WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 16, 2019) — Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) formally opposed President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General of the United States, William P. Barr. In correspondence to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham, FPC President Brandon Combs said that the “Attorney General of the United States should be someone who both understands and respects the fundamental nature of the right to keep and bear arms and other pre-existing rights.”

“Adding insult to injury,” the letter said, Mr. Barr testified in the hearing that he supports “Extreme Risk Protection Order” gun prohibition and confiscation laws, sometimes called “red flag” laws, and that, in his view, there is room for regulation of Second Amendment rights. Mr. Barr “went on to parrot the same arguments and talking points” used by anti-rights states attorneys general, local governments “like the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York,” and “billionaire-backed special interest organizations who support severe gun control laws,” explained FPC.

“This is a strong indicator that Mr. Barr, if confirmed, would not only maintain the DOJ’s troubling current litigation positions, but potentially even direct United States Attorneys and DOJ civil litigation counsel across the nation to take even more aggressively anti-rights, authoritarian positions in a wide variety of prosecutions and constitutional challenges. That is not the proper remedy for centuries of constitutional resistance and atrophy,” said the constitutional rights advocacy group.

“We believe that the views expressed by Mr. Barr disqualify him from serving as the Nation’s highest law enforcement officer,” they concluded. “The Constitution, the People of the United States, and law-abiding gun owners do not need another enemy.”

Individuals who oppose the confirmation of Mr. Barr may send the Senate a letter at www.OpposeBarr.com. People who oppose “red flag” laws can take action using FPC’s grassroots activism tools at www.firearmspolicy.org/act and www.FightRedFlagLaws.com.

Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. FPC advocates on a wide variety of important constitutional, legal, policy, and social issues, including free speech, due process, separation of powers, limitations on government action, and others. FPC works to advance individual liberty through programs including strategic litigation, legal action, direct and grassroots advocacy, research, education, and outreach.

Related