Washington, D.C., September 18, 2020 – Today, the Brady Campaign joins with all Americans in mourning the loss of legal lion and preeminent jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Brady Campaign President Kris Brown shared:
“Today is a sad day in America. Our nation is fairer and more just because of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and we are diminished without her. As a lawyer and a judge, she fought to make our founding principles, equality and justice, real for all Americans. Justice Ginsburg recognized that Americans have the right to live safely and enact the strong, common-sense gun laws that we want and need. Her loss is immeasurable, as were her contributions to the laws and history of our nation.
While we should celebrate her life as a trailblazer and brilliant jurist, her loss is overshadowed by the reality that her seat, and potentially the fate of sensible gun laws in America, now rests in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and President Trump. Their radical, gun lobby-manufactured interpretation of the Second Amendment is a grave threat to the countless live-saving gun safety laws across the country. Those laws and the hard-earned progress that activists and concerned Americans have won for generations are now in peril. Make no mistake: Gun safety is on the ballot in November.
We must honor Justice Ginsburg by remaining committed to the values and ideals that she cherished, such as the rule of law which includes common-sense gun violence prevention policy. We must also remember the highest calling of any citizen of our republic, the right to vote.
The decision of who appoints the next justice should not be made by a Senate & White House that could substantially shift. It should be decided by the American people at the polls. Let the people decide. That is the essence of our democracy as well as RBG's most "fervent" wish.
— Kris Brown (@KrisB_Brown) September 19, 2020
We are now facing one more issue in our election: who should get to decide the character and qualifications of the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice. That decision should not be made in a democracy in the waning days of a Senate and Executive Administration. The Senate must not vote on a new Supreme Court Justice until after the Presidential inauguration in January and after the new class of Senators is formally sworn in. Let the American people decide on Justice Ginsburg’s replacement as they cast their ballots. That is the essence of democracy and Justice Ginsburg’s 'most fervent wish.'”
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Brady California is the largest and most effective gun violence prevention group in the state. Over the past 20 years, our advocates have successfully carried more than 70 pieces of improved legislation from concept through enactment. Those carefully crafted laws have made California one of the safest states in the country.