Earlier this year America lost a lifelong guardian of the Constitution and our individual liberties. Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably one of the greatest Supreme Court justices in our history, was the pillar of constitutional conservatism, continually upholding and protecting the individual rights enumerated by the Founders while never overstepping his role as an interpreter of the law. His unique stance as a textualist, interpreting the Constitution as a fixed document whose meaning does not change over time, and an originalist, interpreting the meaning of the Constitution as it was intended, made him a trusted supporter of individual rights and a solid defender of the Second Amendment.
Justice Scalia’s dedication to individual rights, especially the individual right to bear arms, was best expressed in his eloquent opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. At the time, handguns were not permitted in Washington, D.C. without an annually renewed license and a requirement that the gun be disassembled while in the home. As a result, Dick Heller, a D.C. special police officer, was denied his right to have a handgun at home for self-defense. As an avid supporter of the Second Amendment — with a lifetime “A” rating from the NRA — I find it absurd that the law not only restricted a police officer’s ownership of a firearm, but also hindered Heller’s use of his gun for home protection by requiring it to be disassembled. Justice Scalia felt the same way. In his opinion striking down the law, Scalia restored our Constitutional right to possess and use firearms for lawful purposes, including self-defense.
I am a gun owner committed to the principles of self-government Justice Scalia defended. My time as Republican Leader of the state Assembly taught me that New York City liberals will stop at virtually nothing to curtail our gun rights in the name of their own amorphous concept of public safety. For instance, I consistently opposed efforts to ban so-called “assault weapons” — an early version of the disastrous SAFE Act. I said no to new and politically driven requirements on responsible gun owners to store their firearms in a government-approved manner or face criminal charges. As the first proponent of civil confinement for sexual predators in New York, I stood up for victims and side by side with law enforcement in the fight against sex crimes.
Following Justice Scalia’s passing, it is essential that we continue his work to restore judicial modesty and seek the appointment of justices who respect their duty to make objective decisions based solely on the text and intent of the Constitution. For years, our rights have been slowly chipped away through government overreach and oppressive regulation, often enabled by liberal, activist judges. Indeed, the Second Amendment isn’t the only part of the Constitution under attack by the political Left. There is also a widespread effort to actually amend the First Amendment to give the government more power to control free speech. This move would restrict the ability of organizations like the NRA to independently express opinions about candidates for office and allow the Left to control the political speech of groups they oppose. Defenders of the Second Amendment therefore should be just as worried about efforts to restrict the First Amendment as they are about the future of Justice Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller.
While I will work diligently to prevent such laws from being enacted, it is imperative that our judiciary adopt Justice Scalia’s vision of judicial restraint to restore our rights as they were intended. The Supreme Court is the last defense of the people, and must remain politically impartial while upholding the rights of citizens as originally set forth by the Founding Fathers.
I am deeply saddened by the passing of Justice Scalia. Not only was he a brilliant man and elegant writer, he was also the cornerstone of constitutional conservatism and individual rights. His protection of our Second Amendment rights is impressive and has created a precedent for future courts to embrace. Justice Scalia will be greatly missed.
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