Issue Position: The Second Amendment

Issue Position

I am a proud supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. I was proud to receive the endorsement of Western Pennsylvania's leading Second Amendment organization, Firearm Owners Against Crime, in 2010.

It is clear what our Founding Fathers intended, as evidenced by James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, in his Federalist Paper No. 46, "The advantage of being armed … the Americans possess over the people of all other nations …. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several Kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."

Recently, in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) case the Supreme Court concluded that the Second Amendment does establish an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. I will pledge not to abridge that right, and I will do everything within my power to ensure that these rights are not abridged either through legislative or judicial means.

In addition, I recognize that judicial activists may one day attempt to undermine our Second Amendment rights by trying to rely on the development of law of other nations. To safeguard against this threat, I will introduce a constitutional amendment that expressly prohibits the courts of the United States from relying on or citing any foreign law in the adjudication of constitutional rights that arise under the United States Constitution

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