The nation’s two largest “no compromise” pro-gun groups are urging every U.S. Senator to oppose and vote against the nomination of William Barr as the next U.S. Attorney General, claiming a long history of hostile opposition to gun rights.
Both Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights are warning senators, and their combined six million supporters, Barr is a setback to a time when Establishment Republicans colluded with radical Democrats to lock up gun owners and confiscate firearms.
Barr was previously Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush.
“We knew Barr held anti-gun positions during the 1990s when he first served as Attorney General, and apparently he’s expanded those unconstitutional views,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights.
“During his confirmation hearing yesterday Barr admitted he favors so-called ‘red flag’ gun confiscation orders and that we should use them to expand gun control in the United States. He even got a firm agreement from Dianne Feinstein — one of the worst anti-gun Senators on Capitol Hill,” said Brown.
“When Barr was first nominated for Attorney General in 1991, he testified that he supported gun magazine bans, an ‘assault weapons’ ban, and expanding the Brady registration scheme,” NAGR notes. “All of these legislative proposals are unconstitutional and fly directly in the face of the original reading of the Second Amendment.”
Both NAGR and GOA are warning senators of Barr’s support for so-called “red flag laws,” which allow police to conduct armed no-knock raids on the homes of law-abiding gun owners to confiscate weapons, based on nothing more than anonymous tips making unsubstantiated claims the gun owner poses a threat.
One “red flag” raid that ended in the shooting of a Maryland gun owner was traced back to a call from a distant family member with a grudge.
“We need an Attorney General who will fight to protect the Second Amendment and encourage the Justice Department to protect the due process rights of Americans, not eviscerate them. It’s clear that William Barr has not changed his views, and instead, doubled down in support for gun control. Any Senator who considers themselves pro-gun must vote against William Barr.”
“Gun owners are very disappointed that President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General is a committed, gun control advocate. Barr says that the ‘single most important thing’ he can do in the area of gun control is to support Red Flag Gun Confiscation Orders, which have already resulted in the death of an innocent gun owner in Maryland,” said GOA Executive Director Erich Pratt.
“GOA will be urging Senators to oppose the nomination of William Barr when he is voted on in committee — and on the Senate floor,” said Pratt.
NAGR is the nation’s second largest pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members and supporters nationwide. GOA, active since 1975 and considered along with NAGR to be the most effective of the “no compromise” pro-gun groups, has 1.5 million members and supporters.