WEBVTT - Out of Control Gun Control 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.720 Last Thursday night, in this incredible term for the Supreme Court, 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.280 we had just gotten a major ruling on the Second Amendment. 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.080 So Senator Cruz and I sat down middle of the night. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.360 He had just come from the Senate, from the Capitol, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:18.479 and we were discussing this issue from the Court, what's 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.919 going on with the legislators trying to pass gun control. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.479 And the very next morning we got the ruling in Dabbs, 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.040 the most important Supreme Court decision, certainly of my lifetime, 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:28.960 one of the most important ever in the history of 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.400 the United States. And so we came out emergency episode, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.640 breaking news, Verdict episode. But we still want to bring 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.560 this to you. This is still incredible news. While Dabbs 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.920 is the big headline, there are so many other great 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:42.760 things that have come out of this Court term. So 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.199 without further ado, here is our discussion of the Second Amendment. 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.440 A major loss for Second Amendment rights and a major 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.040 win for Second Amendment rights, all in the same day, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.800 and in true Verdict style. It is the middle of 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.440 the night. Senator Cruz is coming straight off the Senate floor. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:11.560 This is Verdict with Ted Cruise. This episode, a Verdict 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.640 with Ted Cruise is brought to you by American Hartford Gold. 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Now, 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.040 if you go to my uurl that is genu cell 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.240 dot com slash cactus, you can get up to fifty 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.240 percent off Genia Cell's new ultra retinal serum. That is 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.200 fifty percent off if you go to genu cell dot 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.679 com slash cactus. It's spelled g n u cel dot 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.040 com slash cactus, genua cell dot com slash cactus. Welcome 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.160 back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, and 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:45.600 I am totally cheating this time because it is Thursday 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.240 evening right now when we are filming this, and it 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.520 is a lovely nine thirty pm where I am here 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.920 in California, Senator. For you, it is after midnight, you've 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.440 just come off the Senate floor and we're about to 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.800 start a show. You know, it really feels like we're 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:06.040 reliving our past, our origin story. I think all verdicts 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.360 ought to be filmed after midnight, and the show would 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.760 get much better if we did a tequila shot after 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.600 every topic. Well, I did want to take some tequila 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.000 shots after I saw the machinations, and the Senate today 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.599 and the Democrats and the squishes pushing gun control. You 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.720 saw it a lot closer than I did. What happened, 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.160 you know, today was a really frustrating day. Today the 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.119 United States Senate passed the most significant gun control bill 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.479 since nineteen ninety four. And it's even more frustrating. So 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.160 in the last podcast, we talked about the broader issues. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.520 But I told you then that I would have more 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.120 to say in the hours and days coming forward. Well 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.720 earlier this week, in fact, right after the last podcast, 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.080 I introduced my own legislation, and my own legislation. I 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:02.360 teamed up with John Barrasso, who is the number three 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.520 Republican in the in the conference leadership. He is the 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.920 senator from Wyoming. Great guy, great friend, great conservative. Actually 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.000 we've had John Barrasso on the show, That's right, a 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.520 former guest on Verdict. Yes, So we teamed up and 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.200 introduced legislation that was called Cruz Barrasso. By any measure, 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:26.320 the legislation I introduced and I fought for, would do 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.520 much much more, would be much more effective, was much 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.760 more serious in stopping mass murders and stopping mass shootings 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.719 and keeping our kids safe, and yet every single Democrat 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.800 lined up against it, and they said, we don't want 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.080 to double the number of cops in schools, We don't 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.760 want to prosecute gun criminals. Instead, our objective is to 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:53.080 meet our political priorities of restricting the Second Amendment rights 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:57.080 of law abiding citizens. It's really frustrating and it's maddening. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.919 So you come up with the legislation with John Barosso, 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.760 and you you bring it in, you introduce it into 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.839 the Senate, and then while you're waiting for Chuck Schumer 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:11.000 to come sign on as a co sponsor, because this 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.920 basic stuff. If Democrats really wanted to solve this, then 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.760 they would they would do it. Meanwhile, the Democrats are 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.240 picking off fourteen Republicans to support their legislation, which, whatever 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.800 you think about gun control, is just far less relevant 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.840 to these actual shootings than legislation like yours would be. