Constitutional rights don’t come with an ‘if’

Constitutional rights don’t come with an ‘if’


“I think she’s let the cat out of the bag,” observes Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, referring to Clinton’s eye-opening interview on “This week.”  


Constitutional rights don’t come with an ‘if’

A gun-rights group is warning that Hillary Clinton has made it clear she’s an enemy of the Second Amendment. 

“I think she’s let the cat out of the bag,” observes Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, referring to Clinton’s eye-opening interview on “This week.”  

During the June 4 interview with George Stephanopoulos, Clinton refused to say if gun ownership is a constitutional right. 

“If it is a constitutional right,” she told Stephanopoulos, then it’s “subject to reasonable regulations.”

Although Stephanopoulos has been criticized for his ties to the Clinton’s, he pushed Hillary Clinton to answer his question – twice.

“Do you believe that an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right, that it’s not linked to service in a militia?” he first asked.

But the Democratic presidential candidate dodged the direct question, describing a “nuanced reading” of the Second Amendment “until the decision by the late Justice Scalia,” a likely reference to the Heller decision in 2008 that was hailed by Second Amendment advocates.

Stephanopoulos continued to push for a direct answer, however, mentioning Heller and its allowance for restrictions on gun ownership. 

“But that’s not what I asked,” he said. “I said do you believe their conclusion that an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right?”

That’s when Clinton answered the second time, beginning with “if.”

“Hillary Clinton wavers on Second Amendment right to bear arms,” the reliably liberal Washington Post reported after the interview.

The interview was noticed by Gun Owners and others concerned about the Second Amendment and the November presidential election.

At Reason.com, senior editor Jacob Sullum analyzed Clinton’s campaign website and its treatment of the Second Amendment. He notes that the Democratic Party platform has recognized the Second Amendment in past years and contrasts that recognition with Clinton’s “deliberately evasive approach” during her campaign.

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