On May 10, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton tried to reassure voters that there is a limit to what the Democratic frontrunner would do to cripple gun rights, saying, “Of course Hillary Clinton does not want to repeal the Second Amendment.”
The spokesman — Josh Schwerin — said these things in response to Donald Trump’s May 7 speech in Lynden, Washington, where he said, “Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment.” CNN reported that Trump then went even further and expounded by saying, “Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment.”
Trump indicated Clinton is so anti-gun that she will seek new controls on bullets as well.
Three days later, the Huffington Post suggested that Trump’s observation “distorts Hillary Clinton’s gun stance,” and they quoted Schwerin, who said, “Of course Hillary Clinton does not want to repeal the Second Amendment.” But he hedged in the statement by making clear that Clinton “believes Heller was wrongly decided in that cities and states should have the power to craft common sense laws to keep their residents safe.”
Two problems here: First, Heller was not about cities and states. Rather, it was about the fact that the right to keep and bear is an individual right. And because it is an individual right, and always has been, the federal government — including federal districts (Washington DC) — cannot infringe upon it. Secondly, if Clinton feigns lack of support for gun control in an attempt to disprove Trump, while fighting for states and cities to enact more and more gun control, then she is pro-gun control and the lip service she gives to the Second Amendment is just that.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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