Coburn Likely To Oppose Holder Nomination

Senator Tom Coburn appears ready to oppose President Barack Obama’s choice of Eric Holder for attorney general because of his position on gun control and the Second Amendment.

Coburn, R-Muskogee, said Holder doesn't believe the Second Amendment grants the right to individuals to own guns. Holder signed a brief in the Heller case, decided by the Supreme Court, arguing that the right under the Second Amendment was a collective one, meant for state militias only.

Coburn sits on the Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to vote next week on Holder’s nomination. Senate leaders had hoped to clear Holder this week, but Republicans delayed the committee vote.

Coburn questioned Holder about gun rights at a hearing last week. Holder told Coburn that, after the Supreme Court ruled in June that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to own guns, options for restrictions had "narrowed.”

Coburn said he was concerned that Holder didn’t respond definitively to the question of whether he would defend state laws allowing people to carry concealed weapons.

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