Chelsea Clinton said her mother, if elected to nominate a liberal justice, can pursue gun control since conservative Justice Antonin Scalia is dead, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Speaking at a Hillary Clinton campaign event in Maryland on Thursday, the younger Clinton says the Supreme Court may be more receptive to gun control after the demise of Justice Scalia in February, who was an avid supporter of the Second Amendment, which states, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” She said her mother is “the only person running for president who… has a strong record on gun control.”
“It matters to me that my mom also recognizes the role the Supreme Court has when it comes to gun control. With Justice Scalia on the bench, one of the few areas where the Court actually had an inconsistent record relates to gun control.”
Chelsea said the high court sometimes upheld local and state gun control measures but struck down others under the Second Amendment. She then cited the Michael Bloomberg-funded Moms Demand Action and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, as the groups that stand with her mother in believing the court’s next post-Scalia gun ruling with a “definitive” one.
“So if you listen to Moms Demand Action and the Brady Campaign and the major efforts pushing for smart, sensible and enforceable gun control across our country, disclosure, (they) have endorsed my mom, they say they believe the next time the Court rules on gun control, it will make a definitive ruling,”
Closing loopholes that allow private gun sales online and at gun shows without a background check would save lives. pic.twitter.com/hTJxRD1FJl
— Moms Demand Action (@MomsDemand) April 21, 2016
She also said it matters to her that her mother is the only person running for president who not only constantly makes that connection but also has a strong record on gun control and standing up to the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Clinton, who is pregnant with her second child, further said while she always cared about gun control, the issue became more significant after she herself became a mother.
“This is one of those issues I didn’t know I could care more about until I became a mother. And I think every day about the Sandy Hook families whose children every day, don’t come home from school. And I can’t even imagine that living horror and tragedy.”
As the Washington Free Beaconobserves, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, have routinely fought over gun control measures during their campaigns. Clinton has an “F” rating from the NRA, and on many occasions she tried to hit the Vermont senator from the left during the campaign.
Earlier on Thursday, Hillary Clinton reached Hartford carrying her gun control message to a receptive audience as the Connecticut primary looms next Tuesday, warning political activists that they “need to keep gun control at the top of their list,” according to the Hartford Courant .
. @HilaryClinton sets sights on winning #CTPrimary by making #guncontrol center of conversation–> https://t.co/PnHZHgNOWl
— Brady | United Against Gun Violence (@bradybuzz) April 21, 2016
Antonin Scalia’s name became synonymous with the individual right to keep and bear arms after the release of his majority opinion for the decisive SCOTUS decision, District of Columbia v Heller (2008). On February 14 – the day after his death – Breitbart warned that his passing reset the Supreme Court’s opportunity to gut the Second Amendment .
“With Scalia’s death, the nine-justice SCOTUS is evenly divided our to four on whether the second amendment is a individual or collective right. Scalia’s replacement will either maintain the work he did to defend these rights as individual, or will declare those individual rights as collective rights, thereby gutting the Second Amendment.”
Spending the day in Maryland where it is the last day to vote early! Find your polling location here: https://t.co/ScPxen1xqp
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 21, 2016
Now Chelsea Clinton, 36, is trying to assure voters that her mom has no plan to simply let this opportunity for gun control legislation fade away. The Maryland’s primary is next Tuesday, April 26.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
