Gun Owners of America Opposes AG Nominee- - Group to Score Eric Holder Vote(Springfield, VA) -- Gun Owners of America is urging the U.S. Senatenot to confirm Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. GOA had been invited to submit testimony to testify, but ultimatelythe Committee chose not to allow a pro-Second Amendment organizationto testify in person. Below is GOA's written testimony prepared for the Eric Holderhearing. GOA also notified each Senator that it will score the voteon Holder (the only national gun rights group to do so) in theorganization's 2010 Congressional rating.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Testimony of John VellecoDirector of Federal Affairs, Gun Owners of AmericaBefore the Committee on the Judiciary, United States SenateJanuary 15, 2009Good morning Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Specter, and members ofthe Committee.For nearly 35 years, Gun Owners of America has been dedicated tolobbying in favor of the Second Amendment right to keep and beararms. On behalf of approximately 300,000 members across the country,I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today on thisimportant matter.Gun Owners of America believes that it would be a mistake for thisbody to confirm a nominee for U.S. Attorney General who would nothave the trust and confidence of a significant number of Americans,particularly sportsmen and gun owners.Eric Holder's record on gun rights issues is not obscure orinsignificant. Both in his capacity as Deputy Attorney General from1997-2001 and as an attorney in private practice, Mr. Holder hastaken positions on gun rights that are outside the mainstream ofAmerican thought and jurisprudence and, we would argue, at variancewith some of the views articulated by President-elect Obama duringthe campaign.While serving as Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder was active onseveral gun rights issues. In 1999, Mr. Holder supported legislationthat would have limited handgun purchases to one per month,instituted a 3-day waiting period for handgun purchases, made itillegal for adults under the age of 21 to possess a handgun,subjected licensed gun dealers to a host of new laws and gun showpromoters to regulations so severe that gun shows would effectivelyhave been banned.In a statement prior to an expected vote on the bill, Mr. Holderurged the Congress not to cave in to "the special interests thatvalue the cold hard steel of guns more than the lives of children,neighbors and police officers," and to pass the draconian guncontrol package. Nowhere in Mr. Holder's statement was any mentionmade of the hundreds of thousands of legitimate self-defense uses offirearms every year in America. When the gun control legislation stalled in the Congress, Mr. Holderparticipated in an effort to circumvent the legislative branch andenact gun control regulations through what many considered to belegislation by extortion. The Clinton Administration, through the Department of Housing andUrban Development (HUD), spearheaded a class action lawsuit usingfederally-funded housing authorities as plaintiffs. From the outset,it was clear that government officials were less interested inwinning the lawsuit then they were in getting firearms manufacturersto agree to specific regulations in a settlement. Even the Washington Post, which editorialized in favor ofcongressional action on the gun control measure, was sharply criticalof the lawsuit led by HUD. On December 17, 1999, the Post editorswrote: "That Congress has not been willing to [pass the gun controlbill] is no license for the administration to use the courts as analternative policymaking vehicle." Only one company settled with the government. At the ceremony for thesigning of the agreement, then-HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo thanked"ur friends at the Department of Justice, Deputy AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder," among the list of government officials whoaided the lawsuit. In the private sector, Mr. Holder continued to be a vocal advocatefor stricter gun control laws. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in an op-ed in the Washington Post,Mr. Holder stated that "Congress should also pass legislation thatwould give the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms a record ofevery firearm sale," in spite of laws in place that prohibit gunowner registration. Mr. Holder also pushed for greater restrictionson gun shows, even though the terrorists were armed with box cuttersthat could be purchased at any hardware store.Perhaps most disconcerting to Gun Owners of America is an actiontaken by Mr. Holder just last year. In an amicus brief before theSupreme Court in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, Mr. Holderand 12 other former Justice Department officials argued in favor ofthe gun ban in Washington D.C. The brief also took the position thatthe Second Amendment does not protect an individual right.President-elect Obama stated during the campaign that he believed theSecond Amendment protects an individual right. According to aFebruary, 2008, USA TODAY/Gallup poll and a June, 2008, Harris poll,the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that as well. The academic world also is increasingly supportive of the individualrights interpretation of the Second Amendment. Sanford Levinson andAkhil Reed Amar (Yale), William Van Alstyne (Duke) and Laurence Tribe(Harvard) are just a few notable examples of scholars who believe thatthe Second Amendment protects an individual right. These views, ofcourse, are in accord with what the Supreme Court eventually ruled inHeller.Eric Holder apparently disagrees with the incoming president and theSupreme Court on a core Constitutional issue. Gun Owners of Americabelieves that Mr. Holder should not, therefore, be entrusted with theresponsibility of enforcing and prosecuting federal laws that regulatethe possession, sale, and use of firearms.Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important matter.