Clarence Thomas is no stranger to controversy, but the hotly contested Supreme Court Justice and alleged sexual harasser picked a pretty awful moment to deliver a 14-page long pro-gun diatribe. Needless to say, his tone deaf remarks come not even a week after 17 people were slain at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by a 19-year-old alleged gunman with a legally purchased AR-15 assault rifle.
Thomas delivered the rant about the Court's refusal to hear Silvester v. Becerra on Tuesday, which was the Supreme Court’s first day back in session since the aforementioned tragedy. The plaintiffs in the case claimed that they should not be subject to the 10-day waiting period as per California law that allows state officials to run a background check. It also has the added benefit of giving potential purchasers a “cooling off” period, should they be purchasing the weapon under some kind of duress and may inflict harm on themselves or others.
However, the plaintiffs contend that since they already own guns, this waiting period should be waived, and Justice Thomas agreed with them. This is the part where you find the nearest wall against which to bang your head.
“Common sense suggests that subsequent purchasers contemplating violence or self-harm would use the gun they already own,” Justice Thomas argued, “instead of taking all the steps to legally buy a new one in California.”
Um, no, especially not the case of a purchasing a firearm like an AR-15. Thomas’ beef with the lower court’s ruling in the Silvester case is part of his overall pro-gun agenda, as ThinkProgress notes. Thomas even went as far as to liken the 10-day waiting period to a “10-day waiting period for abortions, notwithstanding a State’s purported interest in creating a ‘cooling off’ period.”
Drawing any sort of equivalency here is hugely infuriating because 1: women should have the right to their own bodies, and 2: in some states, a 10-day waiting period for an abortion may put a woman outside the legal time in which she is allowed to get one.
