Gun Laws And 2a
Four Legal Battles NRA Members Need to Understand
Understanding the Legal Landscape for NRA Members Amid Key Second Amendment Cases
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍Washington, D.C.
As James Madison observed when introducing the U.S. Bill of Rights, there is no substitute for granting to the people certain safeguards which they have been long accustomed to have interposed between them and the magistrate who exercised the sovereign power. Once a right has been established on paper, Madison explained, it becomes part of the national character, and, if infringed, it may be appealed to like any other law. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, we can see clearly what a difference this system has made. And yetsadly, theres always a yet!while the Second Amendment is imperative and useful and worthwhile, some of the politicians and judges who take an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution instead work to undermine it. The election of Donald Trump (R)to the presidency, and of a Republican majority to the U.S. Senate, has brought good news on this front. But that good news is not self-executing. During his four years in office, former President Joe Biden (D) added a substantial number of figures to the federal judiciaryand one of them to the U.S. Supreme Courtwho are downright hostile to the Second Amendment. Until those individuals are balanced out by faithful constitutionalists, the right to keep and bear arms will be in danger. It is, of course, true that the big Supreme Court cases of the last two decades (Heller, McDonald, Bruen) were decided correctly. It is also true that, outside of those big cases, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to take on Second Amendment caseseven when the lower courts are clearly flouting the high-courts rulings. This abdication has empowered those lower courts, and, in consequence, made filling them with responsible jurists an even more essential goal. President Trumps Nominees As president, Biden successfully added 235 judges to the various federal courts. Not only did this represent the highest number of judicial appointments achieved in a single presidential term since Jimmy Carters record of 262 between 1977 and 1981; it exceeded, by one, the number of judges that President Trump got through in his first term. Last time around, Trump added 234happily, three of those were to the Supreme Court. Thus far in his second term, President Trump has nominated 13 judgesfour of which have been processed and accepted by the Senate. Despite this, a host of Americas lower courts remain in open rebellion against the law when the topic is AR-15s. Thus far, the First Circuit, Fourth Circuit, and Seventh Circuits have all found ways to deem the AR-15 different from other guns, or to conclude that, for one reason or another, they do not fall under the protection of the Second Amendment. This cannot standand, in some district courts (most recently in California and Colorado) it has not.