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:34.000 And then the legislation that the Democrats proposed passes the Senate. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.080 So it's done, right, it's it's over. It's going to 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.120 go to Biden's desk, and then it's going to go 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.160 It has to go to the House next, but the 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.120 House is expected to take it up in the House, 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.240 I will pass it, so it will go to Biden's desk, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.000 but the House has to pass it first, and the 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.000 Democrats there are going to support it. And look, the 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.880 Democrats understand, this is the camel's nose under the tent. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.040 The provision in this bill that is the most problematic 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.360 is the red flag provision. So this this bill provides 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.520 significant federal funding for states to pass so called red 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.279 flag laws. And the problem is red flag laws really 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:13.160 can invite abuse because they're a mechanism to take away 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.000 the guns from law abiding citizens. And it varies state 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.640 by states, but we've seen some blue states enact red 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.280 flag laws where they can take away your guns with 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.800 little to no due process, with to know judicial protection. Now, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.800 the Second Amendment is not just some sort of privilege 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:36.640 that various political communities have decided to pass. The Second 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.040 Amendment is a constitutional right. The right to keep in 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.560 bear arms. No matter what you think of it is 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.280 a basic civil right. So my question is, how can 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:51.520 the Democrats and these fourteen Republicans lower the threshold so 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.440 much to deprive someone of their basic civil rights? And 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.840 will this if it's challenged in court, would would this 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:02.160 kind of legislation be overruled. So it depends the Democrats 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.880 by and large don't care. And more and more Congressional 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.120 Democrats are becoming quite candid that their objective is gun confiscation, 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.679 that they want to take guns away from the American people. 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.840 They used to hide that. More and more Democrats are 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.120 being very open. Beto O'Rourke famously said, hell, yes, we're 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.600 going to take your R. Fifteen. I mean, they're yes, 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.720 embracing it. Justice John Paul Stevens, a lion of the left, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.000 wrote an op ed saying we should repeal the Second Amendment. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.720 That is more and more becoming The position of the 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.520 hard left is, screw the Second Amendment, we want your guns. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.160 With Republicans, it's more complicated a number of Republicans. So 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.800 we had at lunch today with the Senate Republicans. We 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.880 had a hot lunch. It's it's as hot as an 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.200 AI can remember in years. People were angry and yelling 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.920 at each other. This this this look. It's an emotional issue. 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.760 It's a divisive issue on the question of red flag laws. 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.720 What the defenders of this bill we're saying as well, gosh, 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:07.280 no courts have struck down the state laws as being unconstitutional. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:12.960 No courts have concluded that they don't adequately protect due process. Well, look, 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.040 there are lots of things that are unconstitutional that have 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.160 yet to be adjudicated. And if your standard is whatever 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.960 New York or Connecticut does is just oki doki by me, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.880 unlessen until a court structs it strikes it down, you're 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:32.360 on pretty dangerous territory. So I found that argument particularly unpersuasive. 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.040 We heard, we have heard in the Judiciary Committee significant 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.840 testimony about how these laws have been abused. And one 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.480 of the things I said on the Senate floor is, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.040 as a consequence of this bill tonight, we will see 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.440 people assaulted and lose their life. So we had a 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.960 big argument today at lunch over my amendment. So we 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.440 started the day with me being told by multiple senators, Oh, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:01.040 Chuck Schumer is going to schedule a vote on your amendment. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.120 He's agreed. We're gonna have one amendment. It's your amendment. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.200 It's the cruise barosso amend. We're gonna vote on that 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:11.000 and then we'll be done. And at lunch several of 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.199 my colleagues asked, Okay, is your amendment? Is it simply 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.360 an addition to this bill adding new provisions, or is 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.560 it a substitute. A substitute is delete what you got 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.880 and replace it with this right, And I said, guys, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.480 it's a substitute. I don't like what you're doing. What 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.920 you're doing is bad. It's a bad bill. It undermines 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.960 the Second Amendment. So I don't want to add my 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.480 bill to yours and undermine the Second Amendment and do 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.559 something good. I'd just like to do something good. I'd 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.720 like us actually to pass a straight up bill going 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:48.160 after criminals and keeping people safe. I will tell you 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.760 my Republican colleagues who are in support of this bill 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.760 were furious. That was the cause of much of the 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.640 fireworks at lunch, as they're like, we don't want to substitute. 