamental rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, such as the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
The example goes on, and is quite good.
Please remember that the first fundamental Supreme Court case on the Second Amendment in many years was last year’s District of Columbia v. Heller, which was decided on a 5-4 vote. Sotomayor would have been in the minority opinion of this landmark ruling that finally codified what the Framers of this country established over 200 years ago.
If Sotomayor sides against the US Constitution on District of Columbia v. Heller, then what else could she surprise us citizens on during the remainder of her lifetime?
Go to the CCRKBA website and, for a much-needed donation, have your fax sent to all 60 Democrat/Independent U.S. Senators, all 40 GOP U.S. Senators, or all 100 U.S. Senators.
Or, if you don’t have any money, then use this example to fashion your own communication to your elected officials.
Or, just worry about who is getting voted off “The Bachelor” and let Obama and Friends take care of your every need and want.
Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Anti-Gun, Second Amendment, Bill of Rights, District of Columbia v. Heller, keep and bear arms, CCRKBA
1 response so far ↓
1 Michael // Jul 13, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Very well written petition. It’s good to know that others are as offended at the infringement as I am. But with the gushing over Sotomayor only taking second place to Obama’s own ascent and the Democrats solid domination of Congress, I can’t help but have flashbacks of Hitler’s Germany.
For years, I’ve heard “boob-tube” and “idiot-box” used to refer to TVs. I’ve finally arrived at the conclusion that such devices have effectively turned the majority in this country into zombies who don’t realize that our Constitution has been and continues to be gutted.