U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Sworn into office with a widely-reported gun control plan just waiting to be unleashed, Joe Biden is “committed” to act on his campaign promise to create a “bipartisan commission to study Supreme Court reforms,” according to Fox News.
If the scenario plays out, it could open the door for anti-gun Democrats to pack the high court—which now has a constitutionally-friendly majority—thus derailing potential rulings that would reverse years of erosion of the Second Amendment protection of the right to keep and bear arms.
Fox News quoted an unidentified White House official who stated, “The President remains committed to an expert study of the role and debate over reform of the court and will have more to say in the coming weeks.”
According to the Fox story, “Eight progressive organizations banded together to form the ‘Unrig the Courts’ coalition to pressure Democrats to use their power to act. Their four demands are expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court, expanding lower federal courts, enacting term limits for Supreme Court justices and improving ethics and transparency requirements for justices.”
One of those groups calls itself “Take Back the Court.” Another is “51 for 51,” a movement to grant statehood to the District of Columbia.
Why does the federal court system need “reforming?” Because former President Donald Trump was able to fill some 200 vacancies with conservative judges and three conservative justices, whose impacts are already being felt.
The best example of this is a California case, Duncan v. Becerra. Two years ago, District Judge Roger Benitez, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that California’s ban on so-called “high capacity magazines” is unconstitutional. Last year, in a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Benitez decision. The majority opinion was written by Judge Kenneth Lee, a Trump appointee. This is why, say many gun rights advocates, “elections matter.”
California has asked for an en banc hearing before a full panel. From there, the case could go to the Supreme Court. A victory could nullify magazine bans beyond California’s borders, and the Ninth Circuit ruling already poses a problem to anti-gun lawmakers in Washington who are currently pushing legislation to ban such magazines.
Biden’s threat to gun rights on the federal level and efforts to push more gun control at the state level underscores the critical nature of a campaign launched earlier this month by the Second Amendment Foundation that is now heading into a fourth week, thanks to what SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb says in a Thursday news release has been an “overwhelming positive reaction.”
The project is called “2nd Amendment First Responders,” a grassroots-oriented program designed to turn gun owners into gun rights activists. The recruiting advertisement will appear an addition 69 times during the first week of February. Since it began, the ad has run 119 times on more than a dozen networks.
“By the end of next week,” Gottlieb calculated, “our 60-second message will have been broadcast a total of 268 times, reaching millions of viewers. We’re able to extend our effort because of the growing positive response. It’s been astounding.”
The “2nd Amendment First Responder” recruitment message will continue airing on BBC America, Destination America, the Investigation Discovery Channel, American Heroes Channel, SYFY (Science Fiction), TLC (The Learning Channel), TruTV, DirecTV, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC, The Weather Channel, One America News Network, CNBC, HLN, Bloomberg, Dish TV, the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel, SAF said.
The longer this recruiting effort continues, the more people will join. According to Gottlieb, who chatted with AmmoLand News, public support for SAF this month is twice what it was in January 2020.
“The number of new members, donors and supporters has more than doubled for this time period,” he said, “and we’re expanding staff to meet the threats against our rights. We’re excited about growing while other organizations have been reducing staff and activities.”
So, while Biden and his Democrat allies now in control on Capitol Hill are looking to press his gun control agenda, SAF is literally recruiting legions of citizen activists to stop them.
A key part of that effort, Gottlieb revealed, will be a “massive internet advertising campaign” that will soon be launched. It will reach out to millions of new gun owners who bought their first gun sometime in recent months. SAF will continue its legal action and public education efforts, thanks to this new support.
Possibly one factor in the heightened interest about SAF was the recent word from the National Rifle Association it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reincorporating in Texas.
Gottlieb accused anti-gunners of “celebrating” NRA’s situation, but he warned the gun prohibition lobby and its allies in Congress and state legislatures, “Gun owners are engaging at record levels with organizations like the Second Amendment Foundation to fight back against billionaire-backed groups and politicians who are attempting to take away our rights.”
By the same measure, it would be ill-advised to consider the NRA on the ropes.
There is something else, and Biden owns it. If he does launch his so-called “bipartisan commission of scholars” to provide recommendations on “court reform” in 180 days—six months from now—he is going to be reminded of his remarks decades ago while serving as a senator from Delaware. At the time, as noted by Fox News, he dismissed the idea of “court-packing” as stupid.
“President Roosevelt clearly had the right to send to the United States Senate and the United States Congress a proposal to pack the court,” Biden said at the time. “It was totally within his right to do that. He violated no law. He was legalistically, absolutely correct. But it was a bonehead idea. It was a terrible, terrible mistake to make. And it put in question, if for an entire decade, the independence of the most-significant body … in this country, the Supreme Court of the United States of America.”
RELATED:
- Trampling 2A at Core of Biden’s Empty Promise of ‘Unity’
- SAF on Offense, Launching TV Ad, Ramping Up Media Marketing
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
The post 2A Jeopardy: Biden ‘Committed’ to ‘Reform Court System’ Including SCOTUS appeared first on AmmoLand.com.
from https://ift.tt/2YljUdo
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment