| Dear Senators: | July 7, 2009 |
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 Sec ond 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.
Surprisingly, Heller was a 5-4 decision, with some justices arguing that the Second Amend ment does not apply to private citizens or that if it does, even a total gun ban could be upheld if a “legitimate governmental interest” could be found. The dissenting justices also found D.C.’s absolute ban on handguns within the home to be a “reasonable” restriction. If this had been the majority view, then any gun ban could be upheld, and the Second Amendment would be meaningless.
The Second Amendment survives today by a single vote in the Supreme Court. Both its application to the states and whether there will be a meaningfully strict standard of review remain to be decided by the High Court. Judge Sotomayor has already revealed her views on these issues and we believe they are contrary to the intent and purposes of the Second Amendment and Bill of Rights. As Second Amendment leaders deeply concerned about preserving all fundamental rights for current and future generations of Americans, we strongly oppose this nominee, and urge the Senate not to confirm Judge So tomayor.
Sincerely,
Alan M. Gottlieb
Chairman, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Joseph P. Tartaro
President, Second Amendment Foundation
Sandra S. Froman, Esq.
Former President, National Rifle Association of America
NRA Board of Directors and Executive Council
Landis Aden
President, Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association
Scott L. Bach, Esq.
President, Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs
The Honorable Bob Barr
Former Congressman, 7th District of Georgia
NRA Board of Directors
Ken Blackwell
Senior Fellow, Family Research Council
NRA Board of Directors
Representative Jennifer R. Coffey
Representative Jennifer R. Coffey, NREMT-I
Representative, New Hampshire General Court
Director and National Coordinator, Second Amendment Sisters, Inc.
Advisor, New Hampshire Pro-Gun Advisory Council
Robert K. Corbin, Esq.
Former Attorn ey General, State of Arizona
Former President of NRA and current member
of NRA Executive Council
Jim Dark
Former Executive Director, Texas State Rifle Association
NRA Board of Directors
Tom Gresham
Host of “Gun Talk”
Nationally syndicated radio talk show
Gene Hoffman, Jr.
Chairman, The Calguns Foundation
Susan Howard
NRA Board of Directors
Tom King
President, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association
NRA Board of Directors
John T. Lee
President, The Pennsylvania Rifle and Pistol Association
Owen P. Buz Mills
President, Gunsite Academy, Inc.
NRA Board of Directors
Evan F. Nappen, Esq.
Corporate Counsel and Director, Pro-Gun New Hampshire, Inc.
Grover G. Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform
NRA Board of Directors
Sheriff Jay Printz
Retired Sheriff and Coroner, Ravalli County, Montana
Successful plaintiff in U.S. Supreme Court case Prin tz vs. U.S.
NRA Board of Directors
Todd J. Rathner
President, T. Jeffrey Safari Company
NRA Board of Directors
Wayne Anthony Ross, Esq.
President, Alaska Gun Collectors Association
Former Attorney General, State of Alaska
NRA Board of Directors
Don Saba, Ph.D.
Sierra Bioresearch
NRA Board of Directors
Robert E. Sanders, Esq.
Former Assistant Director (Law Enforcement), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
NRA Board of Directors
Jon A. Standridge
Brigadier General (USA Ret.)
Jim Wallace
Executive Director, Gun Owners’ Action League
Tell the Senate to Reject the Anti-Gun Sotomayor Nomination
Select Here Reject An Anti-Gun Supreme Court-Fax A ll 100 Senators
https://secure.responseenterprises.com/ccrkba_rejectsotomayor/?a=2728
Like all other threats against our freedoms, we must rise and defeat this nomination, slap it down hard.
To stop Obama’s backdoor anti-gun nomination and hold him to his promise that he would not try to take away anyone’s firearms —we need to let the U.S. Senate know with thousands of faxes telling them to leave guns alone.
Americans like you who understand what our Founding Fathers envisioned for our nation…and who are willing to fight to defend our Constitution and for what it stands.
So please, help the Citizens Committee and me defeat those who wish to gut and trash the United States Constitution.
Help me flood the U.S. Senate with a sea of FAXES big enough to drown each and every Senator willing to vote away the Second Amendment.
Please, send your Donation and FAX TODAY!
Tell the Senate to Reject the Anti-Gun Sotomayor Nomination
Select Here Reject An Anti-Gun Supreme Court-Fax All 100 Senators
https://secure.responseenterprises.com/ccrkba_rejectsotomayor/?a=2728
Keep calling your Senators today, toll free numbers include 1-877-851-6437 and 1-866-220-0044, or call toll 1-202- 225-3121 AND REGISTER YOU’RE OUTRAGE at ongoing efforts to take guns away though the Supreme Court!
CALL PRESIDENT OBAMA, 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414 expressing your disdain and ABSOLUTE REJECTION of all GUN BANS by nominating Sotomayor.
DO NOT BE SILENCED – MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
NOTE: We need TENS OF THOUSANDS of faxes and PHONE CALLS and EMAILS delivered to ALL Senators right away!
For our projects to be successful, we must count on the voluntary finan cial support from individuals like you who care.
Your contribution of $20 or $25 is urgently needed today.
Your donation for just $10 will help so much. If you can afford to send $50 or $100 or more it would truly be a godsend.
Remember, protecting our freedom is not inexpensive.
But then, it’s impossible to put a price tag on freedom.
Tell the Senate to Reject the Anti-Gun Sotomayor Nomination
Select Here Reject An Anti-Gun Supreme Court-Fax All 100 Senators
https://secure.responseenterprises.com/ccrkba_rejectsotomayor/?a=2728
Together, we can preserve the Constitutional rights our Founding Fathers intended our people to have forever.
For more information about CCRKBA go to http://www.ccrkba.org/
If you prefer to don ate by check, please mail to:
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 NE Tenth Place
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With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org
