There’s one big problem with many Republicans, and that’s how the only way they’re better than Democrats on guns is that they don’t inherently want every bit of gun control that comes down the line. They’re open to talking, and they’ll even vote for it from time to time, but they’ll vote against others. They’re not good, just less bad.
But not all are cut from that cloth. There are some who are truly pro-gun, which is something you just don’t see from Democrats anymore.
That’s how we got suppressors and short-barreled long guns without tax stamps, which paved the way for removing them from the NFA registry entirely, which should happen universally sooner or later.
And a bunch of them are making a new stand for gun rights.
Today, Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09), in partnership with the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in the case Viramontes v. Cook County (consolidated with Grant v. Higgins), a major Second Amendment case addressing the constitutionality of semi-automatic rifles. More than 60 House Republicans joined Rep. Clyde on the brief.
In Viramontes v. Cook County, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether the Second Amendment protects the right to possess semi-automatic rifles such as AR-15s, after Cook County, Illinois and the State of Connecticut enacted bans on these firearms, which were upheld by the lower courts. The brief argues that the Supreme Court should overrule the lower courts and declare such bans unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
In the brief, the lawmakers argue:
“To hold that these rifles may be banned, not in spite of, but because they are effective in military service is to read the prefatory clause out of the Constitution, violate its plain text, and completely ignore this Court’s ruling in Heller. The Amendment protects, at minimum, arms that are in common use for lawful purposes and that bear a reasonable relationship to the citizen-militia tradition the clause celebrates. Military small arms that meet the common-use test, of which the AR-15 is a quintessential example, must therefore sit near the heart of the right, not outside it.”
“Much to gun-grabbing Democrats’ dismay, the Second Amendment is abundantly clear,” said Clyde. “‘Shall not be infringed’ is not a suggestion, regardless of the firearm in question. Semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s, are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans, as it is well within our constitutional rights to do so. As an unapologetic voice in the fight to protect and restore our Second Amendment liberties, I’m proud to lead this amicus effort, and I’m confident the Supreme Court will declare these bans for what they are: blatantly unconstitutional.”
I’m with Clyde here. I just don’t see the Supreme Court taking this case, especially if there was a hair’s breadth chance of it upholding bans on so-called assault weapons. It would be better to leave the question open so a future court could put a stop to it than to create the precedent here and now.
Since they’re clearly not worried, I’m not either.
But that doesn’t mean you just phone your case in. You’ve got to actually argue and win the argument, and that means things like amicus briefs. That means people making the case outside of the arguments before the court, which are also important.
While these Republican lawmakers have no more sway with the Court than any other group, nor should they, it’s still nice to see Republicans actually standing for the Second Amendment. What bothers me is that there are only 65 names associated with this. There should be a couple hundred, at least.
Folks, we need to win. We cannot afford to just hope that our rights will land in our laps thanks to friendly courts. We also need to get some legislation going. The One Big, Beautiful Bill was a step in the right direction, even if it wasn’t as much as we hoped.
This is helpful, but the lack of other Republicans backing this is a problem.
We need a better class of “pro-gun” politician. It’s just that simple.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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