Gun Rights in Constitution, Ashcroft Says

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, responding to a question by the National Rifle Assn., reasserted his belief that the Constitution guarantees people the right to own guns.

“While some have argued that the 2nd Amendment guarantees only a ‘collective’ right of the states to maintain militias, I believe the amendment’s plain meaning and original intent prove otherwise,” he said.

Ashcroft reiterated his views in a letter May 17 to the NRA’s executive director, James Jay Baker, and obtained Tuesday by Associated Press. The NRA had written Ashcroft in April, asking his position on the 2nd Amendment, something the group does with each new administration, Baker said.

Gun rights advocates accused the Clinton administration of trying to undermine 2nd Amendment rights, citing arguments in a Texas case that is pending before an appellate court.

Justice Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency does not plan to make additional arguments in the case.

In his letter, Ashcroft said that, in decisions dating to the 1890s, the Supreme Court “routinely indicated that the right protected by the 2nd Amendment applied to individuals.”

More recently, he said, the U.S. attorney general in 1934 adopted this view, as did Congress and President Reagan in 1986.