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.520 We want you just to just add our bill, add 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.080 your bill ours, and we'll be fine with it. In 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.200 your estimation, Senator, I don't want to make you play 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.640 psychobabble or anything like that. But is your read from 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.520 your squishier colleagues who backed the DEM's gun control bill. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.040 Is your read that they did it for political reasons 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.880 to appease their purple or blue constituencies, or did they 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.160 do it because of conviction, because they think it's actually 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.800 good to take away guns from more Americans. Oh look, 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.440 there were a number of them from pretty red states 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.080 that weren't from blue or purple states. I don't know. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:37.880 I'm not an armchair shrink. I think it is consistently 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.160 the case that when a Republican compromises with the Democrats 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.160 and does what the Democrats want, that the press will 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.400 praise them. It's an easy path. If you want the 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.800 press to call you a statesman, just do what the 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.480 Democrats want, and as a Republican, it's simple. One hundred 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.600 percent of the time you give into the Democrats, the 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.360 press says, oh, you're so wise, you're so enlightened. And 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.640 it's a pattern we see over and over again. You know, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:04.599 you think about this bill. This is a bill that 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.800 united all the Democrats. Every Democrat voter for this bill, 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.280 the most left wing Democrats happily voted for this bill, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.360 and less than a third of the Republicans voted for 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.239 this bill. More than a few of us were asking 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.920 of our leadership, why are we teeing up a bill 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.120 that unites all the Democrats and divides the Republicans and 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.679 makes us fight with each other. I get by this 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:29.840 makes sense for Chuck Schumer, Why does this make sense 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.880 for us? But when I said my amendment is going 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.160 to be a substitute, I'm not willing to just rubber 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.160 stamp what you're doing. It made the proponents of the 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:43.240 bill pretty angry, and Schuber ended up saying no amendments 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:47.280 at all, and so he blocked amendments. Now, the way 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.320 you block amendments, and let's get into a little bit 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.800 of our kne Senate procedure. When you have a bill 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.760 pending on the floor, there is what's called the amendment tree, 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.360 which is there are open slots for amendments. And what 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.160 Schumer did is what's called filling the tree, which is 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.000 he brings up the bill, then he files an amendment, 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.280 he files another amend and he fills the legs on 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:13.040 the tree. And typically the blocking amendment is something really 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.800 minor and inconsequential. It's something like changing a date from 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.400 September first to September second. I mean, it doesn't matter 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.040 what it is. It's just an amendment to block that 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.320 slot so no one else can file an amendment. So 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:32.640 because Schumer refused to allow any amendments, what I did 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:37.920 tonight is I exercised the prerogatives of a senator to 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.400 move to table a pending amendment, and in particular, I 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:46.440 moved to table Schumer's amendment that was filling the tree, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.000 that was blocking the tribe. And under Senate rules, a 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.160 motion to table an amendment is a privileged motion with 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.640 no debate, that forces a vote. So it was a 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.480 way for me to force a vote. And I stood 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.679 up and said, look, I moved to table this in 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.760 order to force a vote on Cruiz Barosso. And this 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.120 is a chance for everyone here to decide which one 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:10.840 you want. Do you want to pass a bill that 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.560 is serious about going after violent criminals, about locking up 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.520 gun criminals, and that provides much much more funds and 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.720 resources to make schools safe, to double the number of 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:25.480 cops in schools to protect our kids. Or do you 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.880 want to pass a political bill that satisfies the partisan 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.280 urges of the Democrats. That's your choice. That's what we 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.680 voted on tonight, and unfortunately that vote failed. We got 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.960 