Thoughtful article on Barr’s responses regarding the Second Amendment at the confirmation hearing.
On January 15, just a little before 5 p.m. Senator John Cornyn asked Attorney General nominee William P. Barr about his views on the Second Amendment. The question and answer were recorded as part of C-SPAN coverage of the nomination process.
The question and answer, with some more commentary by Senator Cornyn occur from about 4:56:33 to 5:00:04 on the C-SPAN timer. There is a transcript on the C-SPAN link, but it has a few errors, perhaps introduced by the automated computer transcription process.
For example, the transcript misses the first half of Senator Cornyn’s opening sentence, where he says “Mr. Barr, I want to talk about guns,” I have created a more accurate transcript below. It can be checked by watching the video.
Starting about 4:56:33 on January 15, 2019 from c-span.org:
Senator John Cornyn from Texas:
“Mr Barr, I want to talk about guns, and I want to talk about China in the five minutes we have together. Back in 1992 there was some discussion about your position on Congress’ role when it comes to banning certain types of semi-automatic weapons, sometimes people call those “assault weapons”. But In the intervening years, the Supreme Court has now spoken, both in the Heller and McDonald cases, and recognized the Second Amendment confers an individual and fundamental right to bear arms.
Could you, sir, bring us up to date from your views in 1992, and how they were affected by Heller and McDonald, and what your views are now on the Second Amendment?”
The Hon. William P. Barr:
“Sure. I think I opposed an assault weapon ban because I felt that was really sort of the aesthetics of the gun.
Since that time Heller has been decided. Actually, before Heller, I did work on OLC on this issue, and I personally concluded that the Second Amendment creates a personal right, under the Constitution.
by Dean Weingarten
