Obama's Attorney General nominee

From Jeff Knox of the Firearms Coalition, via Ohioans for Concealed Carry:

Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Holder to be the Attorney General demands an immediate and unequivocal response from gunowners and rights advocates and that response should be “Absolutely Not!”

Holder’s appointment to be AG must be approved by the Senate. While it is highly unlikely that opponents could muster the 51 votes needed to reject Holder’s appointment, a single Senator can place a “hold” on the confirmation and effectively lock up the system just as Democrats did with a number of President Bush’s judicial appointments and the appointment of John Bolton to be Ambassador to the UN. Once a “Hold” has been placed, a supermajority of 60 votes is required to break the hold. With enough vocal opposition to Holder’s confirmation, Obama could be forced to withdraw the nomination and select someone else to be his AG. Even if opponents cannot successfully block Holder’s appointment, a strong and concerted effort to do so will go far toward warning the Obama administration and the new Congress against trying to interfere with the rights of Americans to own guns.

As Attorney General, Holder would command the massive and powerful Justice Department which now includes BATFE, and has the expanded powers bestowed by the poorly named “Patriot Act.” Holder could make minor modifications in the way certain laws and regulations are interpreted and broadly expand restrictions on importation, transfer, and possession of a variety of firearms, ammunition, and gun parts. He would be in charge of the records of NICS checks and could be expected to attempt to create a de facto registration system by circumventing the law mandating the destruction of those records upon completion of a legal transaction. Holder would be responsible for interpretation and enforcement of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and would also set official policy as to what the government believes the Second Amendment actually means and how it is to be enforced or prosecuted. Since Holder has long been an outspoken advocate for more restrictive and intrusive gun laws and was a cosigner of an amicus brief endorsing the “collective right” theory of the Second Amendment – a theory rejected by all 9 Supreme Court Justices – it can be expected that his official interpretation of the amendment would not be a favorable one.

Read the rest here.