MAGA Judges On: Guns

Extremist judges have the potential to have an overwhelming impact on gun control in our nation. After the Supreme Court’s harmful decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, the scene is set in the lower courts across the country to roll back even more gun control laws.   

Judges who have made radical statements and issued harmful decisions, like those featured below, cannot be trusted to rule with the best interests of the public in mind. Already, over 70 percent of Americans across the political spectrum believe that judges have too much power over our laws and regulations. This power allows rogue judges to enact policies through the courts that would never pass through other legislative means. 

This is not how our democracy is meant to function–we need more fair-minded judges on the courts who will rule to protect our rights and freedoms, not eliminate them. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh – Supreme Court

• While serving on the D.C. Circuit, argued in a dissent that DC’s assault weapon ban was unconstitutional and that since semi-automatic rifles were “in common use” they should not be banned.

Judge Allison Eid – Tenth Circuit 

• While serving on the Colorado Supreme Court, wrote the opinion that struck down the University of Colorado’s handgun ban. 

Judge Britt Grant – Eleventh Circuit

• Worked on an amicus brief which challenged a city’s ban on AR-15 assault weapons, arguing that the ban violated the Second Amendment.

Judge Cory Wilson – Fifth Circuit 

• As a state legislator, he voted in favor of a bill that would have allowed conceal and carry of guns on all public property, including college campuses. 

Judge Lawrence VanDyke – Ninth Circuit 

• Often dissents in Ninth Circuit cases pertaining to gun control laws, including in a case upholding a federal law that prohibited people who have been involuntarily committed from buying handguns.

These are statements that show clear bias on guns and the Second Amendment. At a time of seemingly endless mass shootings in a country where a majority of Americans favor stricter gun laws, the courts continue to be a roadblock to sensible gun control laws. Like just this last summer, when the Supreme Court made it easier for individuals to access some of the most dangerous types of weapons.

American law is being distorted due to blatant activists like these on the bench. The public deserves a fair-minded judiciary, not one that seeks to force a far-right ideology on the entire country.