2nd Amendment: Join with Millions in rejecting Justice Sotomayor

From: GOPUSA Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Millions Of Gun Owners Reject Sotomayor

 

Gun Owners and Supporters of the Second Amendment:

Please join me, Sandy Froman the former President of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the national leaders listed below urging the Senate not to confirm Sotomayor.  We have signed the following letter supporting Second Amendment gun rights and need you to add your name to the list and immediately fax your letters to the Senate. 

Thank you. I know I can count on you.

Sincerely,

Alan Gottlieb, Chairman, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Letter to Reject Sotomayor and Protect the Second Amendment

Dear Senators: July 7, 2009 As Americans who have dedicated themselves to protecting the Second Amendment right of U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms, we urge you not to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. It is extremely important that a Supreme Court justice understand and appreciate the origin and meaning of the Second Amendment, a constitutional guarantee permanently enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Judge Sotomayor's record on the Second Amendment causes us grave concern over her treatment of this enumerated constitutional right. Last year, the Supreme Court decided the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that the Second Amendment guarantees to all law-abiding, responsible citizens the individual right to keep and bear arms, particularly for self-defense. Following Heller, the Supreme Court is almost certain to decide next year whether the Second Amendment applies to states and local governments, as it does to the federal government (see NRA v. Chicago and McDonald v. Chicago.) While on the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor revealed her views on the right to keep and bear arms in Maloney v. Cuomo, a case decided after Heller, yet holding that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right, that it does not apply to the states, and that if an object is "designed primarily as a weapon" that is a sufficient basis for total prohibition even within the home. Earlier in a 2004 case, United States v. Sanchez-Villar, Sotomayor and two colleagues perfunctorily dismissed a Second Amendment claim holding that "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right." Imagine if such a view were expressed about other fundamental rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, such as the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Surprisingly, Heller was a 5-4 decision, with some justices arguing that the Second Amendment does not apply to private citizens or that if it does, even a total gun ban could be upheld if a "legitimate governmental interest" could be found. The dissenting justices also found D.C.'s absolute ban on handguns within the home to be a "reasonable" restriction. If this had been the majority view, then any gun ban could be upheld, and the Second Amendment would be meaningless. The Second Amendment survives today by a single vote in the Supreme Court. Both its application to the states and whether there will be a meaningfully strict standard of review remain to be decided by the High Court. Judge Sotomayor has already revealed her views on these issues and we believe they are contrary to the intent and purposes of the Second Amendment and Bill of Rights. As Second Amendment leaders deeply concerned about preserving all fundamental rights for current and future generations of Americans, we strongly oppose this nominee, and urge the Senate not to confirm Judge Sotomayor. Sincerely, Alan M. Gottlieb Chairman, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Joseph P. Tartaro President, Second Amendment Foundation Sandra S. Froman, Esq. Former President, National Rifle Association of America NRA Board of Directors and Executive Council Landis Aden President, Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association Scott L. Bach, Esq. President, Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs The Honorable Bob Barr Former Congressman, 7th District of Georgia NRA Board of Directors Ken Blackwell Senior Fellow, Family Research Council NRA Board of Directors Representative Jennifer R. Coffey Representative Jennifer R. Coffey, NREMT-I Representative, New Hampshire General Court Director and National Coordinator, Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. Advisor, New Hampshire Pro-Gun Advisory Council Robert K. Corbin, Esq. Former Attorney General, State of Arizona Former President of NRA and current member of NRA Executive Council Jim Dark Former Executive Director, Texas State Rifle Association NRA Board of Directors Tom Gresham Host of "Gun Talk" Nationally syndicated radio talk show Gene Hoffman, Jr. Chairman, The Calguns Foundation Susan Howard NRA Board of Directors Tom King President, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association NRA Board of Directors John T. Lee President, The Pennsylvania Rifle and Pistol Association Owen P. Buz Mills President, Gunsite Academy, Inc. NRA Board of Directors Evan F. Nappen, Esq. Corporate Counsel and Director, Pro-Gun New Hampshire, Inc. Grover G. Norquist President, Americans for Tax Reform NRA Board of Directors Sheriff Jay Printz Retired Sheriff and Coroner, Ravalli County, Montana Successful plaintiff in U.S. Supreme Court case Printz vs. U.S. NRA Board of Directors Todd J. Rathner President, T. Jeffrey Safari Company NRA Board of Directors Wayne Anthony Ross, Esq. President, Alaska Gun Collectors Association Former Attorney General, State of Alaska NRA Board of Directors Don Saba, Ph.D. Sierra Bioresearch NRA Board of Directors Robert E. Sanders, Esq. Former Assistant Director (Law Enforcement), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms NRA Board of Directors Jon A. Standridge Brigadier General (USA Ret.) Jim Wallace Executive Director, Gun Owners' Action League ** Current and past affiliations are for identification purposes only. Like all other threats against our freedoms, we must rise and defeat this nomination, slap it down hard. To stop Obama's backdoor anti-gun nomination and hold him to his promise that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms -- we need to let the U.S. Senate know with thousands of faxes telling them to leave guns alone. Americans like you who understand what our Founding Fathers envisioned for our nation...and who are willing to fight to defend our Constitution and for what it stands. So please, help the Citizens Committee and me defeat those who wish to gut and trash the United States Constitution. Help me flood the U.S. Senate with a sea of FAXES big enough to drown each and every Senator willing to vote away the Second Amendment. Keep calling your Senators today, toll free numbers include 1-877-851-6437 and 1-866-220-0044, or call toll 1-202-225-3121 AND REGISTER YOU'RE OUTRAGE at ongoing efforts to take guns away though the Supreme Court! CALL PRESIDENT OBAMA, 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414 expressing your disdain and ABSOLUTE REJECTION of all GUN BANS by nominating Sotomayor. DO NOT BE SILENCED - MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! NOTE: We need TENS OF THOUSANDS of faxes and PHONE CALLS and EMAILS delivered to ALL Senators right away! Together, we can preserve the Constitutional rights our Founding Fathers intended our people to have forever. For more information about CCRKBA go to http://www.ccrkba.org/ The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms 12500 NE Tenth Place Dept Code 2722 Bellevue, Washington 98004 With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org   Copyright © 2000-2009 Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. All Rights Reserved. CCRKBA Liberty Park 12500 N.E. Tenth Place Bellevue, WA 98005 Voice: 425-454-4911 Fax: 425-451-3959 Toll Free: 800-486-6963 email: AdminForWeb@ccrkba.org