Here’s How Kavanaugh Could Deal a Big Blow to Gun Control
A leading gun control advocate explains what we know about his stances and how he could expand gun rights.
What we know about his stances is through the opinions he’s issued on assault weapons. A challenge to DC’s ban on assault weapons went before him and two other judges—all three were [appointed by] Republicans. The panel split 2-1 to uphold the law, with Judge Kavanaugh as the dissenter. He thinks assault weapons are within the scope of the Second Amendment, which puts him way out of step with the Supreme Court and circuit courts that have considered this issue. [The Second Amendment] protects the kinds of weapons that were “in common use at the time”—in 1791, when the Second Amendment was adopted. Those are [former Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia’s words. Judge Kavanaugh just uses the first part of that phrase, “in common use” and leaves out the “at the time” part.
For years, around the time that the Heller decision came down—which was almost exactly 10 years ago—everyone was talking about “What does “well-regulated militia’ mean?” in the Second Amendment. Going forward, I think we’re going to be talking about, “What does ‘in common use at the time’ mean?”