a total of thirty nine votes to table the amendment, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:48.240 which meant all the Democrats and eight Republicans voted to 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:53.320 block any more amendments to prevent consideration of the serious 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:57.640 legislation that actually would put real resources on the table 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.720 to stop violent crime. So that means that six Republicans 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:06.800 backed the Democrats gun control bill but also didn't didn't 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:11.280 try to shoot down your amendment. Correct a way to 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:12.920 sort of split the baby there, But I guess we'll 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:14.920 take what we can get. Yeah, we picked off about 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.360 half the Republicans who were supporting this, and so that 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.760 was that was an incremental benefit. And by the way, look, 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:27.800 I'll also say we were working with gun rights groups 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:33.240 so that the NRA actively supported my amendment and publicly 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.640 urged Senators to vote for it. Why because it targets 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.600 the bad guys, it targets criminals. It actually focuses on 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:45.280 how you stop gun crimes rather than disarming law abiding citizens. 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:52.880 But unfortunately, a majority of the Senate wanted to go 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.320 down a political road instead. So the Democrats run the Senate, 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.840 so the Democrats get their way on their gun bill. 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:03.560 The Democrats do generally do not run the Supreme Court. 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:08.440 We have a vaguely conservative, vague majority on the Court, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.840 and the Court handed down a major victory for the 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.640 Second Amendment today. That was the New York Rifle and 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:20.000 Pistol Association versus Bruin, And it was a case that 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:26.080 decided whether and how New Yorkers are allowed to keep 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.440 and bear arms. Could you describe a little bit about 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.880 the case. Sure, it's a big case. It is a 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.240 big victory, and it is caused for celebration. So New 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.520 York has in place a law that severely restricts the 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.520 ability of New Yorkers to carry a firearm outside the home. So, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.000 if you want to conceal carry a handgun, New York 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.000 had a handful of very narrow circumstances in which you 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.720 were allowed to do it, but as a practical matter, 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.119 you couldn't. It was illegal to carry a firearm outside 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.840 your home. So if you're on the subway, if you 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.840 want to protect yourself, New York made it illegal to 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.119 do that. This was a lawsuit saying, look, making it 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.360 illegal to protect yourself, it's contrary to the Second Amendment, 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.439 which says the right to keeping bear arms shall not 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.359 be infringed. The Supreme Court agreed. The decision is six three, 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.560 so it was a big majority decision. Justice Clarence Thomas 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.960 wrote the majority, it's a fantastic majority opinion, and it 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.760 vigorously gave life to the Second Amendment, and it said, look, 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.960 you've got a right to protect your own life. The 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.800 Second Amendment. It's not about hunting, it's not about skeet shooting, 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.880 it's not about recreational use of firearms. The Second Amendment 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.600 is about the fundamental right you have, you, Michael Knowles, 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.879 to defend your life, to protect your life, and to 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:50.879 defend your family. And that right of life and self defense, 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.760 the ability to both keep and to bear arms, to 0:17:55.960 --> 0:18:00.320 carry them with you to protect yourself is fundamental. And 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.679 the Supreme Court said restrictions that are not in the 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.800 tradition of what has been allowed with the right to 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:12.800 keep in bear arms are beyond what is allowed under 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.439 the Constitution. It was a big, big victory. I remember 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.000 when I was living in New York, I did a 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.840 little research to see what it would take to allow 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.800 me to carry a weapon. Even just to have a 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.240 weapon in my apartment. It was difficult enough, but to 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.159 carry a weapon outside of my apartment, and it was 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.960 it was virtually impossible. And in the law at issue here, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.080 New York decided that you had to prove that you 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:41.560 had a cause to have to keep in bear this weapon, 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.800 and it would it would seem to me that the 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.080 cause would be the government's trying to take away my 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.600 Second Amendment rights. That would seem to be a sufficient 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.000 cause to exercise my Second Amendment rights. Will this have 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.800 ripple effects around the rest of the country, So it will. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.800 I think you will see litigation against other significant constraints 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:01.560 the right to keep in bare arms. And I think 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:06.720 you will see gun grabbing restriction struck down. The left 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.639 wants to make it hard, if not impossible, for you 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.359 to protect yourself. And I think this decision, this decision 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:19.160 is the biggest Second Amendment decision since Heller versus District Columbia, which, 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.359 as you know, I led a coalition of states in 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.600 Heller defending the Second Amendment right to keep in bear arms. