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Huckabee concerned about gun freedoms Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee warned Friday against federal judges who seek to use international law to shape gun-control rulings. Huckabee told a friendly crowd at a National Rifle Association meeting that the nation should not tolerate judges who try to strip away the Second Amendment right to bear arms by using international law as precedent. He also was sharply critical of the United Nations, an organization that the NRA says supports a global gun ban. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential hopeful, earned a standing ovation from the crowd of about 500 for his stringent opposition to judicial intervention on gun issues. He was one of a parade of GOP contenders who spoke at the event. Huckabee said he wouldn't mind if UN headquarters in New York "were to break off and float in the East River never to be seen again." UN officials have repeatedly said that their efforts to restrict the global small arms trade should not be seen as an attempt to ban guns worldwide. After his speech, Huckabee told reporters that he would work with the UN as long as the country maintained its sovereignty. "It would only be a danger if there were Americans who somehow felt that we had an obligation to yield ourselves to a law other than our own Constitution and the laws we create," he said. However, judges recently have cited international law as precedent in some cases and that concerns him, he added. "International law doesn't have an application in the appellate process or the adjudication process in an American court," Huckabee said. Huckabee, who with his wife Janet is a longtime member of the NRA, said he thought the Second Amendment should be held as sacrosanct as other rights like freedom of the press and of religion. There should be no geographic exemptions either, he said, in opposition to gun restrictions in urban areas. The District of Columbia, for instance, bans hand guns. He did not directly criticize opponents like Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who once referred to the NRA as "extremists" and earned a tepid reception Friday. But Huckabee did say voters should look at the past records of Republican presidential contenders, then he listed his pro-gun accomplishments as governor. Huckabee signed into law legislation that prevents liability lawsuits against gun manufacturers and opposed an assault weapons ban. He said he was also the first sitting governor to receive a permit to carry a concealed handgun. "I've told some hostile crowds, 'Be careful, don't mess with me,'" Huckabee said. |
