Ammoland by by Dean Weingarten 1/17/2019
U.S.A. -(Ammoland.com)- 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 weaponsâ€. 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?â€
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.
It's based on the Lockean notion of the right of self-preservation. It's tied to that. I was glad to see Heller come out and vindicate that initial view that I had.
And so there is no question under Heller that the right to have weapons, firearms, is protected under the Second Amendment and is a personal right. At the same time there is room for reasonable regulation.
From my standpoint, what I would look for, in assessing a regulation, is what is the burden on law-abiding people and is it proportionate to whatever benefit, in terms of safety and effectiveness, will be conferred.
As I said, just a moment ago, lets get down to the real problem we are confronting, which is keeping these weapons out of the hands of people who are mentally ill. I think all the rest of this stuff is really, essentially rhetoric, until we get that problem dealt with; in terms of regulatory approaches.â€
This transcript ends about 4:59:35 on January 15, 2019. Senator Cornyn has some additional commentary after that.
A short analysis of Mr. Barr's Second Amendment testimony:
More:
https://www.ammoland.com/2019/01/ag-nominee-william-barr-on-second-amendment-during-confirmation-hearings/#axzz5d47hwHHg