Biden Nominee to 7th Circuit Supported Banning ‘Assault Weapons’ But Cannot Define Them

Nancy Maldonado, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, supported Illinois’s “assault weapons” ban but could not define an “assault weapon” when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned her.

During Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Kennedy seized on a brief Maldonado signed in support of the Illinois “assault weapons” ban and asked what an “assault weapon” was.

The Washington Times quoted Kennedy saying, “You said, ‘Assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes.’ Tell me what you meant by ‘assault weapons’?”

Maldonado responded by saying she is “not a gun expert.”

Kennedy noted, “So you submitted a brief, an appellate brief, you signed it, and you don’t know what … and you said, ‘Abolish assault weapons,’ and you don’t know what you wanted them to abolish?”

Maldonado responded by indicating she had not done the research on the firearms and could not “remember the exact definition of assault weapons.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..