From a press call earlier today, the AP reports:
Sen. Mark Udall said Thursday that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sees a 2008 ruling affirming Americans’ right to own guns for self-defense as settled law.
Udall said Sotomayor told him at a private meeting that she will work from the high court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller in future cases involving gun rights. The 5-4 ruling struck down the Washington, D.C., handgun ban and imperiled similar prohibitions in other cities…
Udall said he asked Sotomayor about her view of the Second Amendment during their visit.
“Clearly she spoke to the fact that settled law is just that, and the Heller case has been considered by the court, and she sees that as the law, and she will work off of what the court decided as other cases may come to the court’s attention,” Udall said.
Other senators have come away from their meetings with Sotomayor concerned about her position on gun rights.
A key question for western Democrats to ask of Sotomayor, as 2nd Amendment-related subjects are one place her nomination could have run into bipartisan trouble out here. This was one of the biggest reasons sportsman-friendly Udall was a little slower to endorse Sotomayor than Michael Bennet was, and his all-clear on the issue will set a lot of minds at ease.
True, not the guys cleaning out their local gun store in a frenzy after each episode of Glenn Beck, but they were probably beyond rational discussion anyway.
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It doesn’t matter what Sotomayor’s position is on guns–she could even have a conceal carry–the NRA would say she is part of the Obama cabbal to take guns away from law abiding Americans.
The gun manufacturers are having a great year fearmongering guns out the door, don’t blow it.
for taking 2nd Amendment rights into consideration when he spoke with Judge Sotomayor. It’s reassuring that he’s walking the walk, and not just talking the talk when it comes to private firearms ownership. Not that I expected anything else considering his record in Congress, and the promises he made during the campaign; it’s just nice to see politicians who actually follow through.
Their foaming-at-the-mouth fomenting led to tragedies like the Holocaust Museum and Dr. Tiller.
They’ll have to answer to a Higher Authority someday.
I wouldn’t want to be in the room when Dr. Tiller the baby killer has to answer for the more then 65,000 murders he committed.
Now that would be judgement!
…which is hardly settled law. The ink’s still fresh on that decision. And even conservative legal types called it blatant social policy making. Nuts to Udall.
The Second Amendment means we all have a right to personal guns. That said, no right is absolute. Freedom of speech has limits, as do they all. The Second Amendment does not give anybody the right to have, say, a nuke.
Udall is right, and he’s smart.
that’s a real strong statement, isn’t it? “It’s settled law.” She definitely won’t take our guns away, that’s an iron-clad guarantee.
I don’t care much, I consider myself in the silent majority of gun owners who don’t mind reasonable gun regulation (especially of heavy weaponry and the ability of unstable and violent people to own any guns). But to use this statement as something to try to placate the Mountain West gun owner is pathetic.