MICHIGAN – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) is calling on Michigan concealed pistol license holders and legal gun owners to sign our petition calling on Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters to reverse their earlier public statements and confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. This is part of an effort with our allied state firearms organizations across the country to put pressure on the United States Senate in advance of the September confirmation hearings.
President Trump has nominated D.C. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat. Kavanaugh, one of Kennedy’s former clerks, is a Yale Law graduate and a dedicated defender of the Constitution. Kavanaugh is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.
Judge Kavanaugh has applied the Supreme Court’s holding in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) that -while “traditional and common gun laws in the United States remain constitutionally permissible” -the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.
Judge Kavanaugh dissented in Heller II (2011)-the follow-on Heller case in the D.C. Circuit- from a majority opinion upholding both D.C.’s ban on semi-automatic rifles and its broad gun registration requirement.
Although Judge Kavanaugh recognized the “longstanding problem of gun violence in the District of Columbia,” he did not believe that these restrictions were a constitutionally permissible solution under Heller.
He began his dissent by noting the court’s limited role: “As a lower court … it is not our role to re-litigate Heller or to bend it in any particular direction. Our sole job is to faithfully apply Heller and the approach it set forth for analyzing gun bans and regulations.
Because the Supreme Court’s approach in Heller focused on “text, history, and tradition,” Judge Kavanaugh’s dissent did too.
Because semi-automatic rifles have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he would have held them to be protected under Heller’s test.
Similarly, because D.C.’s registration requirement for all guns was not traditional (and was, in fact, highly unusual), Judge Kavanaugh’s dissent explained that it also failed Heller’s test.
Judge Kavanaugh’s dissent is an excellent example of faithful adherence to the Constitution and to Supreme Court precedent. It is exactly the sort of conscientious approach Americans should be able to expect from all federal judges.
Please sign the petition HERE.
About Michigan Coalition For Responsible Gun Owners
The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Formed from just eight people in 1996, we now have thousands of members and numerous affiliated clubs across the state. We’re growing larger and more effective every day.
Our mission statement is: “Promoting safe use and ownership of firearms through education, litigation, and legislation” Visit: www.mcrgo.org