I just wrapped up a great meeting with Chairman Grassley. I look forward to working with the Chairman throughout this nomination process. pic.twitter.com/o9tiZgS9QZ
— Pam Bondi (@PamBondi) December 2, 2024
“GOA just got word that the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing next week for Pam Bondi,” Gun Owners of America’s Erich Pratt wrote in a Friday National Alert.
“Overall, her track record of protecting the Second Amendment can be described, at best, as a mixed bag,” Pratt advises. That’s an understatement.
Pam Bondi has praised the Parkland gun control – which included “red flag” gun confiscation orders, a gun ban for 18-20 year olds, and a useless bump stock ban. In her capacity as Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi both defended Parkland’s 18-20 year old gun ban AND fought to uphold Florida’s unconstitutional ban on open carry. Pam Bondi also helped unrepentant then-Governor Rick Scott draft a “gun violence restraining order” – a.k.a. a gun confiscation law in Florida.
A mixed bag?” If she were a Democrat, she’d be scorched as a gun-grabber.
“[W]e need YOU to contact your Senators and urge them to demand answers from Pam Bondi so gun owners know exactly where she stands on the Second Amendment,” Pratt tells supporters, linking to a contact form for senators, with tailored letters written for Republicans and Democrats, although what good the latter will do when sent to confirmed prohibitionists in “safe” seats remains unexplained.
I went ahead and filled in my contact information, and it sent a prewritten appeal letter. In addition, I respectfully submit not an alternative, but a supplement to GOA’s campaign.
I believe in asking political candidates and nominees specific questions that demand unequivocal answers (because even the most rabid gun prohibitionist will tell you “I believe in the Second Amendment” before showing everyone their big “but”). That doesn’t mean they won’t lie through their teeth, but it does mean an undeniable record will be created to hold them to — and show them for what they are if they renege on job interview commitments.
Questions I would ask Bondi are essentially the same as those submitted to Republican presidential hopefuls in 2023, further tailored to elicit explanations about past anti-gun actions and if any of her positions have changed, with a couple of additions relevant to the position she’s applying for:
- Will you promote and defend all federal infringements in court the same way you did state infringements when you were Florida AG, and prosecute “violators,” or will you acknowledge any as indefensibly unconstitutional? Which ones?
- Will you rein in ATF and other agency rulemaking that infringes on the right of the people to keep and bear arms? How?
- Will you defend the Second Amendment against state infringements, the same way the Justice Department has defended other civil rights against being denied under color of authority?
I’m under no illusions that the Senate Judiciary Committee will ask such questions if they hope to see a floor vote that will pass (which, if you think about it, tells us all we need to know about our current government). I present them here as a by-no-means-complete list of what representatives who take their oaths seriously should want to know. Not nailing them all down with specifics is one of the reasons betrayals come so easy to so many.
I am still hoping this is something Donald Trump can be pressed on if he ever acknowledges the much-ballyhooed “Gun Owners for Trump” as more than a campaign ploy. That’s why I’ve been advocating replacing Joe Biden’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, headed by Vice President Kamala Harris, with a counterpart of equal stature, an Office of Second Amendment Protection, a group that will have the president’s ear that is comprised of “gun rights” leaders and headed by Vice President JD Vance.
I’m sending these questions to them anyway, at least to Senate Judiciary Republicans and Chairman Chuck Grassley (approaching violence monopolist Democrats is just a waste of time) with a public appeal to their X account, and suggest others who believe in the uninfringed Second Amendment do the same — either with these questions or questions of your own.
You’ll be able to watch the Bondi nomination hearing Wednesday, January 15th, beginning at 9:30am from the Hart Senate Office Building Room 216, and scheduled to continue the 16th. It’s fair to wonder what, if anything, they’ll ask her about the right to keep and bear arms, and if anyone will have the principles to play hardball or just lob a softball or two.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
What I am expecting in few days is total dissolution of the ATF and the CWP reciprocity in all the States to include our next to be 51st. I don’t trust Pam at all for what she did in Florida withholding the open carry and believing in the ridiculous “red flags”. Hope to see her been questioned but for the purpose to nominate a real 2nd Amendment patriot
Why does anybody expect a candidate to be “truthful” (your desired truthful, not theirs) in these hearings? She’s an attorney, and having studied some law in college, I can tell you there are two standard attorney answers for any question:
1. It depends.
And
2. If those are the only facts, then “X”, but should even one fact change, even a little, then my answer will be different.
I wonder if the Cross around her neck is something she always wears, or if it’s just a prop, for photo ops?
I was hopeful at first, that this time, Trump would’ve learned about his past mistakes with 2A. But as soon as I heard he’d picked Bondi, I lost all hope.
GOA must be trying the walk the line, as there’s so many gun owners out there who truly worship Trump.
“the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is”
Horatio Bunce
Thank You Mr Codrea, for saying things that need to be said. A pretty face does not equal a friend to 2A. Look at Kirsten Gillibrand. In the US House, she was pro-2A. In the Senate, she has been our bitter enemy. I do not trust Bondi to do what is right or Constitutional by 2A.