SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
U.S. Senate Candidate Sharron Angle made the following statement regarding the confirmation of Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court:
“I have serious concerns regarding Elena Kagan’s view on our Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. Senator Reid’s support of Elena Kagan is a direct slap in the face of every NRA member. Senator Reid wants us to believe that he supports our Second Amendment, but with today’s vote, Reid has shown he stands against gun owners. Our country does not need more judicial activists incapable of separating their own views from the law. We need judges who will strictly interpret the Constitution. Ms. Kagan’s long history of combining legal counsel with political advocacy is troubling, and that is why I strongly oppose her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Background
The NRA Has Said That Elena Kagan Is “Out Of Step With Mainstream America” On The 2nd Amendment
“The National Rifle Association Came Out Forcefully . . . Against Elena Kagan’s Nomination To The Supreme Court, Saying Her Positions ‘Represent A Clear And Present Danger To The Right To Keep And Bear Arms.’” (Susan Crabtree, “NRA: Kagan A Threat To Gun Rights,” The Hill, 07/01/10)
- Kagan Is “Clearly Out Of Step With Mainstream America” And Her Record Shows “Nothing To Indicate Support For The Second Amendment.” “Senior executives for the gun rights group said they have examined Kagan’s record and found ‘nothing to indicate support for the Second Amendment.’ They also labeled her ‘clearly out of step with mainstream America.’ The NRA indicated it will ‘key vote’ Kagan’s confirmation, a scoring process the group uses in its decision to endorse candidates and sitting members of Congress on gun rights issues, according to NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.” (Susan Crabtree, “NRA: Kagan A Threat To Gun Rights,” The Hill, 07/01 /10)
Kagan Has A Very Liberal View Of 2nd Amendment Rights
During Her Hearings, Kagan Refused To State That The 2nd Amendment Is A Fundamental Right, Instead Leaving Herself Wiggle-Room By Calling It “Settled Law.” “Sessions warned before Kagan’s confirmation hearing that ‘she’s unwilling to enforce plain rights, the right to keep arms and the right to speech, and maybe have a tendency that so many of the other activist judges have to find rights that aren’t in the Constitution.’ Kagan told the committee that court rulings granting individuals the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment is ‘settled law.’ ‘I think that Heller is settled law and Heller has decided that the Second Amendment confers such an individual right to keep and bear arms,’ she said, citing a Supreme Court decision that overturned D.C.’s handgun ban. But Republicans are skeptical she meant it.” (Alexander Bolton, “Kagan Presents A Test For The NRA AS Court Confirmation Assured,” The Hill, 07/01/10)
Kagan’s Has An “Unsympathetic” Record To Our Constitutional Right To Keep And Bear Arms
As A Clerk, Kagan Wrote That She Was “Not Sympathetic” To A Defendant Who Argued That The D.C. “Firearms Statutes Violate His Constitutional Right To ‘Keep And Bear Arms.’” “Elena Kagan said as a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk in 1987 that she was ‘not sympathetic’ toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol…The man’s ‘sole contention is that the District of Columbia’s firearms statutes violate his constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms,’ Kagan wrote. ‘I’m not sympathetic.’” (Greg Stohr and Kristin Jensen, “Kagan Said She Was `Not Sympathetic’ Toward Gun-Rights Claim,” Bloomberg , 5/13/10)
Kagan Pressed For “For Quick Passage Of [Clinton] Gun Control Proposals.” “And on guns, Kagan and her supervisor in 1999 promised Clinton a memo ‘outlining an aggressive strategy … to press for quick passage of our gun control proposals.’ In a memo, Kagan and Domestic Policy Council Director Bruce Reed praised a news story noting that the White House wanted to move on the initiative before Republicans and the National Rifle Association could mobilize against it, writing that the article had ‘perfectly conveyed our intended message.’”(Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Kagan On Abortion, Assisted Suicide In Files,” The Associated Press, 6/4/10)
Kagan Supervised Implementation Of The Brady Bill, Assault Weapons Ban. “As deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council under Bill Clinton, Kagan supervised work implementing the Brady law, which implemented a background check system, info from the newly released docs show. Kagan also worked on a 1997 executive order related to the assault weapons ban — an order that updated an earlier one prohibiting the importation of firearms not usually used for sporting purposes. And she worked on various Clinton-era proposals to strengthen regulation of child-safety locks and to toughen up restrictions on adults from making guns too readily available to children.” (Greg Sargent, “GOP To Attack Kagan’s Gun Control Work For Clinton,” The Washington Post, 6/18/10)
- “In A May 1998 Memo From Her Time As A Policy Aide, Kagan And Chief Domestic Policy Adviser Bruce Reed Warned Clinton About Republican Efforts To Weaken A Ban On Assault Weapons.” (Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Kagan Memos On Abortion Limits, Religious Rights,” The Associated Press, 6/12/10)
