Trump’s latest supreme court pick could be the swing vote needed to tear down some of the remaining restrictions on gun rights in America, including giving citizens a constitutional right to carry a gun in public.
Gun control advocates also fear Brett Kavanaugh could push the supreme court to make it impossible to ban military-style “assault weapons”.
“We will be activating our members and tens of millions of supporters throughout the country in support of Judge Kavanaugh,” the National Rifle Association announced in a statement praising Trump’s choice.
A decade ago, the supreme court gave pro-gun advocates a sweeping victory with the Heller and McDonald decisions, which interpreted the second amendment as giving Americans an individual right to possess a gun “unconnected with service in a militia”. The decisions, which made local handgun bans unconstitutional, also reinforced that there were some limits to Americans’ gun rights.
Sign up to receive the top US stories every morningBut since Heller, the supreme court has largely avoided clarifying the scope of the second amendment, declining to hear challenges to stricter gun control laws, including state-level assault weapon bans, or laws in more liberal states like California and New Jersey which make it extremely difficult for citizens to get permits to carry guns in public.
While the federal assault weapons ban lapsed in 2004, seven American states and the District of Columbia currently have local assault weapon bans. Since the 14 February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 students and faculty members dead, some survivors and parents of victims are leading a push for reinstating the ban on certain military-style rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines at the federal level.
But Kavanaugh, who has written
