The U.S. Supreme Court is now a sinister subsidiary of the NRA

EJ Montini, Arizona Republic
·3 min read
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Back in 2008, the most intelligent and conservative justice then on the U.S. Supreme Court, the late-Antonin Scalia, was asked at a gathering of students what he thought of justices who base their interpretations of the law and the U.S. Constitution on their personal opinions.

Scalia answered, “I am a textualist, I am an originalist. I am not a nut.”

He got a big laugh from the audience.

Well, no one is laughing now.

These days, the majority of the nine justices on the court are nuts.

Particularly gun nuts.

Supreme Court issues a 'reprehensible' decision

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney protests gun violence June 8 outside the Supreme Court in Washington.
The Rev. Patrick Mahoney protests gun violence June 8 outside the Supreme Court in Washington.

And they proved it on Thursday, issuing a 6-3 ruling making it easier for individuals to carry weapons in our most densely populated cities and states.

It is a ruling issued not long after massacres at a Texas elementary school and a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store. And when the nation is experiencing record levels of gun violence.

The decision comes from a challenge to New York’s requirements for carrying weapons in public.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reacted by saying, “This decision isn’t just reckless, it’s reprehensible. It’s not what New Yorkers want. And we should have the right of determination of what we want to do in terms of our gun laws in our state.”

What we’re learning from the current makeup of the court is that the notion of states’ rights only applies to states philosophically aligned with the court’s majority.

Which means that the bipartisan gun safety legislation being finalized in the U.S. Senate on Thursday could not come at a better time.

Senate bill is not a solution, but it's a start

The new law is not by any means a solution.

But it’s a start.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the Republicans supporting the bill, said, “Our colleagues have put together a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The GOP members supporting the legislation are taking a beating from the gun lobby and from colleagues in the gun lobby’s pocket. The National Rifle Association has expressed its opposition, even though, as McConnell said, the proposal doesn’t infringe on Second Amendment rights.

And hopefully, some of the bill’s provisions will help quell a bit of the gun violence.

NRA, gun lobby want us to do nothing

It includes expanded background checks for gun buyers between 18 and 21.

It protects domestic abuse victims and allows for “red flag” laws that would remove weapons from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.

And it increases the prison sentences for “straw buyers,” individuals who purchase weapons for those who shouldn’t have them.

What it doesn’t do is institute universal background checks for every gun purchase or restrict the purchase of assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.

It is, however, better than nothing.

Although nothing is just what the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby want.

And now that the Supreme Court is, essentially, a subsidiary of the NRA, they might just get it.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: U.S. Supreme Court is now a sinister subsidiary of the NRA