I had the pleasure to have led the fight that tossed Chief Justice Rose Bird and two of her cronies off of the California Supreme Court. The liberal media screamed bloody murder over that event, much to my satisfaction. It is my firm belief that the media attacks on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay are similar proof of his effectiveness and the righteousness of his approach.

He has brought needed attention for the need to impeach judges when they depart from their oath of office. When they do that they subvert the rule of law to that of the rule of men.

As DeLay has so correctly pointed out, an independent judiciary is not the same as a pack of judicial activists behaving as if they were legislators with lifetime appointments.

Gun Owners of America and its 300,000 membership, is very concerned with the increasing trend of the Supreme Court to openly celebrate that their decisions are based on foreign law. The most recent outrage was the overturning of capital punishment for thugs who premeditatedly commit murder (Roper v. Simmons). Foreign law almost never supports the right to keep and bear arms. Unless the majority on the Supreme Court is made accountable and/or replaced, it is easy to imagine a ruling by the Court that guts the Second Amendment.

We were particularly offended that Democrats such as Senators Kennedy and Lautenberg would suggest that your call for judicial accountability was tantamount to a call to murder these judges. If that outrageous slander is allowed to stand, then a call by Gun Owners of America’s Political Victory Fund to defeat anti-gun politicians could easily be viewed as a terrorist threat.

We stand solidly behind DeLay and want his enemies to know that he can count on Gun Owners of America’s active support.

Sen. H. L. Richardson (Ret.) is Chairman and Founder of Gun Owners of America.