By Dave Workman
No sooner had Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton secured the endorsement of two gun prohibition lobbying groups, than did she appear on ABC’s ‘This Week” with George Stephanopoulos to reinforce the widespread belief, created by her own remarks in 2015, that she does not believe there is an individual right to keep and bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment.
Asked by Stephanopoulos whether she believes that “an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right,” she weaved around a direct answer. A transcript may be read here.
Instead, she told Stephanopoulos, who was Bill Clinton’s White House communications director 20 years ago, “If it is a constitutional right, then it, like every other constitutional right, is subject to reasonable regulation.”
Her remark appeared to underscore a comment she made during a private fund raiser last fall. Caught on audio at the time, Clinton told supporters that she thinks “the Supreme Court was wrong on the Second Amendment.”
Clinton had prefaced her comment to Stephanopoulos with another that seemed designed to diminish the 2008 Supreme Court ruling in the Heller case. Instead of noting that the court majority clearly affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms outside of militia service, Clinton instead observed, “I think that for most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment until the decision by the late Justice Scalia and there was no argument until then that localities and states and the federal government had a right, as we do with every amendment, to impose reasonable regulation.”
Clinton was endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, two organizations supported by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg. He put up $50 million to launch Everytown.
At the time, the Washington Examiner reminded its readers that, “Clinton has promised gun control on her ‘very first day’ as president, and has in the past backed new taxes on weapons and a ban on some firearms.”
Everytown President John Feinblatt declared in a prepared statement, “Gun Sense Voters have a champion in Hillary Clinton. Our litmus test is simple: does a candidate side with the public or with the gun lobby? Hillary Clinton passes that test with flying colors — pushing back against the N.R.A.’s extreme ‘guns for everyone, everywhere’ agenda, and ushering in a new political calculus that saving lives from gun violence is a winning issue.”
Quick to react were the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund.
“It’s no surprise that the gun prohibition lobby has a litmus test based on erosion of the Second Amendment, and it is less of a surprise that Hillary Clinton passed it with flying colors,” said CCRKBA chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If there were any remaining doubts among American voters about Clinton’s intentions if she wins in November, these endorsements make it clear that she is determined to rip the right to keep and bear arms from the American fabric.”
Chris Cox, chairman of the NRA/PVF, said it is clear that “The Second Amendment is on the ballot this November.”
“Hillary Clinton does not believe that law-abiding Americans have the right to use a firearm to protect themselves in their homes,” Cox said. “She said the Supreme Court got it wrong in its landmark Heller decision, which held that the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms. Gun control groups are endorsing Hillary Clinton because they believe that she will work to eliminate individual gun ownership in this country.”
H/T Seattle Gun Rights Examiner
