Trump SCOTUS Nominee: ‘2nd Amendment Protects an Individual’s Right’

President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States is Neil Gorsuch, a judge on the United State Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit who has written that “the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right.”

Gorsuch wrote this in the opinion for United States v. Games-Perez. A facts page summarizing Gorsuch’s positions contains his full statement, which says the Supreme Court has held that “the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own firearms and may not be infringed lightly.”

He also wrote that there is “a long tradition of widespread gun ownership by private individuals in this country.”

It is worth remembering that Trump pledged to nominate a justice “in the mold of Scalia,” and a SCOTUSblog entry for January 13, 2017, indicates he may have done just that. Here’s an excerpt from the the entry:

The great compliment that Gorsuch’s legal writing is in a class with Scalia’s is deserved: Gorsuch’s opinions are exceptionally clear and routinely entertaining; he is an unusual pleasure to read, and it is always plain exactly what he thinks and why. Like Scalia, Gorsuch also seems to have a set of judicial/ideological commitments apart from his personal policy preferences that drive his decision-making. He is an ardent textualist (like Scalia); he believes criminal laws should be clear and interpreted in favor of defendants even if that hurts government prosecutions (like Scalia); he is skeptical of efforts to purge religious expression from public spaces (like Scalia); he is highly dubious of legislative history (like Scalia); and he is less than enamored of the dormant commerce clause (like Scalia).

The NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox responded to the nomination of Gorsuch, saying, “President Trump has made an outstanding choice in nominating Judge Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court. He has an impressive record that demonstrates his support for the Second Amendment. We urge the Senate to swiftly confirm Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, just as it did in confirming him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by a unanimous voice vote.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.