A Fox Nation headline baselessly claimed that Sonia Sotomayor “Wants to Ban Guns.” The story it linked to reported only that Sotomayor was part of a panel that cited precedent from an 1886 Supreme Court case to rule that “the Second Amendment only restricted the federal government” -- not state governments.
Fox Nation baselessly claims Sotomayor “Wants to Ban Guns”
Published
In a May 28 headline, The Fox Nation baselessly claimed that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor “Wants to Ban Guns.” The headline linked to a May 28 CNSNews.com article that made no mention of Sotomayor expressing or indicating a desire to “ban guns.” Rather, CNS News reported that Sotomayor was part of a three-judge 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that cited Supreme Court precedent in ruling that “the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments.” As CNS News noted, in the case Maloney v. Cuomo, the Second Circuit “cited the 1886 Supreme Court case of Presser v. Illinois,” which found that “the Second Amendment only restricted the federal government” -- not state governments.
As Media Matters for America has noted, media conservatives have previously engaged in similar fearmongering by claiming without basis that President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) want to “ban” or “confiscate” guns.
From The Fox Nation on May 28:
