(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) An 18-year-old man was shot by U.S. marshals protecting the D.C. home of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an incident that starkly contrasts with the justice’s notorious anti-gun takes.
The Metropolitan Police Department announced the shooting occurred around 1:15 a.m. on Friday when Kentrell Flowers, a D.C. man, attempted to carjack a vehicle occupied by one of Sotomayor’s security detail.
Flowers exited his vehicle, approached the marshal’s car and pointed a gun at the marshal, the MPD announced in a press statement.
In response, the marshal drew his service weapon and fired several shots at Flowers. A second marshal exited a separate vehicle and began shooting at the suspect.
Flowers was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the shooting, police said. The marshals were not harmed, and Sotomayor was not in her residence during the incident.
Flowers is facing charges of armed carjacking, carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
Observers have pointed out the irony that the marshals thwarted the carjacking attempt using firearms, despite Sotomayor’s staunch opposition to the Second Amendment and gun rights.
In the Supreme Court case McDonald v. City of Chicago, Sotomayor joined then-Justice Stephen Breyer in dissenting against the majority opinion that affirmed the right to armed self-defense under the Second Amendment.
“The carrying of arms for [self-defense] often puts others’ lives at risk,” Breyer, with Sotomayor joining, argued. “In sum, the Framers did not write the Second Amendment in order to protect a private right of armed self defense.”
Similarly, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, Sotomayor dissented against the majority decision that struck down a New York law requiring residents to demonstrate “proper cause” to obtain a concealed carry pistol license.
“In my view, when courts interpret the Second Amendment, it is constitutionally proper, indeed often necessary, for them to consider the serious dangers and consequences of gun violence that lead States to regulate firearms,” Breyer with Sotomayor concurring, claimed.
