Barrett Confirmation Means We’ll See If Gun Prohibitionists Were Right to Worry

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Amy Coney Barrett Has Been Confirmed As Trump’s Third Supreme Court Justice,” BuzzFeed News reported Monday evening. “Barrett deepens the court’s conservative wing to 6–3.”

That’s why the Democrats and their media cheerleaders have been complaining to their followers that the confirmation vote should have been put off until after the election so that if Joe Biden wins, he’d get to nominate the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsberg. That such a requirement appears nowhere in the Constitution hardly matters to them. Were delegated powers with checks and balances important to them, they would revere the ultimate check and balance on government abuses of all, the right of the people to keep and bear arms as mandated by the Second Amendment.

“The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Barrett, with one Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, breaking ranks to join Democrats in opposing her nomination,” the report continues. That creates a dilemma for Republicans, as the four-term incumbent is shattering spending records but still trailing in the polls, meaning an already-close senate could lose a seat. That said, former Everytown endorsee Collins has earned nothing from Maine gun owners but their contempt, and if she does pull it off, she’ll have six more years to betray them.

With Barrett, the expectation is that her philosophy will be similar to that of the man she once clerked for, the late Justice Antonin Scalia. As such, her nomination was applauded by the three major national gun owner rights groups.

“Judge Barrett’s record demonstrates a steadfast commitment to the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution,” the National Rifle Association declared in September.  With this nomination, President Trump continues his record of nominating qualified, fair-minded federal judges who respect the Bill of Rights – including the Second Amendment – to our nation’s highest court. ​

“From a Second Amendment perspective, Judge Amy Coney Barrett appears to be a strong choice,” Gun Owners of America assessed.  “She has indicated a willingness to examine and apply the Second Amendment as written, by looking at its text and using history as a guide, instead of engaging in the judge-empowering interest balancing that has run rampant in the lower courts.  Gun owners will relish seeing a new addition to the Supreme Court who is ready to hold lower courts accountable for failing to uphold the Constitution and for refusing to follow the Heller and McDonald precedents.”

“Judge Barrett is eminently qualified to take a seat on the highest court in the nation,” the Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb weighed in. “Our research shows her to be an outstanding candidate and we hope the U.S. Senate can quickly vote to confirm her.”

Reactions from the gun-grab groups are more visceral.

“It’s done. The Senate just confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett,” the Brady group bemoaned. “Survivors like @ravinranta — who was shot by her ex-husband — had urged senators to #BlockBarrett. But they failed us. Make no mistake, we will hold them accountable at the polls. #OurCourtOurVoices #DisarmDV”

“Senate Republicans broke their own rules and stole this seat by jamming Judge Barrett, a gun rights extremist, onto the Supreme Court at the behest of the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby,” Michael Bloomberg’s hirelings hyperventilated. “Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand action will continue to work to hold them accountable for it at the ballot box.”

“Days from an election, Senate Republicans confirm a SCOTUS nominee who will jeopardize our health and safety in the middle of a pandemic and gun violence crisis,” Giffords flat-out lied.

The assumption that Barrett’s confirmation “deepens the court’s conservative wing” cannot be taken for granted. With the way Chief Justice John Roberts has been ruling of late, some are wondering if we’re more like still stuck at 5-4. There could be a reason recent cases have been rejected, that “conservative” justices don’t trust the way he would vote. As The Atlantic recently speculated:

“John Roberts may not be the ally gun-rights advocates hoped for. The Court’s decision not to hear several Second Amendment cases may be a sign that the chief justice is not a solid vote against gun control.”

While Barrett’s confirmation should give gun owners a degree of hope and should certainly be viewed as more positive than a Biden nominee being placed on the High Court, we’ll need to wait and see if the gun groups or the gun-grabbers are right in their assessments. Republican appointments have disappointed in the past. Warren Burger and David Souter coming to mind.

Hopefully, President Trump’s latest pick will turn out to be a good one. If nothing else, the differences between his appointment and one hand-picked and vetted by the Democrats should convince any gun owners who still haven’t committed on their vote to understand what is at stake if Joe Biden wins and they did not do everything in their power to prevent it.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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