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.800 That was a landmark five four decision. Antonin Scalia wrote 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.600 the opinion. It's probably the finest majority opinion. Justice Scalia 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.760 ever wrote. In this case, I led an amicus brief 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:43.600 for twenty four senators defending the Second Amendment right to 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:45.480 keep in bare arms. So we filed a brief of 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.600 the court, and the court agreed with us. The Court 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.600 agreed with us down the line that the right to 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.800 keeping bare arms is real, it's significant, it's meaningful, it 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:55.800 needs to be protected. And you know, the Bill of 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.960 Rights is not optional. It's not a recommendation. If you 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.960 don't agree with it, who cares? It is in the Constitution. 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.600 If you don't agree with it, try to amend the Constitution. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.520 But you don't get to ignore it just because you'd 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:10.439 like to ignore it. And so I think this was 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:15.000 a big decision and a really important long term victory 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.040 for the Second Amendment. I will tell you something amazing. 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:23.400 So imagine for a second, Michael, that you're the lawyer 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.320 who argues the New York case wins a six three 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:34.160 landmark case defending a constitutional right. Imagine you are also 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.240 a partner at a law firm who's just one a 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:40.280 landmark victory at the Supreme Court. What do you think 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.280 the reward and the response from your law firm would 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.080 be and should be. I would imagine I should get 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.280 a big, fat, gigantic bonus. I think I should get 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.200 an upgrade to my office if I'm in some little 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.399 kind of I'd like that corner office now, maybe a 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:01.639 nice leather chair into coco bolo desk, that's what I 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.280 would expect. Look, all of that makes sense, and you 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.439 got it almost exactly right. What happened in this case 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.119 is the lawyer who argued the case was Paul Clement. 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.520 He was the former Solicitor General of the United States. Paul, 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.760 someone I know very well, is an incredibly talented advocate. 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.040 He won six to three. He was a partner at 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.440 Kirkland and Ellis, and immediately after the decision came down, 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:29.199 Kirkland fired he was fired. They fired him, and they 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.280 fired Aaron Murphy, who was also his partner. What the 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:36.320 law firm said is, we have decided we are no 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.200 longer willing to defend the Second Amendment. So you, Paul 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.760 and you Aaron, have a choice. Fire your client, who 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.639 is a long standing client, tell him you will no 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.080 longer represent them, or get the hell out of the firm. 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.880 And Paul and Aaron, God bless them, said nice knowing 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.640 you guys, see you later. We won't let the door 0:21:57.720 --> 0:21:59.840 hit us on the ass on the way out. And 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:05.040 they left the firm today, literally within hours of winning 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.400 this landmark decision. Do you want to know something even 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.480 more amazing? I can't imagine what would be more amazing 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.240 than that. But sure, this is not the first time 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:19.320 this has happened to Paul Clement, So more than a decade, 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:21.080 you're going to say, this is not the first time 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:23.160 that this has happened in the history of the court. 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.160 This poor man, this has happened to multiple times. So 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:29.040 over a decade ago. Paul was a partner at King 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:31.359 and Spaulding, one of the top Supreme Court litigators on 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.439 the planet, and the US House of Representatives, controlled by 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:39.720 Republicans at the time, hired Paul to defend the Defensive 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:45.120 Marriage Act, a law passed by Congress that Barack Obama 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:49.000 refused to defend and so the Republican House wanted somebody 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:50.960 to defend it in the Supreme Court. They hired Paul. 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:56.399 King and Spalding said either refused to represent the United 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:01.080 States House of Representatives or leave the firm, and Paul 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:06.040 left the firm. He formed his own firm. That particular 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:08.800 case he lost five four, so he didn't he didn't 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:10.680 win it, but he got four votes at the court. 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:14.400 It was it was a very important case. He went 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.320 to a little litigation boutique, practiced there for years and 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.480 then twenty sixteen Kirkland and Ellis, which is a big 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:25.920 whiteshoe firm based in Chicago, one of the most profitable 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:30.080