The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Donald Trump’s candidacy with the outspoken intention of saving the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) from the anti-gun, leftist jurists who would have certainly been nominated by Hillary Clinton.
And now, just hours away from President Trump’s nomination of a SCOTUS nominee to fill the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia, the NRA is eyeing 30 years of a pro-gun SCOTUS.
The NRA endorsed Trump at their annual meetings on May 20, 2016. In announcing the endorsement, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre stressed the danger posed by a Clinton presidency, saying, “A Clinton White House would be a dangerous extension of the Obama White House.” He added that a Clinton presidency would mean “game over for everyone in this room and everything that we care about.”
The reasons behind the concern were not simply the myriad gun controls Clinton was pushing, but her outright hostility to SCOTUS decisions like District of Columbia v Heller (2008) and McDonald v Chicago (2008). Again and again she made clear her plans to nominate SCOTUS justices who would tweak, if not reverse, such decisions. In fact, just over a week before the NRA endorsed Trump, a Clinton spokesman was quoted by Huffington Post saying 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.”
During the October 9 presidential debate, Trump responded to Clinton’s disagreement with Heller by assuring voters he would use SCOTUS to save the Second Amendment from “people like Hillary Clinton.”
I am looking to appoint judges very much in the mold of Justice Scalia. …People that will respect the constitution of the United States. And I think that this is so important–also, the Second Amendment which is totally under siege by people like Hillary Clinton.
And now, as Trump prepares to put forth a pro-Second Amendment nominee for SCOTUS, The Hill reports that the NRA is eyeing 30 years of a pro-gun SCOTUS.
UCLA law professor Adam Winkler observed, “One of the things that makes NRA such a political powerhouse is that, by and large, it stays focused on the issue it cares about: guns.” He went to point out that “Trump will fill Scalia’s spot” and “that’s 30 years of votes against gun control.”
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.