Gun control and the 2nd Amendment are lightning-rod issues that Democrats would just as soon avoid. Seizing on that, Republicans during this session of Congress have brought up gun rights whenever possible.
The GOP criticism of Sotomayor centers on the three-judge ruling that upheld New York's law forbidding the use or possession of a popular gang weapon known as a nunchaku, saying, "It is settled law . . . that the 2nd Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose on this right," they said, citing an 1886 Supreme Court ruling.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, June 26, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Sonia Sotomayor: An article in Thursday's Section A about Republicans attacking a gun rights ruling by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor misspelled the last name of Daniel Vice, a lawyer with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, as Vise.
Sessions said Wednesday that the panel went out of its way to make its views on the 2nd Amendment clear, saying Sotomayor used language "that was not necessary to decide the case in front of her."
On June 2, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals took the same tack in upholding a ban on handguns in Chicago. In April, however, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said that gun possession is a fundamental right under the Constitution.
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joliphant@tribune.com
david.savage@latimes.com
